Top Certifications for Developers
Why is Certification Important for Developers?
According to the 2014 State of the IT Skills Gap by CompTIA, more than half of businesses (58 percent) report being concerned about the quality and quantity of IT talent available for hire. Certification is a way for developers, software architects, engineers and system administrators to demonstrate their expertise in a particular skill that employers are looking for.
How do you know which certification you should go after? You could start the same way we did—by looking at the highest earners among technology professionals. According to the latest salary survey by Dice, a leading career site for technology and engineering professionals, the top-paying tech skills are:
https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2017#overview
This graphic reflects information up to 08/23/2017. Percentages and amounts are subject to change.
Below you’ll find information on becoming certified in these high-paying and in-demand tech skills. In addition to information about each certifying exam, we’ve also included training materials and resources that can help you become more proficient in each skill area.
SAP Certified Development Associate – SAP HANA 2.0
HANA is an in-memory data platform developed by SAP. With SAP HANA, developers can take full advantage of current hardware capabilities to increase application performance, reduce cost of ownership and enable new scenarios that were not possible before.
As an SAP Certified Development Associate, you will have the potential to stand out as a professional with the skills and knowledge to develop native software applications running on the SAP HANA platform.
| Exam Title | SAP Certified Development Associate – SAP HANA 2.0 |
| Questions | 80 multiple choice |
| Passing Score | 63% |
| Exam Duration | 180 minutes |
| Cost (USD) | $500 |
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SAP HANA Training Materials and Resources
- Introduction to Software Development on SAP HANA – This free and open self-paced course will introduce you to native software development on SAP HANA.
- Application Development for SAP HANA – This four-day course will prepare you to develop software applications running on the SAP HANA platform. Prerequisites include experience of Object Oriented software development, database development and SQL query language.
- SAP Certified Development Associate (SAP HANA 2.0) sample exam questions – The certification exam covers a much broader spectrum of topics, make sure you have familiarized yourself with all topics listed in the exam competency areas before taking the certification exam.
DataStax Professional Certification on Apache Cassandra
Apache Cassandra is a free and open-source distributed NoSQL database management system designed to satisfy the requirements of modern online applications (e.g., low latency, continuous uptime, decentralized nodes, scalable deployments and mission-critical data). Cassandra is used by some of the largest companies in the world, including Apple, Netflix, Sony, Uber and Reddit.
Demand for Apache Cassandra professionals is skyrocketing. According to StackOverflow, the world’s largest online community of developers, Cassandra developers command 31 percent higher salaries, the highest of any database technology. DataStax Professional Certification will place you in good company among thousands of engineers already certified on the industry’s most popular NoSQL database.
This graphic reflects information up to 08/23/2017. Percentages and amounts are subject to change.
| Exam Title | Professional Certification on Apache Cassandra |
| Questions | 60 multiple choice |
| Passing Score | 75% |
| Exam Duration | 90 minutes |
| Cost (USD) | $375 |
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Apache Cassandra Training Materials and Resources
- Free self-paced Cassandra courses – DataStax offers free, self-paced courses that allow you to learn Apache Cassandra and DataStax Enterprise at your own speed.
- Cassandra on StackOverflow – Ask Cassandra-related questions to StackOverflow’s large online community of professional developers.
- Cassandra: The Definitive Guide – This hands-on guide introduces you to the Cassandra database management system and helps you harness its speed and flexibility.
Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) Data Engineer
Cloudera’s Enterprise Data Hub offers enterprises one place to store, process and analyze all their data. Cloudera is also the leading provider and supporter of Apache Hadoop, the go-to framework for large-scale, data-intensive deployments.
The Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) is one of the industry’s most demanding performance-based certifications. CCP Data Engineers are recognized for mastery of the technical big data skills most sought after by today’s employers—namely, the skills to develop reliable, autonomous and scalable data pipelines.
| Exam Title | CCP Data Engineer Exam (DE575) |
| Questions | 5 to 8 customer problems with a unique, large data set and a 7-node high-performance CDH5 cluster. For each problem, you must implement a technical solution with a high degree of precision that meets all the requirements. |
| Passing Score | 70% |
| Exam Duration | 4 hours |
| Cost (USD) | $400 |
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Cloudera Training Materials and Resources
- Cloudera QuickStart Virtual Machine – Single-node virtual machines include everything you need to get started with the Apache Hadoop stack.
- Cloudera Developer Training for Spark and Hadoop – This four-day, hands-on training course delivers key concepts and expertise developers need to work with large datasets.
- Cloudera OnDemand Courses – Learn new skills in big data, and prepare for eventual certification, with over one dozen expertly designed self-paced training courses.
Oracle Platform as a Service (PaaS) Certification
Platform as a service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model in which customers can develop, run and manage applications without building and maintaining the associated infrastructure (i.e., networks and servers). The Oracle Cloud Platform features the largest PaaS portfolio of any cloud vendor, making Oracle’s PaaS Certification a valuable credential for professional developers.
As an Oracle Java Cloud Service Certified Associate, you will be highly sought after for your ability to develop, deploy and migrate Java EE applications, as well as your ability to administer, secure, tune and troubleshoot Java Cloud Service.
| Exam Title | Oracle Java Cloud Service Certified Associate (1Z0-161) |
| Questions | 67 multiple choice |
| Passing Score | 63% |
| Exam Duration | 120 minutes |
| Cost (USD) | $245 |
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Oracle PaaS Training Materials and Resources
- Getting Started with Oracle Java Cloud Service – This tutorial shows you how to create an Oracle Java Cloud Service instance and supporting database by using a QuickStart template.
- Oracle Java Cloud Learning Subscription Channel – Instructional videos and demos that provide high-level overview knowledge and detailed task training for making the most of the Oracle Java Cloud Service.
- Oracle Certification Guide: Overview and Career Paths – Learn more about Oracle’s extensive certification program that includes six certification levels spanning 10 main categories.
Certified OpenStack Administrator
OpenStack is a cloud operating system, mostly deployed as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). Open-source tools use pooled virtual resources to build and manage cloud computing platforms for public and private clouds. With nearly 700 supporting companies across 187 countries, OpenStack is one of the largest and fastest-growing open-source communities in the world.
The Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA) is the first professional certification offered by the OpenStack Foundation, and is intended to help companies identify top talent and job seekers to demonstrate their skills. The exam is intended for OpenStack professionals with at least six months of experience managing an OpenStack cloud environment.
This graphic reflects information up to 08/23/2017. Percentages and amounts are subject to change.
| Exam Title | Certified OpenStack Administrator |
| Exam Format | Hands-on with real OpenStack Environment (exam console is embedded into the browser). |
| Passing Score | 76 |
| Exam Duration | 2.5 hours |
| Cost (USD) | $300 |
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OpenStack Training Materials and Resources
- The OpenStack Training Marketplace – The OpenStack Foundation operates a comprehensive Training Marketplace that features a variety of virtual and in-person training courses.
- Tips for the COA Exam – Everything you need to know about taking the Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA) exam.
- The OpenStack Lab – Get hands-on practice with the OpenStack platform with scenario-based labs from the Linux Academy.
Chef Certification
Chef is a powerful configuration management tool and automation platform that turns infrastructure into code and automates how it’s configured, deployed and managed. Chef helps ensure that files and software are present and properly configured across all servers and machines. “Recipes” and “cookbooks” are written using the Ruby programming language.
To become a Certified Chef Developer (CCD), you must pass three of the following Chef badge exams:
| Badge | Description |
| Basic Chef Fluency Badge | This badge demonstrates the ability to discuss and explain Chef concepts and features. Categories covered in this exam include:
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| Local Cookbook Development Badge | This badge demonstrates the ability to develop a basic Chef cookbook. Categories covered in this exam include:
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| Extending Chef Badge | This badge demonstrates the ability to customize Chef using its plugin architecture. Categories covered in this exam include:
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| Deploying Cookbooks Badge | This badge demonstrates the ability to deploy Chef recipes and manage nodes. Categories covered in this exam include:
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Chef Training Materials and Resources
- Getting Started with Chef – Practical example with real-world applications teach you how to configure, manage and provision cloud serves with Chef.
- Beginners Guide to Chef – Learn more about the main components of Chef, including the Chef Server, cookbooks and nodes.
- Learn Chef Rally – If you’re new to Chef, check out the Learn Chef Rally curriculum and learn how to use the platform through a mix of videos, articles and hands-on labs.
HDP Certified Developer (HDPCD)
The Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) is a massively scalable and completely open source platform that enables enterprises to integrate Apache Hadoop with their existing data architecture in order to store, process and analyze large volumes of data. HDP and its community of developers make Apache Hadoop projects easier to install, manage and use.
The HDP Certified Developer exam is designed for developers working with Hadoop frameworks like Pig, Hive, Sqoop and Flume. The HDPCD exam consists of tasks executed on an actual Hadoop cluster. Developers who pass the HDPCD exam have proven competency and Big Data expertise to employers.
| Exam Title | HDP Certified Developer (HDPCD) Exam |
| Exam Format | Candidates will be given access to an HDP 2.4 cluster along with a list of tasks (usually between 7 and 10) to be performed on that cluster. |
| Passing Score | N/A |
| Exam Duration | 120 minutes |
| Cost (USD) | $250 |
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HDP Certified Developer Training Materials and Resources
- Hortonworks University – This on-demand, self-paced learning library is intended to accelerate time to Hadoop competency and proficiency with the Hortonworks Data Platform.
- HDP Certification Practice Exam – A practice environment that emulates the actual HDP Certification exam environment.
- Interactive Hadoop Tutorials – Experiment and explore the full capabilities of Cloudera Enterprise and learn more about Apache Hadoop in the process.
Puppet Certified Professional
Puppet is an open-source software configuration management tool and enterprise automation platform. Developers, engineers, administrators and systems architects use Puppet to automate repetitive tasks such as deployments and patch installations across the entire enterprise.
Puppet is used by more than 35,000 organizations and more than 75 percent of Fortune 100 companies. As a Puppet Certified Professional, you will validate your system administration experience and increase your credibility in the tech industry.
This graphic reflects information up to 08/23/2017. Percentages and amounts are subject to change.
| Exam Title | Puppet 205 – System Administration Using Puppet |
| Exam Format | 60 multiple-choice questions |
| Passing Score | Passing scores are evaluated and determined individually for each exam, based on the criteria tested and the expected performance of a qualified candidate. |
| Exam Duration | 90 minutes |
| Cost (USD) | $200 |
| Topic Areas |
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Puppet Training Materials and Resources
- Puppet Enterprise User’s Guide – Comprehensive guide to the latest version of Puppet Enterprise, including how to get started using Puppet.
- Puppet Language Style Guide – The Puppet Language Style Guide gives Puppet developers a common pattern, design and style to follow.
- Puppet Cheat Sheet – List of commands and prompts in Puppet.
Becoming a Professional Developer
There’s no shortage of choices when it comes to developer certifications. The certifications on this page represent a small percentage of all the certifications available. In addition to these professional developer credentials, an advanced degree in a computer-related field may also give you the knowledge and skills needed to take your tech career to the next level.
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See which Master in Computer Science program is right for you.