With the demand for data scientists, cloud engineers, and developers reaching an acute level, IBM and Google have separately launched new certification programs.
IBM unveiled a Data Scientist certification, designed to give organization the ability to assess and validate data science skills obtained by professional job candidates through their practical experience. IBM is offering the certifications with The Open Group, a global consortium that develops vendor-neutral technology standards and certifications.
The certifications would be “a globally-recognized, credible, and portable validation that you have the knowledge, skills, and expertise to get the job done,” IBM explained in a blog post.
The certifications will be granted through project work at three levels of certification in the IBM Open Badge Program.
Google’s efforts are focused on four new certifications for cloud developer, cloud network engineer, cloud security engineer, and a G suite certification. The company already had offered certifications for data engineer, cloud architect, and associate cloud engineer.
Google also offers 40 on-demand courses and nearly 300 hands-on labs to help workers develop cloud expertise. Some of the recent courses added to the catalog cover industrial IoT on Google Cloud, and networking and security in the Google Cloud.
Skills in Demand
Hiring managers are well aware that skills in cloud and data science are in high-demand. Job-hunting site Indeed last month reported that job listings for “Google Cloud” jumped by 1,082 percent over the past three years, compared to an 108 percent increase for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a 165 percent increase for Microsoft Azure.
Kubernetes, the open source software offered as a service by all the major cloud providers, was the most requested skill by IT companies, according to a recent report from jobs board Dice.
As for jobs listing “data scientist,” Indeed recently said such postings “rocketed 344 percent” since December of 2013. Also, data scientist postings as a share of all postings on Indeed jumped 29 percent in December, compared with a year earlier.
Data scientists are typically fluent in one or more programming languages used for statistical analysis. Python and R are popular, but data scientists also use Hive, BigQuery, AWS, Spark, and Hadoop. Nearly all have training in statistical modeling and machine learning as well as programming, Indeed said.
Data scientist salaries are among the best in the IT industry. Indeed said the top average salary when adjusted for the cost of living was $123,010 in Houston in 2018, putting it even higher than in San Francisco – at $121,193 – when adjusted for the cost of living.
IBM said that the lack of qualified data scientists “is leaving a great number of organizations across the U.S. starved for the discipline.” There were 151,000 data scientist jobs unfilled nationwide with “acute” shortages in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, LinkedIn reported in August.
In addition to the data scientist certification, IBM announced an internal data scientist apprenticeship program. It is a 24-month program designed for job candidates who may not have a college degree and is designed to provide education, mentorship, and practical experience.
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