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How Hadoop Certification is Your Passport to High-paying Jobs

How Hadoop Certification is Your Passport to High-paying Jobs

‘How much education and practice is enough when it comes to a job whose starting salary is regularly reported around $300,000 per year? This is where a formal industry certification would be most valuable, giving businesses a known yardstick by which to measure practitioners of the trade.’ – A quote from Cloudera with regard to its data analytics program

Today’s job market is really saturated, and there are telltale signs of it everywhere from California to Chennai. There is immense competition and if you don’t have any specialization to show in your CV then chances are that you will not even be considered for the job post that you have been aspiring to grab.

Well, this blog post delves deeply into the aspect of getting the right Big Data Hadoop Certification in order to take your career from one that is just normal to one that is highly enviable. At Intellipaat, we get a lot of queries regarding the importance of a Hadoop Certification in fast-tracking the career of a busy IT professional. So, we thought it is only natural to write a blog on it in order to share our ideas and insights to the world at large.

Importance of Hadoop Certifications

As we have said in our previous blogs, we would like to reiterate here that Big Data Hadoop will be used in enterprises cutting across industry sectors and the demand for qualified Hadoop professionals will only increase in the days to come. Check this incisive blog post, All you wanted to know about the Big Data Hadoop Universe. So, the natural question to arise is, ‘How will recruiters come to know whether you have the right set of Big Data Hadoop skills that the business enterprise needs?’ It is also a fact that the number of resumes that reach top corporations around the world goes up to tens of thousands for a handful of Hadoop job postings. So, it is a no-brainer that having the right Hadoop Certification can really help you stand out from the crowd. Now that we are convinced about the importance of the certification in a crowded job market, let us go a bit deeper.

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According to International Data Corporation (IDC)the revenue generated from Big Data Analytics is anticipated to reach more than $203 billion by 2020.

Cloudera and Hortonworks are the two big behemoths when it comes to the Hadoop ecosystem, and their certifications are equally revered in the Big Data industry. But, the most important aspect of getting the certification is that it puts a stamp of approval on your CV by the industry benchmark organizations like Cloudera or Hortonworks.

Today’s busy IT professionals are perennially short of time, and this adversely affects their chances of growing in their career as they have no time to keep pace with and master the latest changing technologies or tools in the jobs market. Learn all about Job roles and responsibilities of a Big Data Hadoop professional in this insightful blog. Now online professional training and certification institutes come as a godsend to such busy forward-thinking IT professionals.

Certification in Bigdata Analytics

A Certified Hadoop Administrator can earn an average salary of $123,000 per year – Indeed

Going for a self-paced training in Big Data Hadoop technology means that you can learn at your own pace and at leisure, while at the same time you have the solid backing of the online training institute that will help you with whatever queries you might have regarding your course curriculum by providing you access to qualified and experienced trainers in Big Data Hadoop. Thus, your training will be complete in every possible way.

After all that training, what is important is that you clear the Hadoop Certifications. And the best part is that these online training organizations will train you for clearing the Hadoop certifications as well. Finally, it is up to you whether to go for the Hadoop Certifications to take your career to the next level.

How Do Hadoop Certifications Test Your Skills?

Here are some of the ways in which the Hadoop certifications like the Cloudera Hadoop Certification will test your knowledge and make you industry-ready by:

  • Checking your knowledge of the two key pillars of Hadoop: HDFS and MapReduce
  • Evaluating your proficiency in writing complex MapReduce programs in Java and other languages
  • Creating an efficient Hadoop cluster that is easily deployable, scalable, and resilient
  • Determining your working knowledge of data analytics using Hadoop components like Hive and Pig
  • Analyzing your knowledge of Hadoop best practices when it comes to development and debugging
  • Checking your understanding on Hadoop 2.0 skills like YARN concepts and principles
  • Evaluating your knowledge on Hadoop advanced concepts like indexing and its usage
  • Knowing your hands-on experience in working on Hadoop real-time projects

According to a survey report by the Computing Technology Industry Association, recruiting companies show more interest toward the certified candidates than others.

Cloudera Certifications

Cloudera is authoritative in the Big Data Hadoop domain. This certification helps you design and develop data pipelines which will test your skills in data ingestion, analysis, and storage. Top three certifications in Cloudera are listed below, and you can choose the right certification depending on your interest.

1. Big Data Hadoop Developer Certificate

The certification focuses on Spark SQL query and Spark streaming process.

CCA Spark and Hadoop Developer Exam (CCA175)

  • Exam Pattern: 8–12 performance-based (hands-on) tasks on Cloudera Enterprise cluster
  • Time Limit: 120 minutes
  • Passing Score: 70 percent
  • Language: English
  • Price: US$295
  • Required Skills: Data ingest and data analysis

2. CCA Data Analyst

The certification is on data handling which involves data preparation, unstructured data formatting, and data analysis.

CCA Data Analyst Exam (CCA159)

  • Exam Pattern: 8–12 performance-based (hands-on) tasks on a Cloudera Enterprise cluster.
  • Time Limit: 120 minutes
  • Passing Score: 70 percent
  • Language: English
  • Price: US$295
  • Required Skills: Data analysis and preparing the data and providing structure to it

3. CCA Administrator Certification

The certification focuses on installation, configuration, and administration related aspects in Hadoop cluster using Cloudera Manager.

CCA Administrator Exam (CCA131)

  • Exam Pattern: 8–12 performance-based (hands-on) tasks on pre-configured Cloudera Enterprise cluster
  • Time Limit: 120 minutes
  • Passing Score: 70 percent
  • Language: English
  • Price: US$295
  • Required Skills: Install, configure, manage, secure, test, and troubleshoot

Hortonworks Certifications

Hortonworks offers a reputed Hadoop Certification. This certification offers Hadoop tools which can be installed for the enterprise setup. Top three certifications in Hortonworks are listed below and you can choose the right certification depending on your interest.

4. Big Data Hadoop Certification

The certification focuses on data ingestion, data transformation, and data analysis.

HDP Certified Developer Exam (HDPCD)

  • Exam Pattern: The exam consists of tasks that you have to perform successfully on a live cluster
  • Time Limit: 120 minutes
  • Passing Criteria: Performance based
  • Language: English
  • Price: US$250
  • Required Skills: Data ingestion, data transformation, and data analysis

5. HDP Apache Spark Developer Certification

The certification exam is for developing Spark applications through Spark Core and Spark SQL using Scala or Python.

HDP Certified Spark Developer (HDPCSD) Exam

  • Exam Pattern: The exam consists of tasks that you have to perform successfully on a live cluster
  • Time Limit: 120 minutes
  • Passing Criteria: Performance based
  • Language: English
  • Price: US$250
  • Required Skills: Core Spark and Spark SQL

6. Hadoop Admin Certification

The certification is for administrative jobs in Hadoop cluster.

HDP Certified Administrator Exam (HDPCA)

  • Exam Pattern: The exam consists of tasks that you have to perform successfully on a live cluster
  • Time Limit: 120 minutes
  • Passing Criteria: Performance based
  • Language: English
  • Price: US$250
  • Required Skills: Installation, configuration, and troubleshooting

Get Your Hadoop Certification Now!

By now, you might have convinced of the importance of Hadoop Certifications. Here are some salient features of these certifications to make your choice simpler:

  • Organizations are keenly looking for certified professionals while sifting through thousands of Hadoop CVs
  • These certifications are a valid proof that you have worked on real-world industry projects
  • Since it is an industry-led certification, it means that you are aware of what is latest in Hadoop
  • You can show your specialization by taking the certification exam that is meant for a specific Hadoop technology
  • The best part is that anybody can take the certification exam and qualify regardless of their educational or work background which is one of its greatest benefits. A Hadoop professional is expected to build and work on Hadoop clusters, create the right applications, do the needed coding and designing, and have hands-on proficiency in working with Hadoop architecture, its various components, and the Hadoop ecosystem.

Become a Big Data Architect

The right Hadoop certification is your passport for getting the most coveted jobs in the industry regardless of business vertical. A Cloudera Certification like the CCA Spark and Hadoop Developer Certification (CCA175) thoroughly tests your knowledge and proves beyond doubt that you have the right knowledge when it comes to implementing the most desired skills in an industry setup.

The CCA175 Certification is one of the most popular and sought-after certifications in the Big Data Hadoop world. The reason is simple, having the CCA175 Certification means that you are totally well-versed in both Hadoop and Spark since it is a testimony of proficiency in both. Another plus point of the Cloudera Certification is that the parent organization Cloudera goes to great lengths to phase out technologies that are no longer in demand or certification curriculum that is no longer in favor and replaces them with the ones that are most in demand thus ensuring that Cloudera Hadoop Certification is always kept up-to-date and as per the industry requirement making it worthwhile to pursue the Cloudera Certifications.

These Hadoop Certifications are also a testimony that you know the industry recognized and accepted ways of working on Hadoop framework and, most importantly, have retained the knowledge gained. It also certifies that you are updated with the latest changes in the Hadoop milieu and are completely at ease when it comes to deploying those on real-world projects.

About the Author

Technical Research Analyst - Big Data Engineering

Abhijit is a Technical Research Analyst specialising in Big Data and Azure Data Engineering. He has 4+ years of experience in the Big data domain and provides consultancy services to several Fortune 500 companies. His expertise includes breaking down highly technical concepts into easy-to-understand content.