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AWS Launches New Cert for DevOps Engineers
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Inc. on Thursday introduced a new DevOps certification for IT pros.
The new "AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional" certification is designed to validate an IT pro's "technical expertise in provisioning, operating, and managing distributed application systems on the AWS platform," according to AWS evangelist Jeff Barr in a blog post. "It is intended to identify individuals who are capable of implementing and managing systems which are highly available, scalable, and self-healing on the AWS platform."
The concept of "DevOps" is aimed at improving the collaboration between an organization's software development and IT operations, resulting in faster testing, deployment, release and update cycles. This is useful for removing inefficiencies in an organization, as well as improving customer satisfaction with more timely releases.
Barr noted a growing need for IT pros with DevOps expertise as more companies move to the cloud, a notion that is echoed in a recent Rackspace report (PDF) that examined DevOps adoption in organizations across the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
According to Rackspace, "the impact of the internet, cloud computing and open source software have all increased customer expectation, introduced more technology choice and democratised access to massive computing resources. Consequently there is a greater demand for software and services that deliver business value quicker than ever. It is a perfect storm for disruption, and DevOps is increasingly seen as the kind of step change the industry needs to cope with these conditions."
Of the 700 companies Rackspace surveyed, 55 percent have already adopted DevOps, and 31 percent expect to do so by 2017.
Exams for the new AWS DevOps certification are now in beta, and will be available starting next week -- to coincide with the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas -- until mid-December.
Only IT pros that have the achieved either the "AWS Certified Developer - Associate" or the "AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate" certifications are eligible for the new DevOps certification exam. The exam requires IT pros to have at least two years of experience managing AWS environments; knowledge of coding in least one high-level programming language; and experience and understanding of agile development, automation and testing.
More information about the exam requirements, as well as sample exam questions, are available here.