Report: Workers with Google Cloud certificates earn 65% higher raises

According to a new report by O’Reilly Media, obtaining Google Cloud certifications earn cloud workers 7.1% salary increases – 65% more than the average salary increase of 4.3%.

Cloud-focused workers are currently the most sought-after tech talent as a growing number of organizations of all sizes utilize cloud tools and services and, in turn, need experienced staff with the appropriate skill sets.

According to the report, which unveils salary and employment trends for cloud-focused workers, nearly half (48%) of all respondents participated in technical training or certification programs in the last year. The most common reasons for participating in training were learning new technologies (42%) and improving existing skills (40%). Job security was an issue for only a very small minority (4%), consistent with the observation that employees have the upper hand in the labor market and are more concerned with advancement.

Of those who pursued certifications, training on the major cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, was associated with higher salaries and salary increases. For example, those who reported they earned a Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect certification make an average of $231,000 and also received a substantial salary increase of 7.1%. This is a sizable difference from the $182,000 average yearly salary and 4.3% average salary increase of cloud professionals – representing a 27% higher salary and a 65% higher salary increase, respectively. The salaries and salary increases for Google certifications are particularly impressive, given that Google Cloud is the least widely used of the major platforms. The finding indicates that talent proficient with Google’s tools and services is harder to find and drives salaries up.

When looking at the time that respondents spent training, those who participated in 40 or more hours of training in the past year received higher salary increases of about 5%. Those who only spent one to nine hours of training received salary increases of less than 3%.

The 2022 Cloud Salary Survey polled 778 respondents based on location, gender, age, education level, job title, cloud certifications and the tools they use daily.

Read the full report by O’Reilly.