We’ve narrowed IT certifications into specific categories to help IT professionals assess what’s available and pursue the best certifications to show their willingness to learn and develop the in-demand career skills employers want.

Best database certifications 

Database platforms have changed greatly over the years, but database technology remains important for various applications and computing tasks. Available certifications for IT professionals include those for database administrators (DBAs), database developers, data analysts and architects, business intelligence, and data warehousing specialists, and other data professionals.

Obtaining database certifications demonstrates an understanding of database concepts, design, implementation, administration and security. This can boost your credibility in the job market and show potential employers that you have the skills needed to work with databases. The best database certifications include the following:

Best SAS certifications 

SAS is one of the world’s leading firms for business analytics, data warehousing and data mining. Today, the SAS Global Certification Program offers 23 credentials across categories including foundation tools, advanced analytics, business intelligence, data management and administration.

SAS programmers remain in high demand, with a quick search of job boards showing thousands of open positions. Obtaining SAS certification shows employers that you are proficient in the company’s popular suite of tools. Some of SAS’s certification programs include the following: 

Many professionals earn certifications to help navigate their career paths. According to the IT Salary Report, 92 percent of information technology professionals have at least one certification.

Best Cisco certifications 

Cisco Systems is a market leader not only in networking and communications products, but also storage networking and solutions for data centers. Cisco offers a variety of certifications for IT professionals, ranging from entry level credentials to expert-level exams. 

These certifications prepare professionals for Cisco-related careers. A search of job boards reveals thousands of open positions for Cisco experts, underscoring the continued relevance of these skills. Some of Cisco’s certifications include the following:

Best Dell certifications 

Dell Technologies remains one of the world’s leading computing companies. In addition to its well-known hardware lineup, Dell also offers solutions for networks, storage, servers, gateways and embedded computing, as well as a broad range of IT and business services.

Becoming certified in Dell products can help make IT professionals competitive in engineering roles for server, virtualization, networking, systems, integration and data security. Additional roles include consultants, account executives, system administrators, IT managers and deployment managers.

Best mobility certifications 

In the mobile era, it has become increasingly important for network engineers to support local, remote and mobile users, as well as provide proper infrastructure. The focus on application and app development now leans more toward mobile environments, requiring security professionals to thoroughly address mobility from all perspectives.

Due to the fast-changing nature of mobile technology, not many mobility certifications have become widely adopted. However, a few of the top mobility certifications can help IT professionals stand out in this rapidly evolving field. 

If part of your job includes selling and implementing an IT solution, you may want to pursue the best sales certifications. You’ll show your organization that you’re willing to go above and beyond to reach sales targets.

Best computer hardware certifications 

As remote and computer-based work has become more common, it’s more important than ever that businesses and individuals be able to maintain their hardware. While discussions about potential computer-related jobs often revolve around software work and coding, jumping into the IT field by becoming a computer technician is an excellent starting point.

Today, thousands of hardware technician jobs are available across the country. Entering this industry becomes more accessible for those who acquire computer hardware certifications. These certifications can showcase your expertise and proficiency in the upkeep of computers, mobile devices, printers and other hardware components.

Best Google Cloud certifications 

IT pros with solid cloud computing skills continue to be in high demand as more companies adopt cloud technologies. Today, Google Cloud is one of the market leaders in the cloud computing space. 

Regardless of where you are in your IT career, engaging with certification programs can demonstrate your willingness to keep on top of rapidly evolving cloud technologies. To that end, Google has introduced a host of certifications for its cloud platform, including the following: 

Best evergreen IT certifications

In the fast-changing world of technology, it can help to focus on certifications that have stood the test of time. “Evergreen” refers to certifications that remain popular year after year. 

The top evergreen certifications are based on accurate pay surveys in IT, reports from IT professionals about certifications they want or pursue the most, and those that appear most frequently in online job postings. Obtaining these credentials is one step toward ensuring that your skills remain relevant for a long time: 

Best IT governance certifications 

IT governance provides structure for aligning a company’s IT with its business strategies. Organizations faced with compliance rigors always need experienced IT pros who can see the big picture and understand technology risks. This means certified IT governance professionals are likely to remain in high demand.

Earning one of the following certifications proves a commitment to understanding the role of IT governance and its position in a company’s current and future success. Getting certified can validate your expert knowledge and lead to advanced career opportunities.

Best system administrator certifications 

An IT system administrator is responsible for managing and maintaining the information technology infrastructure within an organization. The position demands sought-after career skills, ranging from configuring and maintaining servers and clients to managing access controls, network services, and addressing application resource requirements.

If you’re in charge of managing modern servers, there’s a long list of tools and technologies that system administrators must master. Obtaining some of the most prominent system administrator certifications can demonstrate your mastery to potential employers. 

Best ITIL certifications 

ITIL, or Information Technology Infrastructure Library, was developed to establish standardized best practices for IT services within government agencies. Over the ensuing four decades, businesses of all types embraced, modified, and extended ITIL, shaping it into a comprehensive framework for managing IT service delivery. 

The ITIL framework remains the benchmark for best practices in IT service and delivery management, offering certification programs that cater to IT professionals at all levels. These training and certification courses ensure that IT professionals stay well-prepared for the ongoing evolution in IT service delivery management. There are four certifications in the ITIL certification program:

Best enterprise architect certifications 

An IT enterprise architect is responsible for designing and managing the overall structure and framework of an organization’s information technology system. Enterprise architect certifications are among the highest that an IT professional can achieve; fewer than 1 percent ultimately reach this level. 

Enterprise architects are among the highest-paid employees and consultants in the tech industry. These certifications can put IT professionals on a path to many lucrative positions. The average worker earns over six figures annually. Some top enterprise architect certifications are listed below:

To become an enterprise IT architect, you’ll need knowledge of systems deployment, design and architecture, as well as a strong business foundation.

Best CompTIA certifications

CompTIA is a nonprofit trade association made up of more than 2,000 member organizations and 3,000 business partners. The organization’s vendor-neutral certification program is one of the best recognized in the IT industry. Since CompTIA developed its A+ credential in 1993, it has issued more than two million certifications.

CompTIA certifications are grouped by skill set and focus on the real-world skills IT professionals need. Armed with these credentials, you can demonstrate that you know how to manage and support IT infrastructure. 

Best Oracle certifications 

A longtime leader in database software, Oracle also offers cloud solutions, servers, engineered systems, storage, and more. The company has more than 430,000 customers in 175 countries. 

Today, Oracle’s training program offers six certification levels that span 16 product categories with more than 200 individual credentials. Considering the depth and breadth of this program — and the number of Oracle customers — it’s no surprise that Oracle certifications are highly sought after. 

Vendor-specific certifications address a particular vendor’s hardware and software. For example, you can pursue Oracle certifications and Dell certifications to become an expert in those companies’ environments.

Best business continuity and disaster recovery certifications

Business continuity and disaster recovery keep systems running and data available in the event of interruptions or faults. These programs bring systems back to normal operation after a disaster has occurred.

Business continuity and disaster recovery certifications are seeing a healthy uptrend as new cloud-based tools grow in popularity. While business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning have always been essential, they’re becoming more critical than ever — and IT certifications are following suit.

Cisco has unveiled its natural language-based AI Assistant for Security aimed at helping enterprise customers better assess security situations, eliminate configuration errors and automate complex tasks.

The Cisco AI Assistant for Security will first be implemented as part of the vendor's cloud-based Firewall Management Center and Cisco Defense Orchestrator services. Cisco’s Firewall Management Center is a centralized platform for configuring, monitoring, troubleshooting and controlling Cisco Firepower Next-Generation Firewalls. The orchestrator platform lets customers centrally manage, control and automate security policies across multiple cloud-native security systems.

Among the goals of the AI Assistant are to reduce the time it takes for customers to respond to potential threats and simplify the entire security process.

"Using natural language, an administrator can iterate with the AI Assistant to do things like discover and identify all the policies that control access to an application, define a new policy or rule for the administrator, and implement the policy," said Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and general manager of security and collaboration at Cisco, in a blog about the news.

"The AI Assistant can also identify duplicate or misconfigured security policies from amongst thousands of existing policies and make recommendations for resolving them. To me, this is mind-blowing, because this is a level of intelligence that just isn't possible without AI," Patel stated.

In addition, Patel said the security assistant will let customers describe and contextualize events across email, the web, endpoints, and the network to tell security operation center analysts exactly what happened, the impact, and best next steps to take to remediate problems and set new policies.

Cisco first talked about the security assistant at its Live event in June, saying an AI-based assistant will provide easy-to-use situation analysis for network and security teams, correlating intelligence across the Cisco Security Cloud and relaying potential impacts; going forward, customers "won't need to have a Ph.D. to manage a firewall policy," Cisco stated.

In addition to the Assistant, Cisco added a new security feature across its firewall family that lets security teams see into traffic to look for malware without having to decrypt it first. 

"Decrypting traffic for inspection is resource-intensive and fraught with operational, privacy, and compliance issues," Patel stated. With the 7.4.1 Operating System, which is now available, the system can analyze encrypted traffic to identify indicators of malicious behavior that humans can't, and it does so without decrypting, Patel stated.

"For instance, an insulin pump that's running certain operating systems cannot run an end-point client. If it gets attacked by malware that communicates with the outside world via encrypted traffic, you can lose control of the insulin pump," Patel wrote. "With Encrypted Visibility Engine, you can now block this at the firewall."

Video Gains New Ground

If the explosion of social media in the business world has told us anything, it's that younger generations can certainly shake things up in the workplace.

And just as it did with Facebook and Twitter, a new generation of managers is about to make videoconferencing in the enterprise more prevalent than ever.

According to Cisco's 2013 Global Young Executives' Video Attitudes Survey -- which surveyed more than 1,300 global executives under the age of 34 -- business-class video solutions are poised to take off big time over the course of the next five years. Here are a few of the study's most telling, and most shocking, findings.

Executives Are Planning For Video Now

If Cisco's findings prove anything, it's that the number of young executives planning to use video over the next five to 10 years is far from insignificant.

The survey found that three out of five executives under the age of 34, or roughly 61 percent of the survey-takers, have plans to leverage business-class video more heavily in the future. That number was even greater among workers who aspire to manage large teams -- meaning those with 51 or more members -- with 70 percent of those respondents saying they plan to adopt video in five to 10 years.

Video's 'Significant And Positive' Impacts

According to Cisco's findings, young executives are embracing video for a number of reasons, with 87 percent of overall respondents believing the technology will have a "significant and positive impact" on their organization.

The most common benefits of video cited by respondents were practicing visual cues, to "be there" with colleagues and clients without travelling, and to share content in realtime. Other common benefits included reducing travel costs and enhancing the experience for telecommuters.

In addition, nearly nine out of 10 young executives said a company's investment in video is taken into consideration when they are looking at job offers. According to Cisco, respondents said that enterprisewide commitment to video technology makes them "feel like the company cares about using technology to fuel business growth."

Video Critical For Global Businesses

Besides reduced travel costs and more "face time" with clients, Cisco's survey-takers said a major benefit of video is helping global organizations overcome language barriers.

In fact, of those respondents who said they've been challenged by language differences in their organizations, 94 percent of them said video could help. According to these executives, video helps overcome language differences by giving conference attendees visual cues, and allowing them to notice when others don't understand a concept. Video, versus voice solutions, tend to give conference-goers a better feel of how the conversation is going, and if everyone is on the same page, survey-takers said.

Video In The Future

While Cisco's survey proved young executives have big plans for video, it also showed there are capabilities those executives would like to see in video solutions that they don't see today.

Fifty-four percent of respondents, for example, expressed an interest in being able to customize their video experience to a greater extent. Types of customization they're interested in include cutting a video recording from a meeting to share via social media tools, or being able to privately watch or scan content from earlier in a meeting to catch up after joining the meeting late.

Twenty-one percent of respondents said they are interested in realtime language translations -- i.e., closed captioning for telepresence -- or pop-up bubbles that pull up background information on participants' LinkedIn.

Keeping It Simple

The majority of young executives surveyed plan to use video over the next five to 10 years. But many of them also said they would use it more today if it were as simple to use, and as a pervasive, as other enterprise communication tools, like desk phones, mobile devices or email.

According to Cisco, 84 percent of survey-takers said they'd leverage video today for at least one out of every four interactions if it were easier to use and more readily available. Meanwhile, 53 percent considered themselves "would-be power users," who would use video for 50 to 100 percent of their non-face-to-face interactions if the technology were more pervasive.

Quality Counts

As much as young executives value video, they also get fed up when its quality is low, Cisco's study found.

The majority of respondents, in fact, said they would rather not use video solutions at all than use them when performance seemed sub-par. According to the study, only 25 percent of respondents said low-quality video would be acceptable for internal meetings, 12 percent said it would be acceptable for customer meetings, and even a slimmer 10 percent said they would use a low-quality video solution for "critical communications," meaning conferences with board members or C-level executives.

Camera Shy

While video may be the enterprise communication tool of the future, there are some instances, Cisco's study found, when employees shy away from the technology.

According to Cisco, the top five reasons for a young executive to opt out of a video call were having a messy office, personal appearance concerns, wanting to multitask, needing to eat, or just being generally uncomfortable on video.

VMware embraces DPUs to stretch the use of CPUs

VMware eases the use of SmartNICs based on digital processing units to handle networking, security, storage, and other processes, freeing up enterprise-server CPU cycles.

By Michael Cooney

Oct 04, 2022 5 mins

VMwareEnterprise StorageCloud Computing