11 Cloud Computing Certifications To Boost Your Cloud Career

With the rise and rise of Cloud in past few years, IT Industries are full of opportunities, albeit with few specific skill sets. Cloud is extremely critical to businesses and a hotshot graduate with simply a degree in IT and no experience may not be something which every company (Or perhaps the company we are aiming) is looking for. Some of the Certifications listed below in Cloud Computing may bolster not only your CV but also your confidence of having knowledge about something that your competitors probably won't. We enlist 11 such certifications specific to cloud, the order being random (not as per ranking or value in industry):

1. Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge

Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (more commonly known as CCSK) is also referred to as "the mother of all Cloud Certifications". CCSK was in-fact the First of its kind to offer Certification in Cloud Security. It offers knowledge in topics such as architecture, governance, compliance, operations, encryption, virtualization and much more. You can find out more information about this certification from the Cloud Security Alliance's official website.

2. Cloud Certified Professional -- CloudSchool.com

Cloud School offers vendor-neutral training and certification through various cloud courses. Cloud School provides training programs through both; instructor led workshops as well as books. The workshops are scheduled and often added on short notice, as for books there are self-study kits available. Cloud School offer the following certifications: Certified Cloud Professional, Certified Cloud Technology Professional, Certified Cloud Architect, Certified Cloud Governance Specialist, Certified Cloud Security Specialist, Certified Cloud Storage Specialist, Certified Cloud Virtualization Specialist and Certified Cloud Capacity Specialist. For more information in their workshop schedules, books and the certification itself, you may go to their official website.

3. CloudU

CloudU was developed as a collaborative effort between Rackspace and some industry analysts. CloudU offers vendor-neutral content for any business, to not limit itself to any specific vendor or platform. At CloudU, they aim to help you gain knowledge in any form such as original whitepapers, live and on-demand webinars, events, blogs, videos and e-books. There are 10 lessons available followed by a final online examination, post which you can earn your CloudU certification. You will find more information about CloudU at their official website.

4. Salesforce.com Certified Professional

Amid all the vendor neutral cloud certifications, here's one which is solely dedicated to salesforce and by salesforce. It offers certification depending on your line of work within the IT industry. Salesforce Administrators have an option of standard and Advanced certification, Salesforce Implementation experts have Sales or Service cloud certification, Salesforce Developers have regular and Advanced, and Technical Architects have multi-tiered certification options. You can find more information about Salesforce.com Certified Professional at their official website.

5. Cloud Essentials Certification

Cloud Essentials Certification by CompTIA covers the topic of cloud from not just Technical but Business perspective as well. It was developed by various IT entrepreneurs along with the help of Cloud Credential Council "a membership body dedicated to vendor-neutral training in cloud and comprised of companies including IBM, Cisco, EMC, HP and ING". Although not mandatory but CompTIA highly recommends having atleast 6 months of experience in IT services before signing up for the program. Find more information about Cloud Essentials Certification on their official website.

6. CompTIA Cloud+ Certification

Another Certification offered by ComTIA, is the Cloud+ Certification. It can also be described as advanced level of certification. Although you do not require the Cloud Essentials Certification to sign up for this program, it is, however, highly recommended that you have a work experience of atleast 2-3 years in "IT networking, storage, or data center administration, and familiarity with any major hypervisor technologies for server virtualization". You will find more information about this certification on CompTIA's official website.

7. IBM Certified Solution Architect v1 and v3

IBM offers cloud certifications as IBM Certified Solution Architect - Cloud Computing Infrastructure V1 and IBM Certified Solution Advisor - Cloud Computing Architecture V3. IBM describes V1 certification holder as "A person who can demonstrate the design, plan, architecture and management principles of an IBM cloud computing infrastructure". A V3 certification holder is expected to have the ability to clearly explain cloud computing concepts, explain cloud computing architecture and design principles and some more. To know more about IBM cloud computing certifications, kindly follow the IBM's official website.

8. Private Cloud Certification - Microsoft

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) now also offers a certification in Private Cloud. It mainly covers Microsoft's Hyper-V, System Center and applications such as Sharepoint and Exchange. However, in order to qualify for it, Microsoft requires you to be certified in some programs such as Installing, Configuring and Administering Windows Server 2012, Monitoring and Configuring System Center 2012. You will find more information on it on Microsoft official website.

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