Benefits of Getting a Hadoop Certification

You must have heard about disruptive technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain by now.

16:46 19 April 2020

However, have you tried to figure out why they have become the need of the hour? Companies today believe in making data-driven decisions as it allows them to offer the best-in-class products that align with customer needs. And these are the technologies helping companies achieve their goals. 

Let us focus particularly on Big Data - a term used to describe a massive amount of data, and tools and techniques involved in analyzing it. To harness Big Data, Hadoop is the technology that is being leveraged extensively. Apache Hadoop is an open-source framework designed to process huge sets of data. Using it, companies can mine both structured and unstructured data to extract meaningful patterns from it.

Let us learn why Big Data professionals must have expertise in Hadoop and why they should get Hadoop certified.

Why Get Hadoop Certified?

What do you think is the best way to demonstrate your skills in any subject? Well, one will think of certification in the first place. Hadoop certification has its own importance in today’s competitive job market. Many companies rely on certifications from renowned accreditation bodies to find the right candidate for their open positions. 

Here are some of the top reasons why you should try to achieve a Hadoop certification.

• As data generation is growing exponentially, companies are finding it hard to manage such huge volumes of it and thus finding Hadoop certified professionals to address it.
  
  
• Getting certified will make you capable of managing a wide range of data processing tasks like batch processing, streaming data, and analyzing graphs.
  
  
• Organizations are using Hadoop to conduct data analysis in-house instead of relying on outsourcing it to service providers. As such, skilled Hadoop developers have become an asset to the company.
  
  
• Hadoop certified professionals are also required in the Internet of Things (IoT) projects. IoT is predicted to comprise over 30 billion connected devices, i.e., it has a bright future, and Hadoop certification will allow you to reap its benefits. 
  
  
• The Hadoop Big Data Analytics market is expected to be worth USD 40.69 Billion by 2021. The growing need for big data analytics is driving the adoption of Hadoop technology, indicating the rising need for certified Hadoop professionals.
  
  
• According to Payscale, a certified Hadoop Developer earns an average annual salary of USD 108,000 in the US. So, getting certified will pave your way to higher salary prospects.
  
  
• Payscale further points out that Google, Amazon, Facebook, Sogeti USA LLC, and Deloitte Consulting LLP are the renowned names that hire certified Hadoop Developers. If you have always wanted to work for these companies, getting certified will open their doors for you.
  
  
• Postings for Hadoop jobs keep on increasing every year, and getting certified will make you eligible for many Big Data jobs available across the world.
  
  

Top Hadoop Certifications

After knowing the benefits, you would next think of what are the certifications that can make you a pro in Big Data Hadoop. So, when it comes to Big Data, the top organizations offering certifications include Cloudera, Hortonworks (recently merged with Cloudera), MapR, IBM, and SAS. 

All you need to do is find out where your interests lie and choose a certification accordingly. That said, here are some of the popular Hadoop certifications that will grab your attention.

CCA Spark and Hadoop Developer

The Cloudera Certified Administrator (CCA) Spark and Hadoop Developer are designed to validate a candidate’s core skills in ingesting, transforming, and processing data by using Apache Spark and core Cloudera enterprise tools. You’ll learn how to convert a set of data stored in HDFS into a new data format, write results into HDFS using Spark, how to use Spark SQL to interact with metastore programmatically in applications, and supplying command-line options to change the configuration of an application.

Exam - CCA 175 

Questions - 8 to 12 performance-based

Duration - 120 minutes

CCA HDP Administrator

This credential by Cloudera has five main categories of tasks, including installation, configuration, troubleshooting, high availability, and security. You’ll understand how to use the Ambari server for installing Ambari agents and HDP services onto multiple nodes, changing the HDFS data block configurations, using Linux commands to add users, and identifying misconfigurations on an HDP service. 

Exam - CCA 121

Questions - 8 to 10 performance-based

Duration - 120 minutes

MapR Certified Hadoop Developer (MCHD)

Professionals who wish to verify their ability in designing and developing MapReduce programs in Java and using them to solve problems with large datasets can apply for this certification. You’ll be tested on various topics like MapReduce concepts and features, using the MapReduce API, managing MapReduce programs and job performance, working with different types of data in MapReduce programs, and writing streaming MapReduce applications. 

Exam - MapR Certified Hadoop Developer v2 (MCHD)

Questions - 50 to 60

Duration - 2 hours

IBM Certified Data Engineer - Big Data

This certification is designed to make you capable of applying technologies to solve big data problems and building large-scale data processing systems. When applying for this certification, aspirants should have knowledge of potential challenges in the data layer, translate functional requirements into technical specifications, cluster management, data modeling, and more. It further requires an understanding of software areas like BigInsights, BigSQL, Hadoop, and Cloudant. 

Exam - IBM Big Data Engineer C2090-101

Questions - 53, multiple-choice type

Duration - 75 minutes

Apart from the ones mentioned above, there are other certifications as well that can take your Big Data career ahead. Coming to preparations, passing these exams requires your consistent efforts, and we recommend taking up Hadoop training for the same. Taking an online Hadoop course will allow you to get guidance from industry experts and gain practical exposure by working on various industry-oriented projects. Time is ripe to open up the new windows of opportunity.