5 IT Certifications to Fast-track your Career Growth

The appraisal season is around the corner and professionals are looking at ways to improve their skills to aim for a promotion. This can prove to be a tough time especially for technology professionals with redundant or inadequate skills. Innovation is imperative for any business, forcing even the most traditional of organizations to adopt the hottest technologies. Companies are moving away from their set appraisal models and looking at rewarding individuals with the most updated skill sets. In such a scenario, what better way to demonstrate your credibility than achieving certifications that have great industry-demand and future potential. IT certifications play a very important role in building your career, especially if you are starting off in IT or are switching domains.

They equip you with the three important things that your employer is looking for - Credibility, Marketability & Personal Development. Once you have decided on which certification is best for you, the next step would be choosing the right course that can help you get that certification and demonstrate your skills.

The key 5 IT certifications that will help you ace your appraisal are as follows:

Cloud Certification

Currently IT professionals with proven cloud computing skills are high in demand and 40% of businesses are now struggling to find qualified employees. It is a brilliant opportunity for technology professionals who would like to fast-track their career growth. Some of the best cloud certifications courses are AWS certified solutions architect, Microsoft certified solution expert and Google professional cloud architect which are designed to help one pass the professional test and rise above the ladder. While some certifications require two- three years of experience, the average pay for a cloud architect is quite high and with these certifications, one can join companies like SAP, Deloitte, Siemens, Red Hat and many more.

Cybersecurity Certification

Security has emerged as an important area of concern in our digital-first world, especially with the advent of big data, cloud and rising digital storage and transactions. Certifications in cyber security, target different fields ranging from attack mitigation to penetration testing. Cybersecurity Certification will help you in establishing a strong foundation towards a promising journey in the Cybersecurity domain. When it comes to cyber security there are a bunch of certifications available in the market that will give you a significant edge over others which include CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional, CISM: Certified Information Security Manager, CISA: Certified Information Systems Auditor and CEH: Certified Ethical Hacker.

Data Science Certification

Data scientists are seeing a huge demand – they are required by most companies and almost every industry is seeing a need for them. So, if you are looking to make your move as a data scientist and showcase your edge, data science certifications will help you develop the required skills. The top ones include Applied AI with Deep Learning, IBM Watson IoT Data Science Certificate, Cloudera Certified Associate - Data Analyst, Dell EMC Proven Professional, SAS Academy for Data Science amongst others. Some of the companies that are using the power of data science in new and exciting ways include Google, Facebook and Netflix

Big Data Certification

A big data engineer works directly with data architects and hands-on developers to convert the architect’s big data vision to a big data reality. He/she also possesses a deep level of technical knowledge and experience across a wide array of products and technologies and can build large-scale data processing systems for an enterprise. What’s more - tech giants like Amazon and Walmart, and banking companies like Society General and JP Morgan are hiring for data engineers, as can be seen on different job portals. CCA (Cloudera Certified Associate) exams test your foundation skills and will provide you the groundwork to get certified in CCP (Cloudera Certified Professional) program. Cloudera has 3 certification exams at CCA level:

1. CCA Spark and Hadoop Developer
2. CCA Data Analyst
3. CCA Administrator

In addition to the above, there are five Hadoop certifications provided by Hortonworks that you can consider:

• HDP Certified Developer (HDPCD)
• HDP Certified Apache Spark Developer (HDPCD-Spark)
• HDP Certified Java Developer (HDPCD-Java)
• HDP Certified Administrator (HDPCA)
• Hortonworks Certified Associate (HCA)

Project Management Certification

Project Management is one of the most important tasks across industries and requires special skills for delivering a successful project not as an individual but as an organization. To judge your expertise, there are a wide range of project management certifications available in the market. According to CIO, some of the major certifications are scrum master, PMP, Six Sigma and Prince2. To acquire these certifications, you must have at least three years of work experience in the project management field. While these certifications will give you a good career boost, another advantage is that these are not industry specific and are required by leading players like IBM, Microsoft, Phillips and Dell.

It’s a proven fact that IT certifications are a great way to validate your skill sets and competence levels.  In this fast-moving business environment, where innovation is the name of the game, certifications are necessary to help you keep up with or even better the industry’s best. So, invest towards achieving an IT certification now and skill-up to impress your organization for your upcoming appraisal.

By Vineet Chaturvedi, Co-Founder, Edureka