As more and more companies embrace technology to run almost all their departments, the demand for qualified and certified IT professionals is increasing exponentially.
There are a lot of people with general IT qualifications but specific qualifications are often more valuable since most IT jobs are highly specialized. As you look to develop your career in 2018 and beyond, you should pay close attention to the IT fields that have shown tremendous growth in the past two years and that have no signs of slowing down any time soon. Below are some of the technology certificates that will increase your chances of success in 2018 and beyond.
CCA Data Analyst
Companies’ use of Big Data is bound to grow. There’s never been greater demand for proficient data analysts. While tech giants and companies that rely on Big Data to operate are investing in training their employees on how to navigate and employ Big Data technologies, most companies and their executives don’t have a clue what the field entails even though they badly need the services of data analysts.
They therefore depend on recruiters or their HR professionals to bring people on board who already have the skills needed to collect, prepare, structure, and analyze data.
A CCA Data Analyst must have successfully passed the CCA Data Analyst Exam. The skills you learn during the program will equip you with the necessary competencies you need to pull data, analyze data, and generate final reports using Hive and Impala in Cloudera’s CDH environment.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect
You can’t ignore the place of Amazon Web Services in IT. There are so many AWS-backed services being employed in the average workplace that being proficient in all things AWS is going to be a standard requirement of IT professionals pretty soon. Before that time comes, you can get a head-start by getting AWS Certified in 2018.
If you aren’t yet convinced of the value of getting AWS Certified, just look up how fast AWS has grown and how far it has gone beyond competitors as far as cloud-related services are concerned. As a matter of fact, it pretty much dominates the cloud today since it is 10 times as big as the 14 closest competitors combined.
According to a 2016 Global Knowledge Study, the annual salary for an Amazon Web Services Certified Solutions Architect was $125,871. The AWS Certification, according to the study, was the most valuable IT certification in 2016.
Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification
The Project Management Professional certification is one of the most valuable certifications you can earn. It is always a great idea for an IT professional to have a PMP certification. Nearly all IT professionals work in project settings and the PMP certification will equip them with the knowledge and tools they need to successfully launch, run, and complete projects.
Most managers and employers understand the value of PMP and will prefer having a PMP certified professional on their team to having someone without the certification. Since PMP isn’t industry-specific, you can use it in pretty much every professional environment you find yourself in.
Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
According to the 2016 Global Knowledge Study mentioned above, CISM was the 3rd most valuable IT certification. CISMs pulled an annual salary of $122,291. CISMs continue to enjoy high salaries and greater career development opportunities in 2018. The trend is bound to continue as the use of technology in business grows and as more companies invest in information security.
The certification will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to manage, design, and assess an organization’s information security. It is a certification that is recognized the world over and typically has two testing windows every year.
It is offered by a non-profit body known as ISACA. The organization goes only by the acronym but it was previously known as the Information Systems
Audit and Control Association.
With a CISM certification, you will be more marketable to employers as the program makes IT security professionals understand the value of information security as it relates to broader organizational or business objectives.
By going through the program, you will also equip yourself with important information security knowledge such as how to develop an information security system from the ground up. This information will be particularly useful when customizing information security programs for your organization.
Conclusion
Technical certifications are very valuable as they help you communicate that you have a strong understanding of a given area of IT. Even if you are already knowledgeable about the area in question, preparing for the certification exam will expose you to several things you may have not bothered to master.
This is true since IT functions in most organizations are always standardized and workers rarely get the chance to test different commands, procedures, or configuration options.