9. VMware Certified Professional 5 – Data Center Virtualization

Holders of the VMware Certified Professional 5 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) certification bring in an average salary of $102,962, up from $99,334 last year, according to the Global Knowledge survey.

VCP-DCV certifies knowledge of, and ability to perform, basic deployment and administration of vCenter and ESXi. DCV is the largest and oldest of the VCP tracks.

VMware is the largest virtualization vendor in the world, and thus there is strong demand for VCP5-DCV certificate holders to install and maintain a virtualization infrastructure. Given that more than three-quarters of all servers installed on-premise are virtualized, there is a huge market need.

The VCP5-DCV is scheduled to be retired on March 31, and will be replaced by the VCP6-DCV.