What are the Certifications for DevOps?

DevOps has been adopted by most tech companies to increase their efficiency and provide better products and value to customers. According to the Statista survey 2020, almost 80% of the respondents believe that DevOps is important for scaling software development, whereas half of them are claiming that DevOps is extremely important.

Companies want to perform better and thus they have been hiring candidates who have knowledge and experience in DevOps. Thus most IT professionals are upskilling themselves by taking up DevOps certifications. There is a huge craze for DevOps training in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

The DevOps position is ranked among the highest paying salaries, and earning a certification increases the chances of getting a good job. The certification also prepares an individual to work in a team of cross-functional members that includes Developers, QAs, Operation Engineers, and Business Analysts.

Earning a DevOps certification holds a range of benefits, so let's take a look at the top certifications that one can pursue in DevOps. Before that, let's give a quick look to what DevOps exactly is, just to make sure we are on the same page.

What is DevOps?

• DevOps primarily is a combination of development and operations. It intends to increase the efficiency, speed, and security of software development and delivery as compared to the traditional processes.
• Teams that adopt DevOps culture, DevOps practices and tools are high-performing and are able to build better products faster for greater customer satisfaction.

A DevOps certification is mainly a designation that demonstrates that an individual has the specific expertise or competency in skills and subject matter that are needed to be a successful DevOps professional. These certifications could be typically earned through a combination of an exam, educational course, performance review, etc. Coursera, Google, Amazon, Simplilearn online courses are one way of getting them.

Let's see which are the best DevOps courses these days.

Simplilearn Post Graduate Program in DevOps

This is an amazing and most popular DevOps course which is being offered by Simplilearn in collaboration with the Caltech Centre for Technology & Management Education.

• It is a 9 months long course in partnership with IBM.
• The course is offered in Online Bootcamp learning format, and offers you enough practical exposure.
• In this course, you'll get to learn and work about Git, GitHub, Jenkins, Configuration Management, Docker, and even Kubernetes.

Requirements

To enrol in this course, you only need to have a bachelor's degree with minimum 50% marks. The background of coding or programming also doesn't matter much.

Cost: ₹1,92,600

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional

Amazon is one of the best options one could refer to when it comes to DevOps. This AWS certification will validate that the individual has the ability to automate the testing and deployment of AWS infrastructure and applications.

• To earn this certification, one has to clear a professional exam (DOP-C01), of 180 minutes that consists of 75 multiple response questions.
• It is designed for IT professionals who have 2 or more years of industry experience in provisioning and managing AWS environments.

Requirements

Before appearing for the exam, the candidates are recommended to have the following.

• They should have experience in developing code in at least one high-level programming language.
• They should be able to understand the modern development and operations processes and methodologies.
• They should possess the ability to implement and manage CD systems and methodologies on AWS.
• They should be able to implement and automate security controls, governance processes, and compliance validation.
• Finally, they should be able to define & deploy monitoring metrics, and logging systems on AWS.

Cost: $300 +$40 (Practice Exam)

Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer Expert

• This certification is for those who are aiming for the job role of a DevOps Engineer.
• The certification will provide expertise in designing & implementing strategies for collaboration, code, infrastructure, security, source control, compliance, testing, delivery, monitoring, and feedback.
• To earn this certification, one has to clear Exam AZ-400.
• The exam tests the skills like the development of Instrumentation Strategy, SRE Strategy, and Security and Compliance plan.

Requirements

Before applying for the certification, candidates are recommended to have the following.

• One should be familiar with both Azure administration and development.
• One should have subject matter expertise with people, processes, and technology.
• They should have 2 more AWS certifications i.e, Azure Administrator Associate and Azure Development Associate.

Cost: ₹4,800

Google Certified Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

DevOps certifications are also offered by Google. This certification helps the candidates become skilled at using Google Cloud to build software delivery pipelines, deploy & monitor services, and manage and learn from incidents.

• To earn this certification, the candidates will have to qualify for an exam of 2 hours, which will have multiple choice and multiple select questions.
• This exam will assess the ability of the candidates to apply site reliability engineering principles to a service, optimise service performance, implement service monitoring strategies, build & implement CI/CD pipelines for a service, and manage service incidents.

Requirements

There is no such prerequisite for this certification, except the candidates should have 3+ years of industry experience which must include 1+ years managing solutions on Google Cloud.

Cost: $200+tax

Docker Certified Associate

Docker is a container management tool that is used in DevOps to manage software parts as isolated containers that can be deployed in any environment. The Docker Certified Associate Certification will help the candidates to grasp Docker and its role in the DevOps lifecycle.

• To earn this certification, one needs to qualify for an examination of 90 minutes that will consist of 55 MCQs.
• The test covers the basics of a Docker ecosystem like Orchestration, Networking, Security, Installation & Configuration, Management, and Image Creation.

Requirements

One should have at least 6 months of experience as a Docker Practitioner.

Cost: $195

Certified Kubernetes Administrator

Kubernetes is also a container management tool that automates the process of deploying and managing multi-container applications at scale. Kubernetes is an important DevOps tool that enables the team to keep pace with the requirements for software development.

• Certified Kubernetes Administration (CKA) can be earned by qualifying for a 3-hour online exam comprising a performance-based set of problems.
• The test focuses on general Kubernetes features like Application Lifecycle Management, Configuration, Installation & Validation, Networking, Scheduling, Security, Logging & Monitoring.
• The exam will basically test the skills, knowledge, and proficiency that a Kubernetes Administrator should possess.

Cost: $300

As technology is evolving, the companies are also evolving. Regardless of the industry, every company is becoming a tech company as they are adapting toward digitalization. By obtaining one of the DevOps certifications, engineers and IT professionals can ensure that they will remain competitive in their field.