Development and operations (DevOps) is the combination of tools, good practices and cultural models that enhance the ability of an organization to deliver frequent, high quality and cost-effective services and applications.
In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing scope of technology, the need for rapid product development to meet growing user demands is more than ever. DevOps enables the unification of fragmented development, testing and operations teams and helps enterprises better compete with market competitors. Enterprises are surely turning towards DevOps.
DevOps roles are in demand, well-paying, and offer room for career progression. If you want to be a successful DevOps professional, we recommend obtaining DevOps certification. DevOps certification demonstrates that you have the required skills and subject matter knowledge to take on a DevOps role.
DevOps certified professionals have in-depth knowledge of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and can provide better productivity, service quality and customer satisfaction. In this guide, we will explore the best DevOps certifications to have now.
Also read: DevOps Report Cites Culture as Hurdle in DevOps Evolution
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Best DevOps Certifications
Here are the best DevOps certifications to have in your bag:
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer certification is obtained by clearing a 75-question, 180-minute professional examination that validates your technical expertise and skills. The examination is intended for professionals who perform a DevOps engineer role and have two or more years of experience managing, provisioning, and operating AWS environments.
The certification validates your ability to:
- Manage and implement continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS.
- Automate and implement compliance validation, governance processes and security controls.
- Define and deploy logging systems, metrics and monitoring on AWS.
- Implement systems that are highly scalable, available and self-healing on AWS.
- Design, maintain and manage tools to automate operational procedures.
You can take the examination at a testing center or as an online proctored examination. The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer examination is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. You can prepare for the examination by utilizing AWS Training courses and other resources.
Registration fee: $300. A practice examination costs $40.
Schedule an examination today.
Docker Certified Associate
The Docker Certified Associate certification is the only official professional certification program that establishes real-world container technical knowledge with Docker Enterprise Edition (EE). If you earn the certification, you are qualified to run enterprise workloads at scale with Docker EE.
The examination can be taken at the comfort of your home and is delivered using proctoring technology. The Docker Certified Associate examination consists of 55 questions that must be answered within 80 minutes. The examination covers all essential skills on Docker EE.
Registration fee: $195.
Register today.
Certified Kubernetes Administrator
The Certified Kubernetes Administrator certification is intended for Kubernetes administrators, cloud administrators and other information technology (IT) professionals who manage Kubernetes instances.
The certification establishes the ability of a professional to perform basic installation and configure and manage production-grade Kubernetes clusters. Certified professionals have an understanding of key concepts like Kubernetes application lifecycle, logging and monitoring, networking, storage, security, maintenance and troubleshooting.
The examination can be taken online, lasts for two hours and consists of 15-20 questions.
Registration fee: $375.
Register now.
Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert
To obtain the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification, you must take the AZ-400 examination.
A candidate for the examination must be familiar with Azure administration and development and must exhibit expertise in at least one of these areas – you have to clear the AZ-104 and/or AZ-204 examination before you can appear for the AZ-400 examination.
AZ-104 is for Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification and AZ-204 is for Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification.
The AZ-400 examination establishes your ability to:
- Develop an instrumentation strategy.
- Develop a security and compliance strategy.
- Develop a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) plan.
- Manage source control.
- Facilitate collaboration and communication.
- Define and implement release management and continuous delivery strategy.
- Define and implement continuous integration.
The examination is proctored online, lasts for 150-210 minutes and consists of 40-60 questions. You can take the examination in English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Registration fee: $165. You can take the official practice test for $99-$109.
Schedule an examination today.
Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer (Google)
Google’s Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer certification establishes your ability to skilfully use Google Cloud Platform and:
- Enhance service performance.
- Apply site reliability engineering principles to a service.
- Implement service monitoring strategies.
- Manage service incidents.
- Build and implement CI/CD pipelines for a service.
The examination is intended for professionals with over three years of industry experience and at least one year of experience managing solutions on the Google Cloud Platform. You can take the examination online or at a testing center near you. The examination consists of about 50 questions and takes two hours to complete.
Registration fee: $200.
Register today.
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate
The HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate certification is for cloud engineers who have basic knowledge of open source HashiCorp Terraform and associated skills. Professional experience using Terraform in production is a plus.
The examination’s objective is to establish knowledge of IaC concepts, Terraform’s purpose, basics, CLI, modules and Cloud and Enterprise capabilities, implement and maintain state and read, generate and modify configuration.
The examination is proctored online, consists of 50-60 questions and lasts for an hour.
Registration fee: $70.50.
Register now.
Choosing a DevOps Certification
Opt for a DevOps certification depending on the platforms and services that your preferred enterprise incorporates and the DevOps role you’re looking for.
For example, if you are looking for a DevOps engineer role and your preferred organization uses AWS environments for development, testing and production use, you are better off obtaining the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer certification.
Once you are a DevOps certified professional, brush up on your soft skills and put a smile on your face during your job interview – good luck!
Read next: Best DevOps Monitoring Tools for 2021
