Last week, I posted a list of the top five technical certifications by salary as reported by TechRepublic and Global Knowledge’s 2010 IT Skills and Salary Report. As expected, there was a lot of debate in the article’s discussion thread about the relationship between certification and salary. Some felt the numbers where higher than IT pros were likely to find in the real world.

This may indeed be true for some individuals. But, remember that many factors contribute to one’s pay, such as:

• Skills and experience
• Tenure with an organization
• Industry in which you work
• Education and certification
• Geography

Despite the rise of telecommuting, physical geography still plays a large role in an IT professionals earning potential. Survey respondents working in states along the East and West coasts of the United States reported higher average salaries than those working in the South or Midwest. According to the report, the average salary of respondents “ranges from $77,200 in the Midwest to over $86,400 in the Northeast.”

The difference between the highest and lowest average salaries by state is even more striking. As the chart on the right shows, IT professionals in Washington, D.C. reported an average salary of $100,600 dollars compared to $56,400 in Montana, which had the lowest average salary. One word of caution before you pack up and move to one of the states with higher salaries. Remember that these states often have a higher cost of living than those with lower salaries. The National Association of Realtors reported that the 2009 median price for a single-family home in the Washington D.C. area was $308,700 compared to $139,200 in Sioux Falls, SD.

About the 2010 IT Skills and Salary Report:

For the third year in a row, Global Knowledge and TechRepublic partnered to create and distribute a comprehensive IT salary survey. From October 19 to November 15, 2009, over 19,529 IT professionals from around the globe (over 17,800 were from the U.S. and Canada) answered questions about their overall job satisfaction, base salary, benefits, bonuses, certifications and more. In March, we released the result of this survey in our 2010 IT Skills and Salary Report.

IT pros (assuming they have any) at the Texas Auto Center in Austin learned a valuable lesson in password security this week. According to Wired, an employee who was laid off last month is accused of using a Web-base vehicle immobilization service to disable the ignition system on more than a 100 cars.

The dealership used a system called WebTeck Plus from Pay Technologies (PayTeck). The system allows the dealership to disable vehicles of customers who don’t make their monthly payments. The system can also be used to physically locate the vehicle and honk the horn-as a warning shot for nonpayment.

According to various reports, the disgruntled employee’s account was disabled when he was let go, but he is accused of using a former coworker’s user ID and password to access the system and wreak havoc on the dealership’s customers.

I don’t know how the ex-employee obtained his coworker’s log on credentials. Dealership employees may have freely shared user accounts and passwords with each other. While still employed, the accused individual could have shoulder surfed a coworker while they were logging on. The account credentials could have been written down and stored in an unsecured location. Regardless of how this individual obtained a valid user ID and password, this event is a stark reminder of the very real consequences lax password policies can have.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Check out this video from the local NBC affiliate of an annoyed customer describing her experience.

The following TechRepublic resources can help you create a robust password policy:

• Lock IT Down: Make a password policy part of your security plan
• Password redundancy for the help desk: Craft your own escrow
• The importance of an effective password policy
• TechRepublic’s Password Policy
• Legal docs for password policies
• Password Change Policy
• Establishing Good Password Policies
• Enterprise Password Management: A Guide for Best Practices
• Strong password management for the mobile user
• Help users create complex passwords that are easy to remember