Top 10 Data Storage and Management Certifications for IT and Data Professionals
Without a doubt, various networked forms of storage such as storage area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS), virtualized storage, and storage as a service (STaaS) are in high demand worldwide. Similarly, data storage and management professionals in the IT industry possess more important than ever for businesses wanting to manage their bulk data and improve productivity. While the salaries of related professionals, such as storage engineers are consistent and high according to various official resources. According to SimplyHired, the average salary of data storage engineers starts at $76,621 and can go as high as $147,000, an average salary of around $106,000. According to Glassdoor, the national average salary of data management experts is $59,989, while professionals can make as high as $90,000.
Both students and professionals can pursue official, top IT-based certifications, such as NetApp training, to hone their data storage and management skills. Therefore, here we have compiled a list of 10 certifications that you need to acquire to elevate your knowledge and experience in the industry. While both students and working professionals are advised to keep updating their knowledge and skills through advanced IT programs as well, courses that can improve their overall portfolio and open new doors for a lucrative career.
VMware Certified Professional
This VCP certification is a good start to understand and acknowledge virtualization. The certification covers topics on the installation, management, and deployment of VMware vSphere as well as how to accomplish various storage tasks without needing to leave the VMware console. IT professionals agree on the fact that expertise of server visualization is becoming more and more important as the server and storage systems are merging.
Cisco Data Center Storage Networking Design Specialist
This certification teaches how to choose and integrate storage products from Cisco on the basis of the company’s covered architecture vision. Specifically speaking, students learn about the Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Directors and Multilayer Fabric Switches, along with the Cisco NX-OS, Cisco Unified Fabric, Cisco Nexus and Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). When we talk about convergence, networking and storage are the two major components that run hand in hand. Several studies state that Cisco and VMware certifications are quite lucrative with plenty of potential in store. As for the businesses exploring converged infrastructures technologies, most have started to realize that employees who extend their expertise into surrounding areas prove to become important business facilitators.
EMC Proven Professional
A comprehensive certification program incorporated with in-demand topics of data science and big data, cloud architect, data center architect, and storage administrator, besides other product-based tracks. Apparently, the most common data storage and management certification in the market. There is a high chance that the certification will stay in demand after the Dell merger. At the moment, Dell doesn’t focus much on storage training, therefore it makes sense to avail the EMC brand and includes the courses into the entire training content lineup. This EMC certification has been pursued by thousands of customers, employees, partners, subject matter experts, and college students.
NetApp Certified Data Administrators
Students and professionals opting to become a certified data administrator can pursue the NetApp certification as one of the best courses. The certification and its supporting training content cover important topics including the support, administration, and performance management of storage applications operating NetApp’s Data ONTAP OS in CIFS and NFS environments. The primary aim of the certification is to help learners understand the data availability, data recovery, snapshots and performance management regarding NetApp controllers.
Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) Certified Professional
This HDS certification is primarily designed for storage managers within the Hitachi platform. The course will educate you on different topics like business continuity, storage administration, replication, virtualization, and product-focused specifics. Students and professionals can expect to enhance and validate their skills, build their credibility, and acquire peer recognition in the industry.
Brocade Certification
The brocade training program covers the FICON, Fibre Channel (FC) and Ethernet. In other words, students learn about networking hardware, software, and services including internet protocol (IP) networking and SAN solutions for all types of businesses or industries. Overall, the company offers more than 20 certifications in 5 different tracks. While the Brocade certification primarily focuses on the data storage and management, it still holds plenty of potentials to offer unlimited opportunities for both students and professionals in the IT industry.
Oracle/Sun Certification
Professionals working in the Oracle/Sun storage environments can acquire this training through the Oracle University program. The major components of the course cover NAS administration, Pillar Axiom 600 and Tape Storage Administration. Besides the actual data storage and management personnel, this certification can also be availed for various engineered systems associated with a built-in storage component. The course content is meant to help students learn how to deliver fast, reliable performance for applications and databases connected with mission-critical environments.
IBM Certified Storage Specialist
IBM provides a large number of certification programs for both newcomers and seasoned professionals in the field. However, since the demand for data management and storage related topics gathering momentum and the company profile getting more inclined towards a Storage Spectrum lineup, its certifications are increasingly getting highly sought. The certifications include significant topics about midrange to enterprise level storage, flash, Storwize, tape, and various product-based training.
HP Enterprise Storage Certifications
Like IBM, HPE’s lineup is also quite extensive. Learners pursue HP’s certifications to learn about design, management, deployment of multi-site storage, remote application, deduplication, and backup and converged infrastructure.
Storage Networking Industry Association Certifications
There are other options as well besides going to vendors for storage and management training. The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) offers a top Storage Networking Certification Program (SNCP), a vendor-neutral, systems-based course created to educate students on complementing vendor programs. The course structure of the SNCP has been specifically designed to cater the growth and refinement of storage networking technologies in the past few years. While the major topics discuss the storage management, administration, and architecture among other key topics.