14 of the Best Cloud Certifications for 2024

Staffing experts are seeing “overwhelming demand” for cloud architects and other experts in cloud-based technologies. And that demand is making hiring competition pretty fierce. 

With the rate at which this industry is growing, it’s important for leaders and hiring managers to be up to date on what cloud certifications their cloud experts should have—whether that’s existing talent or new hires.  

Read on for the best cloud certifications and how your teams can benefit from them! 

Benefitting from Cloud Certifications

Cloud certifications are helpful for two key reasons: 

Reason #1: You have a skills gap within your tech teams but with a competitive hiring market, you’re struggling to fill open positions.  

Rather than relying on new hires, it’s time to upskill or reskill existing workers. Certifications can provide existing talent with the knowledge and resources they need to cover any skills gaps, without making a new hire.  

Reason #2: You’re not having issues sourcing candidates, but you are struggling to find the right match.  

When vetting candidates, a great place to start is by evaluating their list of certifications. Not only will this give insight into how well-versed they are in cloud technologies, it will also help you assess whether they’re the right fit for your organization’s needs.  

14 Best Certifications for Cloud Technologies 

Whether you need to upskill existing talent or vet new candidates—these certifications will help you build teams proficient in cloud solutions. 

3 Vendor-Neutral Cloud Certifications 

Vendor-neutral indicates that concepts learned are generally applicable to most cloud technologies, rather than being specific to one specific platform. 

CompTIA Cloud+  

CompTIA offers an excellent vendor-neutral option for learning cloud architecture and design. It educates candidates on disaster recovery, automation and virtualization, and information security within cloud technologies. 

Cloud Security Alliance: Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK)  

Widely recognized as the “standard of expertise for cloud security” this vendor-neutral certification boosts understanding of securing data in the cloud. CCSK is essential for a strong foundation of cloud technologies knowledge and is also helpful when earning additional certifications. It covers IAM, cloud incident response, application security, data encryption, and other concepts necessary to build a holistic security program. 

Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) 

Offered through (ISC2), CCSP ensures your technicians are well-versed in cloud computing security and information security. The certification teaches technicians how to use best practices to design, manage, and secure data and infrastructure in the cloud. 

11 Vendor-Specific Cloud Certifications 

Vendor-specific indicates that concepts learned are relevant primarily—or sometimes only—to the platform offering the certification. For example, AWS certifications teach cloud concepts suited primarily to cloud operations within Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (CSAA) 

Specific to Amazon Web Services (AWS), this certification is best for technicians with at least one year of experience. Technicians will learn how to build and deploy secure applications in AWS, offer implementation guidance to AWS throughout the lifecycle of a project, and manage SaaS applications. 

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional 

This is the next level up from AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate and will further develop knowledge learned in that certification. The professional level credential applies skills and concepts to providing complex solutions to complex problems, as well as optimizing security, cost, and performance. 

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner 

This vendor-specific certification will provide foundational understanding of AWS cloud concepts, services, and terminology. It is considered an excellent starting point for those who are unfamiliar with AWS-specific cloud processes and concepts, and it provides basic AWS Cloud Fluency. 

Google Associate Cloud Engineer 

This vendor-specific certification enables cloud engineers to deploy applications, monitor operations, and manage enterprise solutions. It will also teach them how to set up a cloud solution environment as well as plan and configure access and security and ensure successful operation. 

Google Cloud Digital Leader 

This is a valuable certification for strategic leaders within your tech teams. Cloud Digital Leader will help them “articulate the capabilities of Google Cloud core products and services” to teams in and out of the tech department. The certification will also help them successfully convey the ways cloud solutions can support the enterprise. 

Google Professional Cloud Architect 

Skills learned through this Google certification will help cloud architects design, develop, and manage robust, secure, scalable, and dynamic solutions to drive business objectives. 

Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer 

This is great for professionals looking to step into a cloud DevOps engineer role or build upon existing cloud DevOps knowledge. Cloud technicians will learn how to: build software delivery pipelines, manage incidents, and deploy and monitor services. This certification is vendor-specific and is relatively niche, so it’s best for those working within the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). 

Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer 

Security engineers are integral to keeping the data within your cloud solutions secure. Building upon the associate level of this certification, engineers will improve their ability to configure access and manage operations within a cloud solution environment, ensure compliance, configure network security, and ensure data protection. 

IBM Certified Technical Advocate – Cloud v4       

This certification is an excellent option for technicians with one year or less of experience. It provides an ‘Introduction to the Cloud’ and covers IBM Cloud Fundamentals and other foundational concepts such as computing options, storage, networking, and security. It also explores how to build multi-cloud applications. 

Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

This certification covers Azure cloud computing concepts, models, and services, for public, private, and hybrid cloud. It is highly comprehensive and can be useful for technicians working in infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). 

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

This certification is useful for technicians with existing expertise in an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment—specifically implementing, managing, and monitoring networks, storage, security, and governance. Azure Administrator Associate will build upon these concepts and deepen understanding of implementing and managing storage, identities and governance, configuring virtual networking, and maintaining Azure resources.    

Use Certified Cloud Experts 

As data storage becomes more and more reliant on cloud technologies, your organization needs teams proficient in designing, managing, and securing your cloud applications and the data within them. Use these certifications to keep your teams up to date on evolving best practices. 

And for help finding and vetting new talent equipped with certifications outlined in this list, give Insight Global a call.