Top Certifications in Cloud Computing for 2026

Introduction

The global cloud computing market has grown massively over the past decade and will only continue to expand and mature. Gartner forecasts worldwide public cloud spending to reach nearly $600 billion by 2023, up from $410 billion in 2022. Furthermore, IDC predicts total worldwide spending on cloud services, the hardware and software components underpinning cloud services, and the professional and managed services opportunities around cloud services will surpass $1.3 trillion by 2025 while sustaining a double-digit CAGR of 16.9%.

Source: IDC Worldwide Whole Cloud Forecast, 2021–2025, US46020821, Aug 2021

This rapid and sustained cloud adoption is driven by the need for increased agility, flexibility, and innovation as digital transformation initiatives accelerate. The pandemic-fueled rise of remote work has further boosted the demand for cloud-based apps and infrastructure. At the same time, cloud-native technologies like containers, Kubernetes, and serverless computing are gaining mainstream adoption.

For IT professionals, this presents a tremendous opportunity. Cloud skills have become essential for many roles and are in high demand by employers across industries. According to Global Knowledge, 40% of IT decision-makers worldwide indicate that cloud computing skills are their top priority. The Cloud has now surpassed Cybersecurity as the most valued skill set in their report.

Source: Global Knowledge 2022 IT Skills and Salary Report

But there‘s also a significant cloud skills gap that‘s hampering cloud progress for many organizations. For example, 63% of IT leaders report a lack of cloud expertise as their biggest challenge in cloud adoption and optimization according to a 2022 Canonical survey. Cloud certifications have emerged as one of the best ways to build in-demand skills, validate expertise to employers, and increase earning potential. Let‘s dive into the top cloud certifications to consider for 2024 and beyond.

AWS Certifications

Amazon Web Services (AWS) pioneered the public cloud market and remains the dominant leader today with 33% market share. AWS offers a robust certification program with 11 different certs across 4 experience levels: Foundational, Associate, Professional, and Specialty.

The most popular and valuable AWS certifications currently are:

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
2. AWS Certified Developer – Associate
3. AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
4. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
5. AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
6. AWS Certified Security – Specialty
7. AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty
8. AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty

According to the Global Knowledge survey, the average salary for an AWS-certified IT professional in North America is $161,409. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate is considered the most essential AWS cert as a foundation. It demonstrates the ability to design and deploy secure and robust applications on AWS. Over 150,000 people worldwide currently hold this certification.

Source: 2021 IT Skills and Salary Report, Global Knowledge

For 2024, expect the AWS Machine Learning and Data Analytics Specialty certs to become even more valuable as organizations pursue AI/ML initiatives. The Cloud has become the de facto platform for building, training, and deploying AI/ML models and AWS continues to innovate with services like SageMaker. The Security Specialty cert will also remain in high demand as cloud security and compliance requirements grow in importance.

The AWS DevOps Engineer – Professional is another cert that will rise in prominence as DevOps practices become standard for agile cloud application development and delivery. This cert requires both the Developer and SysOps Administrator Associate certs as prerequisites, so it validates a broad range of skills across the development and operations spectrum.

Microsoft Azure Certifications

Microsoft was a bit late to the cloud game but has rapidly gained adoption in recent years, particularly among enterprises with deep investments in Microsoft technologies. Azure is now solidly in 2nd place with 22% market share.

Microsoft has redesigned its Azure certification program to be more role-based, focused on the specific skills needed for cloud jobs. Current Azure certifications include:

• Fundamentals: Azure Fundamentals
• Associate: Azure Administrator, Azure Developer, Azure Data Engineer
• Expert: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, DevOps Engineer Expert

The most popular Azure certifications as of 2022 are:

1. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
2. Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
3. Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204)
4. Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP-203)
5. Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)

Expect the Azure Data Engineer Associate to gain more adoption as Azure‘s Big Data and analytics capabilities grow. The Azure Solutions Architect Expert remains the top cert for demonstrating advanced skills across all key aspects of Azure solution design and implementation.

Source: Certification Days

The new DevOps Engineer Expert cert will also become highly sought after as more organizations implement DevOps practices with Azure DevOps (ADO) and Azure services. It requires both the Azure Administrator Associate and Azure Developer Associate certs as a foundation.

Google Cloud Certifications

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) holds a 9% market share, a distant third behind AWS and Azure, but continues to grow rapidly. GCP is a strong challenger and has ardent fans among developers and data scientists who appreciate the platform‘s power, flexibility, and integration with open source tools.

GCP offers a streamlined certification program with 9 certs across 3 levels:

• Foundational: Cloud Digital Leader
• Associate: Associate Cloud Engineer
• Professional: Professional Cloud Architect, Professional Data Engineer, Professional Cloud Developer, Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer, Professional Cloud Security Engineer, Professional Cloud Network Engineer, Professional Machine Learning Engineer

As of 2022, the most valued GCP certifications are:

1. Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect
2. Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer
3. Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer
4. Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer
5. Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

Source: 2021 IT Skills and Salary Report, Global Knowledge

In the coming years, expect the Professional Machine Learning Engineer to become especially prized as more organizations tap into GCP‘s AI/ML capabilities. Tools like AutoML, Vertex AI, and Google‘s Responsible AI framework make it easier to build and deploy ML models on GCP.

The Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer and Professional Cloud Security Engineer will also rise in importance. GCP has a solid foundation in cloud-native technologies and offers powerful DevOps and security tools. SREs, DevSecOps pros, and cloud security specialists would do well to have these certs.

Emerging Cloud Technologies & Certifications

Beyond the foundational IaaS and PaaS services, several key cloud and IT trends are converging to shape the skills and roles needed for the future:

Kubernetes and Containers
Kubernetes has become the standard for orchestrating containerized apps and microservices across cloud and on-premises environments. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation‘s 2021 survey found that Kubernetes use in production jumped from 23% in 2016 to 96% in 2021.

Certifications like Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), and Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) will become increasingly valuable standalone and as a complement to cloud provider certs.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
With IaC, cloud infrastructure is managed and provisioned using code and software development techniques, such as version control and continuous integration. This represents an evolution of IT ops skills and enables the "everything as code" principle behind DevOps.

Source: DevOps School

Tools like Terraform, Ansible, Chef, and Puppet are widely used for IaC, as well as the native IaC offerings from the cloud providers. AWS has CloudFormation, Azure has ARM templates, and Google has Cloud Deployment Manager. Expertise with these tools and practices will be essential for cloud infrastructure roles.

Cloud Security and Governance
With the shared responsibility model of cloud, organizations must adapt their security tools and practices. Cloud security posture management (CSPM), cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP), and cloud access security brokers (CASB) are all key categories.

The major cloud providers offer an array of native security services as well that require specialized skills to implement. Think Amazon GuardDuty, Azure Defender, Google Cloud Armor, etc. Misconfiguration also remains the #1 cause of cloud security incidents, so skills in proper identity and access management, network security, and compliance are critical.

On top of the security certs from AWS/Azure/GCP, vendor-neutral options like (ISC)2‘s Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), SANS Cloud Security Essentials (GCLD), and the Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) will all add value to cloud security pros.

Cloud Cost Optimization
While the cloud brings great benefits, managing cloud spend is an ongoing challenge for organizations. Many simply lack the visibility and governance needed to optimize costs. This is leading to the rise of dedicated Cloud Cost Optimization and FinOps practices.

The FinOps Foundation offers a FinOps Certified Practitioner cert to validate skills in "cloud financial management, cost optimization, and cross-functional cloud governance." Tools like Apptio Cloudability, VMware CloudHealth, Flexera One also have their own training programs. Having FinOps skills will be hugely valuable, especially for cloud architects and leaders.

Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud
The Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report found that 92% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy and 82% have a hybrid cloud strategy. Being able to architect and manage solutions that span AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises resources is increasingly important.

Ansible, Terraform, VMware, and Red Hat OpenShift are some of the most popular tools for multi-cloud management. For hybrid cloud, you have offerings like AWS Outposts, Google Anthos, and Azure Arc that require specialized skills.

Certifications that demonstrate competencies across multiple clouds and hybrid environments will be extremely valuable going forward. Some examples are VMware Certified Professional – Multi-Cloud, Red Hat Certified Architect, and Cisco Certified DevNet Expert.

Example Multi-Cloud Architecture (Source: BMC Blogs)

Serverless and Edge Computing
Two other key trends to watch are serverless and edge computing. With serverless, the cloud provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources, charging only for the actual resources consumed by an application, rather than pre-purchased units of capacity. It‘s growing rapidly in adoption for the efficiency and cost-optimization benefits.

Edge computing brings computation and data storage closer to where data is generated to improve response times and save bandwidth. With the rise of IoT and 5G, the edge cloud market is poised to explode. All the major cloud providers offer edge computing solutions, like AWS Wavelength, Azure Edge Zones, and Google Cloud Edge.

Serverless and edge cloud skills will be increasingly important for cloud app developers and architects to add to their toolbelts. The major cloud providers offer serverless compute certifications like the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder Specialty and Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty.

Conclusion

The cloud skills landscape is evolving rapidly and will look quite different in 2024 than it does today. The foundational skills and certs around cloud infrastructure, security, and app development will remain highly relevant, but Kubernetes, serverless, IaC, FinOps, and multi-cloud will become the norm.

Advanced data, analytics, and machine learning cloud skills will be extremely valuable as data becomes the true currency in the cloud. And as 5G and IoT proliferate, architecting for the edge cloud will be key.

The major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) will still dominate, but expect a more diverse and multi-cloud world with many organizations using 3+ public/private clouds. Cloud roles will become more specialized and diverse as well, with defined career paths emerging for cloud architects, engineers, developers, data specialists, FinOps, security pros, and more.

To thrive in this new world, IT pros and developers should focus on continual learning and hands-on experimentation with cloud technologies. Work to build deep expertise in one area but also pursue skills and certs across the cloud landscape to stay versatile. The most successful cloud pros will be the ones who can connect the dots between business needs and cloud capabilities to drive innovation.

Start pursuing these top certifications and skills today to maximize your earnings and job opportunities in the booming cloud market. Don‘t get left behind by the massive cloud shift that‘s redefining IT careers. Embrace the change, build your cloud superpowers, and enjoy the incredible ride ahead!