Most Valuable Cloud Computing Certifications
What Is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing involves delivering various services through the internet. These services are usually applications and tools such as software, databases, device storage, networking, and servers. It’s hard to keep files on local storage devices and hard drives. A comparatively easier and advanced way to save these files is cloud-based storage.
This cloud-based storage tends to store them in a remote database. With access to the internet and web, you can easily use your electronic device to access the software programs that run it and your data. It is a very beneficial and popular option for businesses and people on an individual level too. The reasons behind this include speed and efficiency, security, cost savings, performance, and increased productivity.
Types of Cloud Services
For any beginner, the following are some services provided and some functions performed by cloud computing. This section would help you to develop a proper understanding of the entire idea.
- Data retrieval, storage, and backup
- Analyzing the data
- On-demand delivery of software
- Video and audio streaming
- Testing and creation of applications
- Mails (E-mail, G-mail, etc.)
Cloud computing is a modern service that has nothing to do with the old times. Despite being new, it is used by nonprofits, government agencies, individual consumers, and big corporations to small businesses.
Significance of Cloud Computing Certifications
Cloud computing is considered to be one of the most significant investments in modern information technology. It has grown to such an extent that it is now the top priority for all institutions and organizations. This directly means that IT technicians and professionals are in high demand. If you have certifications for your cloud skills, then your demand doubles. With cloud skills, expertise and credentials, you’ll notice a very noticeable increase in the hiring rate. These cloud certifications are your IT salary boosters.
Out of all the cloud job roles, cloud engineers, and cloud architects are the most popular ones. According to the Global Knowledge Skill and Salary report, in North America, a cloud professional easily earns $138,320 annually. The more the certifications, the more would be the salary. The professionals with 5-6 Cloud Computing certifications earn $10,000 more than those with fewer credentials.
Increment in Career Paths
The market witnessed a sudden increase in job opportunities for Cloud Computing professionals across the globe. The current market of cloud computing has a massive size of USD 371.4 billion. It is estimated that it will grow to USD 832.1 billion by the year 2025. You must be wondering what the factors behind this increment are? The two elements in the limelight are:
- Rising consumption of big data and
- Growing digital transformation
This massive growth has triggered the need for the cloud. For this, big companies will be in dire need of professionals who are good with cloud tools, proficient in cloud storage management, and hold expertise not only in the private and public cloud but also in the hybrid cloud.
Top 10 Most Valuable Cloud Computing Certifications
Here is the list of the top 10 most valuable cloud computing certifications. You must possess them if you want to land a desirable job in cloud computing.
Most Valuable Cloud Computing Certifications: The Top 3 to Pick
If you are in a hurry or find it very difficult to decide among many options, here are the top 3 certificates. You can count on us and choose the one you are going to avail.
- Amazon Web Services Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
- Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
- Microsoft Certified: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
1. Amazon Web Services Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
Suppose you have one year of practical experience designing and constructing cost-effective, reinforced fault immune,
accessible, cost-effective, scalable, and tolerant distributed systems on Amazon Web Services. In that case, this certification is suitable for you. It is also very much appropriate for people who carry out a solutions architect role.
This certification provides a surety that you have working experience and knowledge of deploying robust, stable, and secure AWS applications. It validates that you can give advice related to implementation that depends on the user’s requirements. And that you are also capable of using architectural design principles in defining a solution.
Average Annual Salary: $130,883
2. Amazon Web Services Certified Solutions Architect — Professional
As compared to the associate level AWS certification, this certificate demands more experience. Suppose you have two or more than two years of practical experience designing and constructing cost-effective, reinforced fault immune, accessible, cost-effective, scalable, and tolerant distributed systems on Amazon Web Services. In that case, this certification is suitable for you. You must know how to manage operating systems on AWS as well.
A person is eligible for this certificate if he is familiar with AWS Cloud-Formation templates, AWS Command Line Interface, AWS Management Console, AWS Application Programming Interfaces, and the AWS Billing Console as it is the demand of this certification. It validates the same skills as described in the previous certificate. The additional abilities it validates include migrating multi-tier and complex applications on AWS.
Average Annual Salary: $148,456
3. Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
This certification tests the applied and practical skills that are a requirement for a cloud job. To prepare well and develop a thorough understanding, experts recommended having hands-on experience. You can gain expertise in GCP and Qwiklabs. This experience will help you to level up your knowledge and respective skill.
This certificate validates that the individual can design, manage, and develop secure, highly available, robust, and dynamic solutions for the targets of the business. The person would be proficient in software development methodologies and approaches. He’ll be having the ability to manage multi-tier distributed applications that range from multi-cloud to hybrid environments.
Average Annual Salary: $139,529
4. Amazon Web Services Certified Developer – Associate
This certificate is for people who have one or more than one year of experience and applied proficiency in developing and maintaining an application based on AWS. It is best for professionals who have an immediate concern with a development-related field. This certificate validates your skills in AWS architecture’s best practices, exhibiting key and essential AWS services and use cases. It will also provide expertise in deploying, developing, and debugging applications using AWS.
While talking about prerequisites required for this certificate, in-depth know-how of CI/CD pipelines is essential. It is used to deploy applications on AWS. Proficiency in writing code is also much necessary when it comes to cloud-based applications. You should know about application lifecycle management and should develop a proper and thorough understanding of containers.
Average Annual Salary: $130,272
5. Google Certified Professional Data Engineer
This certification has a demand of industry experience of three or more than three years. To prepare well and develop a thorough understanding, experts recommended having hands-on experience available on GCP. This certification verifies your ability to design systems that involve ensuring the solution quality, processing data, initiating machine learning models, building systems that need data refining, and operationalizing them.
It also involves processing systems that focus on compliance, scalability, security, efficiency, portability, and flexibility. You can design, secure, and build this system. You must also be able to train, deploy and leverage machine learning models continuously.
Average Annual Salary: $127,053
6. Microsoft Certified: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
For Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification, foundational knowledge of cloud services is necessary. It is required for you to develop know-how about how these services involve Microsoft Azure. It is intended for beginners who are just new to work with cloud-based solutions and services. It is also appropriate for people for whom Azure cloud is an entirely new program.
After acquiring this certificate, you would gain deep knowledge about Azure services, Azure support and pricing, Privacy in Azure, Security, and workload. Familiarity with general technology concepts is also an apparent demand for the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certificate. These general concepts include compute, application support, development, and networking.
Average Annual Salary: $110,000
7. Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
This certification has experience criteria less than others. But it demands practical experience. A person must have a realistic understanding of at least six months, and it is specified. This experience must be in administering the Azure cloud. You must possess the proper knowledge and thorough understanding of core services of Azure, governance, security, and workloads. Moreover, proficient in using Azure Resource Manager templates, PowerShell, Azure portal, and Azure Command Line Interface.
This certification validates your ability to implement Azure Governance, manage Azure identities, and manage deployment and storage. It also involves virtual networking, monitoring Azure resources, and management of Azure compute resources. The responsibilities of the person performing this role include managing and implementing identity, virtual networks in a cloud environment, and storage. Moreover, the provisioning of resources is also one of the responsibilities that are to be fulfilled when needed.
Average Annual Salary: $107,683
8. Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
This certificate requires to have a subject matter expertise in implementing and designing solutions deployed on Azure Cloud. They feature basic concepts like network, compute, security and storage. The ideal partners of solutions architects are cloud database administrators. But sometimes, they have to partner up with the clients to implement solutions.
What are the demands? Well, the primary need is the profound and complete knowledge of DevOps. Moreover, networking, security, identity, disaster recovery, budgeting, and visualization are also essential and need for the certificate. It verifies that the certification holder can design infrastructure and data storage, implement management, security solutions, and solutions for applications and design security and identity.
Average Annual Salary: $76,112
9. CCSP – Certified Cloud Security Professional
The CCSP: Certified Cloud Security Professional certification validates that the certification holder possesses the knowledge to secure and design data and management. It incorporates technically advanced skills in the person. It also teaches about infrastructure in the cloud. It is done by policies and utilizing best practices. The strategies are used as well that are established by experts in cybersecurity.
This certification is most suitable for IT leaders. It is ideal for security administrators, security engineers, enterprise architects, system engineers, and security consultants. It is considered one of the most practical exams. It doesn’t use any specific platform but instead trains you for multiple cloud tools, technologies and security.
Average Annual Salary: $154,424
10. CompTIA Cloud+
This certification is the measure of the specific capabilities of the candidate. It includes incorporating and managing cloud-related technologies that play a significant role as an essential part of system operations. It works on the assumption that an individual candidate has to bind the solutions together. This solution is meant to meet particular business-oriented needs. The candidate has to work in a diverse variety of industries.
It validates that IT professionals, specifically IT infrastructure professionals, learn skills related to cloud computing. It should be done keeping in mind several different platforms. The candidate must possess vast knowledge about workflows, databases, systems to the cloud, and applications’ movement. Its primary aim is the preparation of system admins. It trains them to carry out complicated tasks by addressing security, system architecture, automation, deployment, and security.
Average Annual Salary: $80,092
In conclusion, Cloud computing involves delivering various services through the internet. These services are usually applications and tools such as software, databases, device storage, networking, and servers. It’s hard to keep files on local storage devices and hard drives. A comparatively easier and advanced way to save these files is cloud-based storage.
Cloud computing is considered to be one of the most significant investments in modern information technology. It has grown to such an extent that it is now the top priority for all institutions and organizations. Validated cloud certifications directly mean that IT technicians and professionals are in high demand.
If you have certifications for your cloud skills, then your demand doubles. With cloud skills, expertise and certifications, you’ll notice a very noticeable increase in the hiring rate. These cloud certifications are your IT salary boosters.
Check out all cloud certifications practice tests here.
Informative post.