Salary Forecast: Cisco CCIE Engineers

According to NHPrice.com, “[t]he Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, or CCIE, is a technical certification offered by Cisco Systems. The CCIE certifies the skills required of network engineers to plan, operate and troubleshoot complex, converged network infrastructures on a wide variety of Cisco equipment.” Depending on who you talk to, the CCIE may or may not be all that it’s cracked up to be as far as increasing your salary, but for many, it’s considered an important certification to have to get a great job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts network engineers under the umbrella of computer network architects for job classification and salary purposes.

Salary The mean hourly wage for network engineers was $50.12, as of May 2016, according to the BLS, and the average annual salary was $104,240. The median hourly wage was $48.66, and it was $101,210 per year. The 10th percentile earned $26.74 per hour, or $55,610, and those in the 90th percentile earned $76.25 per hour, or $158,590 per year.

Salary by Industry

The industry of Specialized Design Services paid an average hourly salary of $84.57 per hour, or $175,900 per year. The Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing industry paid an

average hourly wage of $68.14, or $141,740 per year. In third place was the Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing industry with an average hourly wage of $61.81, or $128,570 per year.

Salary by State

Network engineers earned the highest in the nation in California with a mean hourly wage of $60.26, or $125,340 per year. Oregon was in second place at $58.29 per hour, or $121,250 per hour. New Jersey was in third place at $57.77 per hour, or $120,150. Delaware was in fourth place at $57.44 per hour, on average, or $119,480 per year, and Massachusetts was in fifth place at $56.33 per hour, on average, or $117,160 per year.

Salary by Metro Area

California held the five highest spots for the best-paying metro areas in the country for network engineers. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara had an hourly mean wage of $66.95, or $139,250 per year. San Francisco-Redwood City-Couth San Francisco paid an hourly mean wage of $66.68, or $138,690 per year. Next was San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at $66.60 per hour, on average, or $138,540 per year. San Rafael was in fourth place at $66.20 per hour, or $137,700 per year, and Santa Rosa held fifth place at $64.42 per hour, or $133,990 per year.

Salary by Non-Metro Area

The northern Pennsylvania non-metro area was the highest-paying non-metro area in the country for network engineers at $47.14 per hour, on average, or $98,060 per year. Northwest Minnesota was next at $45.57 per hour, on average, or $94,790. The Balance of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan non-metro area had an average hourly wage of $44.95, or $93,500. The Hawaii/Kauai non-metro area was in fourth place at $42.74 per hour, on average, or $88,900 per year. Finally, the southern Ohio non-metro area paid an average of $42.07 per hour, or $87,510 per year.