"There are great opportunities in technology, but there is increased competition for jobs," says Ray Kelly, CEO of certification provider Certiport. "I have never seen a time like today where there is such a focus on certifications."

When the economy tanked, certifications became more important for IT pros who wanted to make themselves more employable.

"For the past couple of years, the economy has been challenging, but from a technical education standpoint it has been a positive market," says Fred Weiller, director of marketing for Learning@Cisco. "In pure volume, the foundation technologies such as routing and switching -- without which no network exists -- represent a huge amount of our certification portfolio."

These days, Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts see virtualization as the top networking investment area (cited by 67% of 970 CCIEs polled by Illuminas on behalf of Cisco). Another 64% say will continue to be the networking skills in greatest demand -- an expectation echoed by Weiller.