Big Data Certifications: Finding The One That Works For You

Anyone who’s worked in IT for more than a minute knows that the ability to keep up with fast-changing technologies can make or break your career. This is particularly true right now for anyone whose job involves working with applications related to big data, business intelligence, and business analysis.

Tech vendors typically offer a wide range of big data certification programs to help you master your use of their products and services. Conventional wisdom has it that developing your expertise and becoming certified in certain tools will help advance your own career.

But there are only so many hours in a day, and those hours include doing your day job. Deciding which big data vendor certifications are right for you to pursue can feel a bit like navigating a maze.

Vendors including IBM, HP, Oracle, EMC, and Cloudera are among those offering certification programs for IT professionals working with big data. Some are geared to folks working in the channel, or as consultants, while others are targeted toward the end user. We can’t tell you which to choose -- that depends on a number of variables, including your position, the demands of your current work situation, whether or not you have access to tuition support, and what your long-term goals are.

What we can do is provide you with a selected list of the vendor certifications available.

On the following pages, you’ll find details on various vendor certification programs, including what they offer, how much they cost, and what kind of letters you’ll be able to put on your business card upon completion of the programs. Check out the latest big data vendor certification programs featured here, and let us know what you think.

Did we miss any that are crucial to working with big data? Have you pursued certification in any areas of IT during your career? If so, how has it helped you? If not, tell us why. We’re waiting to hear from you in the comments section below.

Certification Name: EMC Data Science Associate (EMCDSA)

Description: Suitable for candidates seeking roles as Data Analysts and Data Scientists. Covers activities such as analyzing and exploring data using "R" tools, preparing and evaluating data models using statistics, tools, and technologies applicable for advanced analytics, operationalizing analytics projects, and using data visualization techniques with various data models.

Prerequisites: None

Exam(s): E20-007 Data Science and Big Data Analytics (60 questions, 90 minutes)

Approx. Cost for Exam: $200, administered by Pearson VUE

Available Courses: Data Science and Big Data Analytics

Self-Study Materials Available in VIDEO-ILT DVD ($600), VIDEO-ILT Streaming Starter Kit ($600), VIDEO-ILT USB FLASH DRIVE ($700), Instructor-Led ($2,700) And V-Subscription: Access to entire Training Library ($5000). Click here for details.

Online Practice Test: Click here (Login credentials required)

Certification Name: IBM Certified Solution Advisor - Big Data & Analytics

Description: For candidates interested in demonstrating their understanding of basic concepts of big data and analytics, identifying customer requirements, and suggesting relevant solutions. Covers skills in big data and analytics solution design principles, architectures, solutions, and processes, as well as maturity models and adoption models.

Prerequisites: While knowledge of IBM products is recommended, it is not required.

Exam: C2030-136: Foundations of IBM Big Data & Analytics Architecture V1 (58 questions, 90 minutes, 70% passing marks required). Details are available here.

Approx. Cost for Exam: $200

Certification Name: HP Vertica Big Data Accredited Solutions Expert (ASE) for Vertica Big Data Solutions Administrator V1

Description: Helps Vertica DBAs and partners demonstrate their knowledge and experience working with the Vertica Analytics Platform. Based on the ability to analyze, diagnose, troubleshoot, and optimize Vertica performance. Includes advanced administrative tasks, such as manual projection design, diagnostics, advanced troubleshooting, and database tuning. Details available here.

Prerequisites: None

Exam: HP2-N45 Exam - HP Vertica Big Data Solutions v7.x Advanced Administration (60 questions, 100 minutes).

Approx. Cost For Exam: $200

Available Courses: HP Vertica Advanced Performance Tuning

Self-Study Materials: HP Vertica Analytics Platform Product Documentation; and HP-Vertica Training (Instructor Led Training, Virtual Classroom Training) for Vertica Essentials, Vertica Advanced Analytics, and Performance Tuning.

Certification Name: Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11g Certified Implementation Specialist.

Description: Helps professionals demonstrate their solution-implementation capabilities with Oracle Business Intelligence Suite. Covers skills such as installation, building the BI Server metadata repository, building BI dashboards, constructing ad hoc queries, defining security settings and configuring and managing cache files. Oriented towards members of the Oracle Partner Network involved in selling and implementing Oracle Business Intelligence technology. While Oracle does provide addtional training for its Big Data Appliance and NoSQL Database, there are no relevant certification exams for those topics. Details available here.

Prerequisites: None

Exam: 1Z0-591 - Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11g Essentials (75 questions, 120 minutes).

Approx. Cost for Exam: $245

Available courses: BOOTCAMP: Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g Implementation (available to partners only).

Self-study Materials: Additional training material, including hands-on practice and on-the-job experience for performing tasks, with other classroom, live virtual class, training-on-demand, self-study, practice exams and more are available here.

Certification Names: SAS Certified Predictive Modeler using SAS Enterprise Miner 7 Credential; SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling Credential.

Description: Miner 7 is focused on data miners interested in predictive modelling and analytics. Helps candidates demonstrate their skills in preparing data, building, assessing, and implementing predictive models, and developing and implementing scores for data sets. Regression and Modeling is focused on SAS professionals using SAS/STAT software for performing complex statistical data analysis. In addition to data-mining tools, SAS has newer, big data-oriented products, such as SAS Lasr Server, SAS Visual Analysis and SAS Visual Statistics, all of which run on a high-scale cluster environment. The company has not yet released certification curriculum for these products. You can find a full list of available certifications here.

Prerequisites: Ability to prepare data, build predictive models, assess models, score new data sets, and implement models.

Exams: For Predictive Modeling Using SAS Enterprise Miner 7 - 1 exam (61 questions, 3 hours); for SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling Credential - 1 exam (60 scored multiple-choice and short-answer questions, 2 hours).

Approx. Cost for Exams: For Predictive Modeling Using SAS Enterprise Miner 7 - $250; For SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling Credential - $180.

Available courses: For Predictive Modeling Using SAS Enterprise Miner 7 - Statistics 1: Introduction to ANOVA, Regression, and Logistic Regression ($1,260 for self-study and $2,100 for classroom training); For SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling Credential - Predictive Modeling Using Logistic Regression ($960 for self-study and $1,600 for classroom training).

Self-Study Materials: For Predictive Modeling Using SAS Enterprise Miner 7 - Self-paced e-learning, e-books, sample exam questions available here; For SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling Credential - Self-paced e-learning, e-books, and sample exam questions available here.

Certification Name: Revolution R Enterprise Certified Specialist

In addition to the corporate certifications detailed on these pages, there are a variety of courses and certifications available from academic institutions, which might be suitable for candidates looking to steer their career towards big data. Additionally, vendors add certifications and courses to their offerings nearly every month. The key challenge for any data enthusiast is to identify a career objective for yourself (big data developer, administrator, or advisor), identify the skill levels required to meet your objective, and look for the certifications that will be worth your money and time.

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