List of Best DevOps Certifications

DevOps is the latest savior that many companies and experts use for efficient software management. The increasing demands and quicker developmental strategies of the IT industry have raised the bar for aspiring DevOps engineers. Exhibiting a firm knowledge background in DevOps operations can be a bit tricky. Self-teaching DevOps curriculum is not rare but is often considered unreliable due to the field’s complex operations.

Enroll Now: DevOps Certification Training Courses

Getting expertise with one of the best DevOps certifications helps the candidates to validate their skills avail the benefits of DevOps in their careers. Also, it gives them a competitive edge over others and thus brings better opportunities. So, to help the DevOps professionals to advance their career, here we bring the list of top DevOps certifications, just go through the list and choose the one as per your skills and knowledge. 

Top 5 DevOps Certifications in 2023

You can take several measures to improve your practices and skills by reading books, taking online courses and certifications, browsing YouTube and other video sources for quality information regarding DevOps infrastructural techniques and management by top DevOps experts. Nothing will eventually beat regular practicing but these guides will help you familiarize yourself with common DevOps terminology and operational guidelines. Gaining real-time experience and validating it with a DevOps certification is all you need to advance your DevOps career.

We have outlined the top popular DevOps certifications to boost up your resume and gather relevant skills and credentials that will help you establish yourself as a DevOps engineering professional:

1. Docker Certified Associate (DCA)

This Docker certification program is for the Docker practitioners with some relevant experience of working with Docker, the DevOps tool. Like other DevOps certifications, the aim of this exam is to provide a valid credential to the Docker practitioners. It officially allows the candidates to practice and serve their skill set to businesses. It’s the perfect certification course for Docker practitioners with at least 6 months of experience.

• Besides skilled Docker accreditation, you also get access to Docker Certified Professional Network on LinkedIn that will help you boost your professional expertise and exclusive invites to certified-only events.
• There will be 55 multiple choice questions that candidates have to answer in 90 minutes.
• The test will cover basic pointers of a Docker ecosystem and its application procedures. Concepts like Orchestration, Security, Networking, Installation and Configuration, Image Creation, Management, and Registry, Storage and Volumes will be tested.
• It costs $195 USD to take the test. You can take the test from your home on a Microsoft Windows or Mac Computer. 

Preparing for Docker Certified Associate exam? Check your current level of preparation with Docker Certified Associate practice tests.

2. Kubernetes Certification

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and the Linux foundation collaborate to organize the Kubernetes certification program to validate professionals working on this software. Kubernetes is one of the top DevOps tools and thus Kubernetes certifications are among the most demanded DevOps certifications.

There are two certification options; The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) programs.

Certified Kubernetes Administrator

• The CKA program tests the skills, knowledge, and proficiency that a Kubernetes Administrator should possess.
• The online exam consists of a performance-based set of problems that the candidate has to solve in a command line within 3 hours.
• The test will focus on knowledge and expertise on general Kubernetes features such as Application Life cycle Management, Configuration, Installation and Validation, Networking, Scheduling, Core Concepts, Security, Cluster Maintenance, Storage, Logging / Monitoring & Troubleshooting.
• CNCF charges $300 USD which includes one free retake.

Certified Kubernetes Application Developer

• This certification is built for professionals that execute core practices of Kubernetes ecosystem. Candidates should know how to design, build, expose and configure native cloud applications for Kubernetes.
• Candidates should be aware of application techniques for OCI-Compliant Container Runtime, Cloud-native application concepts, and infrastructure, programming languages such as Python, Go, or Java.
• This exam will certify a candidate’s experience, skills, application expertise and familiarity with Kubernetes environment.
• The examination type will be similar to that of CKA and candidates have to complete it within 2 hours.
• Candidates have to study Core Concepts, Configuration, Multi-Container Pod, Observability, Pod Design, Services and Networking, State Persistence of Kubernetes ecosystem to successfully qualify CKAD.
• This will cost you $300 USD with an additional free retake.

3. AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional Exam

There are a number of AWS Certifications for the candidates performing different roles and responsibilities in the AWS cloud such as; AWS Solution Architect, AWS Solution Architect Associate, AWS Certified Practitioner, AWS Certified Associate Developer, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional, AWS Data Science Certification, and more other AWS Security Certification. AWS DevOps Engineer Professional certification exam is a professional level exam that recognizes the technical skills and expertise of the candidates to provision, operate, and manage distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform.

• The candidate should have a good understanding of the latest processes and methodologies for the development and operations and have gained some significant experience in building automated infrastructures and administering operating systems.
• The AWS DevOps Engineer Professional exam is a 180 minutes long exam where the candidate may expect 40-65 multiple choice questions. The exam is available in English and Japanese, and the candidate needs to pay a $300 registration fee for the exam.
• The exam recognizes and validates the knowledge of the candidates in various domains such as SDLC automation; Configuration management and Infrastructure as Code; High availability, disaster recovery, and fault tolerance; Incident and event response; Monitoring and logging; Policies and standards automation.
• A definitive preparation guide and set of best preparation resources such as documentation, white papers, books, online course, practice tests, study groups, and discussion forums are mandatory to prepare for the AWS DevOps Engineer Professional exam.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional exam is one of the popular certifications among DevOps professionals working on the AWS platform. Go through this AWS DevOps Engineer Professional preparation guide to give your certification preparation a new edge.

4. AZ-400: Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions Certification Exam

Among the role-based Azure certifications, AZ-400: Microsoft DevOps certification exam validates the skills and expertise of Azure DevOps professionals. The Azure professionals, working as DevOps engineers are mainly aspired to get this certification and so this certification lies in the list of best DevOps certifications.

• This exam is intended for the candidates who are able to design and implement DevOps best practices for the version control, configuration management, build, release, compliance, testing, and infrastructure as code by using Azure technologies.
• It is recommended that one should be familiar with the concepts of Azure development or Azure administration to sit in the Azure DevOps Solutions exam.
• The exam is available in English language and may contain 40-60 multiple choice questions. The candidate needs to pay USD 165 registration fee for the exam.
• The AZ-400 exam analyzes the ability of the candidate to perform a number of tasks such as – Designing a DevOps Strategy, Implementing DevOps Development Processes, Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Application Infrastructure, Dependency Management, and Continuous Feedback
• The aspired candidates can join Born to Learn, the official community of Microsoft to find great content about Microsoft certifications.

In the new role-based Azure certifications, Exam AZ-400 is for the Azure DevOps Engineer role. If you are an Azure professional, follow this AZ-400 exam preparation guide to become a Microsoft Certified Azure DevOps Engineer.

5. Puppet Professional Certification

One of the top DevOps certifications is Puppet 206 – System Administration Using Puppet Exam. This certification exam follows 60 multiple choice questions that you have to answer in 90 minutes online. Cost of this exam is $200 USD, and you will be awarded the credential; Puppet Professional 2019 certification. This certificate will let you be recognized as a Puppet Certified Professional (PCP).

Once you’ve qualified the exam, you will be allowed to operate system infrastructure using Puppet. You can also curate modules like data separation and external data sources. Puppet Language Style Guide can be your bible for familiarizing yourself with Puppet documentation and accepted practices.

It’s important to note that candidates are required to have macro-level knowledge of Puppet IT automation software. For this, candidates can opt for basic introductory courses like Puppet Fundamentals and Puppet Practitioner to gain a significant advantage over others.

Enroll Now: Puppet 206 Online Training Course

The Puppet Exam for 2023 is aimed at deciphering talented candidates on the basis of knowledge acquired under certain objectives;

• Elaboration of classification strategies and ways by which one can set class parameters and variables.
• Troubleshooting strategies for Puppet code and core Puppet platform components.
• Candidates should know how to use the Forge to find and apply modules. Knowledge about module testing practices, module structure, design, and arrangement of roles and profiles.
• Concepts like resource abstraction, idempotence, Puppet facts, and Puppet agent lifecycle should be thoroughly studied and understood.
• Practical operational knowledge of Puppet language, data service capabilities of Hiera, applications of Puppet DB data, and tricks for defining dependencies in Puppet code.
• Applicants should know how to create a Puppet task and execution techniques of Bolt and Orchestrator actions.
• Working knowledge of Puppet environments and code deployment strategies is equally essential for qualifying the exam.
• Puppet reporting capabilities and Puppet infrastructure design are two aspects that candidates should have read thoroughly. They should also know how to configure Open Source Puppet and Puppet Enterprise. 

You can prepare for the Puppet certification exam by opting for Puppet Practitioner Instructor-led training sessions and Puppet Enterprise Users Guide. You can also check the Chef vs Puppet difference, which will be helpful in your exam preparation.

Also Read: Top DevOps Interview Questions

Final Words

So here we’ve brought the ultimate list of the best DevOps certifications for you. It is not difficult to choose the one; whatever the tool or platform you’re expertise in, you can choose that correspondence DevOps certification. It is very important to gain significant real-time hands-on experience with the DevOps tool for which you’re aspired to gain certification. Learn, practice, and get a certification to have a bright DevOps career.

We are aimed to help you in getting certified, and so we provide online courses and practice tests for the DevOps certifications. Check out our DevOps certifications training courses now and join us to have a bright career ahead.

• About the Author
• More from Author

About Dharmalingam N

Dharmalingam.N holds a master degree in Business Administration and writes on a wide range of topics ranging from technology to business analysis. He has a background in Relationship Management. Some of the topics he has written about and that have been published include; project management, business analysis and customer engagement.

• Top 10 Highest Paying Cloud Certifications in 2024 - March 1, 2023
• 12 AWS Certifications – Which One Should I Choose? - February 22, 2023
• 11 Kubernetes Security Best Practices you should follow in 2024 - May 30, 2022
• How to run Kubernetes on AWS – A detailed Guide! - May 30, 2022
• Free questions on CompTIA Network+ (N10-008) Certification Exam - April 13, 2022
• 30 Free Questions on Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900) - March 25, 2022
• How to Integrate Jenkins with GitHub? - March 22, 2022
• How to Create CI/CD Pipeline Inside Jenkins ? - March 22, 2022