There are lots of factors to consider when evaluating potential new tech partnerships. You want to work with providers who are honest, trustworthy, and transparent, but you also need to make sure that they have the skills, capabilities, and qualifications required to get the job done. There’s also turnaround time, availability, communication, experience, and flexibility to take into account.
With all that going on, tech certifications might not even be something that enters into your organization’s internal discussions, but there are some pretty major advantages to working with partners that are certified in the technologies they use. Before going into that, let’s quickly define what tech certifications are:
Tech certifications serve as independent confirmation and validation of an IT practitioner’s skill. To become certified, IT professionals take online exams to prove their competency and skill. These exams are typically issued directly by developers like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, or by membership-based industry groups. There are role-based and specialty certifications for system security, data storage, project management, networking, cloud computing, and more.
Though valuable for qualifying skills, certification is not typically required to work with the technology in question. For example, Flugel has been providing industry-leading cloud infrastructure support for years, but we have only recently made the strategic decision to get our entire team certified in AWS, GCP, Azure, and other key cloud computing and IT security technologies. There are a few reasons why we decided to pursue this – we’ve outlined some of the most important ones below.
As mentioned above, certification is not a requirement for competence. It is incredibly common for uncertified IT professionals to display advanced skills – one of the employees that we are currently certifying in AWS was hired explicitly because of his/her advanced knowledge and expertise within that platform. We were able to identify this talent because we had the existing knowledge to independently verify these skills. By adding a level of professional credibility, AWS certification enables people with no tech background to do the same. This makes it easier to proceed with confidence, particularly when collaborating remotely.
Within the context of cloud computing, tech certifications are typically issued directly by the developer of the platform (Microsoft, AWS, Google, etc.). Once certified, IT practitioners will often be added to a mailing list that sends out key product updates, best practice guidelines, and other important news to its curated pool of recipients.
The aforementioned line of communication is good for more than just product updates and new feature rollouts. Tech certifications provide access to improved customer support, and may even open a direct line to the cloud provider’s help desk. The quality of additional support received depends on the type of certification obtained – over 400,000 tech professionals hold AWS certifications, but these are divided between 11 different cloud-related certifications.
Cloud computing is relatively new but it wasn’t invented yesterday. Skilled senior developers with 10+ years of practical experience may not be familiar with certain features or capabilities that are not explicitly related to their job. The process of obtaining certification in Azure, GCP, or AWS also doubles as a refresher course. Even if the senior developer breezes through the content with little difficulty and obtains certification quickly, the validation process still serves as an important measuring tool.
Cloud certifications are frequently cited as a great way for recent graduates, entry-level IT workers, and even established tech professionals to boost their resumes and take the next steps in their careers. A company’s willingness to encourage team members to certify and support them through the process demonstrates faith in their people. This often leads to increased retention rates. For the end client, this can translate to a more synergetic, cohesive IT team.
We always strive to give our clients every advantage possible. Getting our team certified in AWS, Azure, GCP, and other leading technologies was an easy decision, as it helps boost our performance and improve your peace of mind.
Ready to discover what certified tech talent can do for you?
Schedule a free expert consultation with a certified cloud specialist today.
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