On the OpenStack Scene, Get Credentials to Get Hired

Without a doubt, 2015 was the year of OpenStack as large companies and small ones alike moved to the open cloud computing framework. However, the OpenStack cloud computing scene, like the scene surrounding Hadoop, still features shortages in management expertise. There just are not enough skilled OpenStack workers to go around. The OpenStack Foundation and other organizations are taking some steps to address the situation.

We've been tracking some of the newly available ways to gain OpenStack certification. If your New Year's resolution is going to be getting certified, here are the best ways to get your credentials.

As part of its efforts to grow the OpenStack talent pool and global community, the OpenStack Foundation has announced a new professional certification program that is meant to provide a baseline assessment of knowledge and be accessible to OpenStack professionals around the world.  Some of the first steps in advancing the program are taking place now, and other companies are also advancing OpenStack certification plans. Here is a sampling of the educational opportunities.

The Certified OpenStack Administrator is a professional typically with at least six months OpenStack experience and has the skills required to provide day-to-day operation and management of an OpenStack cloud, according to the Foundation. There is more at the website: http://openstack.org/coa

 Certification testing for the Foundation's program will be administered with the help of the Linux Foundation, which has created a virtual testing platform, making it possible to access the COA test anywhere in the world at an affordable cost. Testing for COA is expected to be available in Q2 2016.

This OpenStack professional certification program addresses the need for well-trained and highly qualified OpenStack administrators,” said Jonathan Bryce, executive director, OpenStack Foundation. “We expect COA certification to become a valuable credential that any hiring manager would want to see on the resume of viable candidate. Further, it is our hope that the OpenStack professional certification program will encourage new entrants into the OpenStack community and expand the talent pool within the industry.” 

Meanwhile, Red Hat has announced a new cloud management certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform as part of the Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network.

Red Hat has been working closely with cloud and network management solution providers, including iBMC and HP. As members of the Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network, these vendors are supporting Red Hat's platform certification process. 

Radhesh Balakrishnan, Red Hat's general manager of virtualization and OpenStack said, in a statement: 

“As OpenStack is becoming a core element of the enterprise cloud strategy for many customers, Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform is architected and backed by the broadest partner ecosystem to be the preferred platform. The growth and maturity of the ecosystem reflects the evolution of the product moving from addressing infrastructure-centric alignment to help with early deployments to now be well-managed, to be part of enterprise hybrid cloud implementations.”

Atul Garg, vice president and general manager of Cloud and Automation at HP added:

“We are excited to work with Red Hat to certify HP Cloud Service Automation and its solutions with Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, to help our mutual customers build and manage private and hybrid cloud services. Our joint efforts are aimed at enabling customers to have choice and flexibility as they deploy cloud environments which can easily flex and adapt to business needs while supporting heterogeneity and leveraging existing investments in the datacenter.”

 The Linux Foundation has also announced the availability for purchase of its newest self-paced, online training course OpenStack Administration Fundamentals (LFS252). This is a 100 percent online, self-paced course for SysAdmins who are learning the skills necessary to prepare for the Certified OpenStack Administrator exam from the OpenStack Foundation.

You can also find a complete roundup of OpenStack tutorials if you want self-paced learning. 

As enterprises deploy OpenStack, they are increasingly concerned about being able to hire skilled workers and use existing infrastructure and management tools with their deployments. The new OpenStack certification programs should go a long way toward fostering much needed expertise.