Top Cloud Certifications to Aim For in 2020

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IT professionals across the globe are investing in cloud computing. Not just purely financially since companies require a mix of skills in the cloud as a return on their expenditure in platforms and environments for the cloud.

The decision-makers in IT rely on certifications in order to validate the vital skills they need. As for the IT professional, it can have a big impact on their future career, from highlighting your CV in the recruitment process to the increased salaries as proven by the fact that cloud computing accounts for an average of 3 out of 5 high salary-related certifications.

For those of you keen to boost your expertise in the cloud- you should look at a number of certifications – ten of which we have put together below and which can improve your career prospects. The below list is compiled from responses to the Global Knowledge 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report survey in addition to analysis of usage of preparation resources from Global Knowledge’s cloud certification.

The Best Certifications in Cloud Computing

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

2019 saw this certification be the most sought after and completed one amongst IT professionals. Indeed, the 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report ranked it most popular – this Associate-level credential was practically obtained by 1 in every 3 cloud professionals.

The average salary for IT professionals in North America bearing this certification was $130,883, coming in 4th place in this region. Professionals who are specialized in deploying applications and systems, cloud infrastructure design, and reference architectures will find the exam for this certificate ideal. Developers, system engineers, enterprise and solution architects are indeed the target candidates.

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

Microsoft unveiled its new lineup of IT certifications. following the withdrawal of popular MCSA: Cloud Platform certification.  These new certifications meet the needs directly of the most popular career positions. For Azure administrators in charge of cloud services related to cloud capabilities, networking, security, and storage, this certification is ideal.

Aside from certifying the ability in managing virtual machines, application services, identities, and Azure storage, this certification is also required prior to obtaining the higher level Azure DevOps Engineer Expert certification.

  • Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect

In 2019, the GCP Cloud Architect revealed itself to be an extremely valuable emerged cloud certification, coming in at number one on the list of America’s highest-paying IT certifications.

Google Cloud technologies are growing in popularity amongst IT professionals and look to get their skills in GCP platform designing, developing, and managing cloud architecture certified.

For enterprise and solution architects, system administrators, or operations team members, this certification is ideal.

AWS Certified Developer – Associate

Popular – coming in second in most sought after certification in 2019, this certification certainly demands top-dollar salaries. Indeed, it has stayed in the top five list of best-paid certifications in the USA. Professionals in North America, in 2019, saw their salary 18% above those of an average tech salary.

Any professional who obtains this credential will have mastered core AWS services and best practices, as well as being fluent in AWS application deployment, development, and debugging. cloud-based AWS applications.

To obtain this certification requires prior AWS cloud practitioner and technical skills. Candidates are advised to have obtained at least 1 year of experience in the development and maintenance of an AWS-based application.

Google Certified Professional Data Engineer

An experienced data engineer will need to render data suitable for analysis in order to increase GCP’s capabilities for data processing. This GCP Data Engineer certification attests to a professional’s proficiency in the GCP environment, with the ability in the construction and maintenance of databases and data structures.

This certification is aimed at data architects and analysts, data engineers, and developers in charge of initiatives for big data transformation

Microsoft Certified: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

Qualified cloud professionals were hard to find last year for over a third of IT decision-makers. Faced with increased demand for cloud skills, this certification has proved indispensable. It validates the core concept, Azure service, security, privacy, and compliance understanding. In effect, it validates all a beginner cloud professional requires for utilizing Microsoft Azure products and services.

Microsoft role-based certifications begin with the  Azure Fundamentals certification

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator

Fourth in the most popular cloud certification in the 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report is the AWS SysOps Administrator cloud certification.

To obtain this certification means the technical validation of expertise in deployment, management, and operations on the AWS platform. You will, as a rule, want this certification if you are a system administrator, an operations manager or are in charge of supporting AWS operations – to show your expertise. It is not to say that you will only be in these roles – you could be adding it to your existing other skillsets as an architect or developer.

CCSP – Certified Cloud Security Professional

The IT Skills and Salary Report rates CCSP as the most popular security certification for the cloud. This (ISC)2 certification validates a deep knowledge of cloud security in addition to the practical experience of service orchestration, architecture, design, and operations.

Compatible with multiple platforms, CCSP allows those certified in it to prove their skills across any environment.

To obtain this certification, you will need to have been five years in IT,  of which 3 years minimum in information security. That said, you can obtain CISSP as an alternative to these experience criteria.

CompTIA Cloud+

Non-vendor specific and based on performance, the CompTIA Cloud+ certification covers any technology related to construction and support of cloud infrastructure. It goes towards the validation of skills for cloud technology creation, networking, computing, and storage.

The exam for this certification is suitable for candidates specializing in computer system construction and deployment as well as professionals in charge of system connectivity. By this, we understand system administrators, system and network engineers, cloud developers, and include as are responsible for cloud scheduling.

You are recommended to have 2-3 years prior experience as this certification does not start at a beginner level. Despite its non-vendor specific nature, candidates could do worse than having an understanding of AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

To demonstrate that you master Azure-based solution design skills, this certification is ideal. It also serves to validate security, storage, and compute expertise.

Prior advanced experience and mastery of many IT operations are asked of candidates, such as governance, budgeting, data management, disaster recovery, business continuity, security, identity, networking, and virtualization. Also required is the ability to understand decision-making in a given area and the impact on the solution as a whole. Proficiency in DevOps and Azure administration are pre-requisites – with expertise in one of these.

Candidates will need to take two exams to obtain the Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential, AZ:300, and AZ:301.