Cloud Certification

Hi all,

I want to steer my career towards cloud computing. I'm a bit unsure which path to take though. I know that AWS is a big plalyer when it comes to cloud, question is if it is a good place to start for someone like myself. I've been working in IT since over a decade as System Administrator. We currently provide cloud services to our users through vCloud Director.
Yes, I could study for VMware's CMA certification, but I am really on the fence about VMware. I don't think the VMware CMA has a lot of value to it, compared to lets say Amazon's, and it is vendor specific (I know Amazon is too).

Basically I'm looking to start with a cloud cert that teaches me good knowledge about Iaas, Saas in general and not only specific to the vendor.

Any suggestions?

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Comments

TheFORCE

You cam start with the Cloud+ or the ISC2 CCSP. They are vendor neutral. Once you get the fundamentals you can go for AWS. The AWS exam is like the Microsoft exams, asking about how you do certain things in AWS so it requires a bit of hands on experience. Good thing is Amazon gives you a free 12 month subscription to try it out and learn for certain hours during a month period.

Venom84

Hi TheFORCE,

thanks for the feedback, I did think about starting with Cloud+ but then move to AWS rather than CCSP. Isn't CCSP very advanced and main focus in Security?

Mike7

For public cloud, AWS is the market leader with Microsoft Azure catching up fast.
Google for "Gartner Cloud Infra as Service Magic Quadrant" and you will notice the big gap between AWS/Azure and the competition

Cloud+ is a good start. After that, you can look at AWS and Azure certifications.
CCSK and the more advanced CCSP are about cloud security.

stryder144

You might find Rackspace's CloudU a good, free starting point.

MCP2000

I ran across this article today. Maybe this will help. 10 Top Cloud Certifications for Partners

Mishra

I suggest that you find the cloud platform that you wish to work on.

Can you fill us in on why you want to go towards cloud computing?

You are working on a private cloud solution with vCloud Director so AWS would be a step toward public cloud. You may find a different kind of private cloud solution like Openstack to be more interesting.

Venom84

Mishra wrote: »

I suggest that you find the cloud platform that you wish to work on.

Can you fill us in on why you want to go towards cloud computing?

Sure. Because, and I may be wrong (future will tell) I believe in 5-10 years from now, the majority of systems will run in public clouds. Or at least hybrid clouds. And I want to be prepared for that.

Mishra

Before you start a training/certification goal for yourself, I would get some experience with public clouds then.

Go spin up free resources in AWS/Azure/Google and get a feel for what they are doing. Watch some videos about their strengths. Learn about the public cloud market.

Because AWS has the most market share "http://cdn4.dazeinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CIS_Q414_final.jpg" then aligning with them will be a good thing to get a job in cloud. But if you want to expand your horizons, you can go into the sales side of things and architect whole solutions for customers involving multiple clouds.

Canopus

Cloud+ is very easy, and anybody who's passed Network+ or Security+ could pass it without opening a book. Nice to have if somebody else is paying for the exam, but I wouldn't spend my own money on it.

As somebody has already said, what platform are you interested in?

_root

stryder144 wrote: »

You might find Rackspace's CloudU a good, free starting point.

Went to site. Oh great, free cert
Clicked on Buy- and nothing happens
Use two different browser in current machine
Use two different browsers in a different machine
and nothing..same the screen darkens once clicked on buy button and nothing happens.

Try to contact them and they want my phone number,

JDMurray

You need to sign up for a free account on rackspace.com and then you can access the free CloudU certification course.

bettsy584

VMware is not true cloud mate, no PaaS, no SaaS. If you want to do proper cloud work I would suggest sticking to GCP/AWS/Azure.

vCloud Director is basically only a "cloud interface" for host vSphere IMO. Look at the staff cuts VMware are making, they know they have limited time left being legacy.

On that look at AWS CSA or MCSD Azure.

DoubleNNs

If you have a private cloud, and some developers, can't you easily build your own SaaS and allow your internal personnel to utilize it?

Verities

Openstack skills are reallly in demand right now and its only going up. A lot of major companies are contributing to the project and also altering for use as their cloud environments; HP Helion, Red Hat Openstack, etc. You can go through the Openstack foundation to get their certification and Red Hat has one as well.

JDMurray

Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA)
http://www.openstack.org/coa

Red Hat OpenStack Certifications
https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/openstack