Important certifications for software professionals

Do all of the job postings ask for the same credentials? This can help you decide which certifications to prioritize. Related: Technical Skills: Definitions and Examples.

How to prepare: Before taking this exam, it can be helpful to real-world experience, training and practice with architecture within the GCP. There are several prep courses to expand your knowledge and help you prepare you for this test. Qualifications: There are four different levels of certification available: introductory, intermediate, advanced, and expert. GIAC suggests taking a few practice tests before the exam to have a better understanding of what to expect. How to prepare: There are several AWS training courses and studying materials available to help you prepare for this certification.

It focuses on information security governance, program development and management, incident management and risk management. This certification is ideal for information systems professionals looking to further their knowledge and advance to management.

Qualifications: You must have a minimum of five years of experience in information systems to take this exam. This experience must be within the last 10 years of taking the exam. How to prepare: There are self-paced, online, and live options available for CISM exam training and preparation. Many businesses are now specifically requesting Salesforce experience in their job descriptions because they rely on this CRM.

Salesforce offers several different certifications, some related to IT and software development and others related to marketing and sales. Which certification you should get will largely depend on where you want to take your career. The available certifications include:. This certification focuses on managing users, data and security. You will also learn to create reports and workflows.

There are several certifications available related to Salesforce development. These certifications demonstrate your ability to build and implement applications on the Lightning platform. It is designed more for programmers and engineers who want to build custom applications. A Salesforce marketer will learn to create targeted marketing strategies on the Salesforce platform. A Salesforce consultant works with customers and clients to help them get the most out of the platform. These certifications will provide you with in-depth knowledge of the Salesforce platform so that you can help businesses find technical solutions to their problems.

Inbound marketing plays a big role in the sales process for many businesses. With inbound marketing, you work to bring customers to you, rather than going out and getting them yourself.

If you can demonstrate your proficiency with inbound marketing tactics, you will make yourself a much stronger candidate and employee. A great way to do this is with the inbound marketing certification provided by HubSpot. This certification is free to get and can be completed entirely online. There are many different versions of Agile, so consider seeking multiple certifications to demonstrate your expertise to a range of potential employers.

Chef is a popular server configuration software program that businesses use to automate their services. They offer five "badges" or certification levels that describe your proficiency in developing networks and programs using Chef: Chef Fluency, Cookbook Deployment, Extending Chef, Cookbook Development and Auditing with InSpec.

The certifications cover topics like Chef design theory, workflow management, Ruby programming, custom resources, user roles and system troubleshooting. You can hone your Chef software engineering skills by reviewing the provided assessment guide. Find jobs. Company reviews. Find salaries. Upload your resume. Sign in. Career Guide. To get the certification, you must pass the 1Y exam, which covers 14 topics. The AWS Certified Developer-Associate is an online programming certificate that proves you can design, build and maintain applications on the Amazon Web Services cloud platform.

This certification shows you have the technical expertise to use AWS software development kits to write code to improve AWS application performance and make changes within the applications.

With more businesses adopting cloud-based applications, the demand for AWS Certified Developer certification has increased.

The expansion of mobile games and applications that depend on the cloud is also driving its popularity. This qualification has no prerequisites, but AWS suggests hands-on experience for six months. The exam covers 40 to 60 questions on AWS fundamentals, developing and running cloud-based applications, security and others. This credential is important to companies hiring AWS certified architects. The exam covers topics like designing in AWS, inputting and exporting data in AWS, how to select the right AWS solution for specific scenarios and cost-control strategies.

There is no prerequisite for the exam, but AWS suggests a minimum of six months of hands-on experience with their cloud platform. This certification provides you have intermediate-level training on foundational software security issues covering application, data, host, network and operations.

This certificate requires adequate preparation, as even a few years of experience may not be enough to pass the rigorous questions. The exam will test your knowledge of secure software development, encryption, access control and other security-related topics. Cloudera Certified Developer for Apache Hadoop is a valued credential in the data mining profession.

It is offered by Cloudera, a firm that provides Apache Hadoop-based solutions for enterprise-level data mining operations. This certificate proves you can create, maintain and improve Apache Hadoop development projects.

It covers Hadoop infrastructure, job mechanics, querying and data management. Like Amazon, Google is investing heavily in the cloud and offers its own certification for people qualified to use its platform. The Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect validates your technical expertise in using the Google cloud platform to design, develop and run apps.