As the economy leaves bad times behind and chances of a double dip recession look bleak, I hope IT recruitment will definitely pick up near future. After a long research, inputs form various IT professional and jobs in demand from the jobs website , I conclude with the top five of the hottest IT certifications for 2011.
Microsoft certified technology specialist
Microsoft is still the most dominant player in the desktop market. In September 2010, NetMarketShare showed Windows at 91.08% of the global operating system market. Microsoft has seen a renewed interest in its new operating system Windows 7. In July, Windows 7 surpassed Windows vista in global usage and around 20% of Microsoft users have already shifted to Windows 7. Gartner Inc estimates that 250 million PC's will be migrated to windows 7 over the next few years and also predicted an acute shortfall in qualified IT staffers to handle Windows 7 migration. A MCTS program with a specialization in configuring and deploying Windows 7 can prepare you for these opportunities.
VMware Certified Professional
Cloud is transforming IT. Virtualization technology is growing with most of the companies but lack of expertise in this field is a cause of worry for majority of them. "Cloud services have a huge potential and the demand for professionals will be equally high in the coming years" says Nitin Khanapurkar, executive director (advisory) KPMG, who works in the domain of cloud computing. Global cloud computing market is expected to be over $121.1 billion by 2015 growing at a CAGR of 26.2%.
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
IT security professionals had an extremely smooth sailing during the bad times. While IT budgets worldwide came down, companies fearing cyber attacks pushed IT security spending up during recession. The market is further expected to grow at over 12% YoY for next 3 years. The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) has become one of the most important certifications as employers look this as a validation of candidate's skills for this profession.
Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification
The number of IT project management related job opportunities has been down lately but because of a restricted supply of the quality jobseekers, it is still a candidate driven market. With economy out of recession there will be a strong demand for candidates with awareness of formal tools and techniques of project management.
Network +
The only basic certification on our list, but still one of the most important. Every IT professional must know what drives an organization's IT infrastructure whether it's Linux, Apple or Windows.Network+ certifies networking technicians with knowledge in the networking domain. It has consistently been a high-in-demand certification in the networking sector.
And below the complete vendor list for certification:
- 3COM
- AccessData
- ACER
- ACI
- Adobe
- AIIM
- Alcatel-Lucent
- Altiris
- American College
- APC
- Apple
- ARE
- Aruba
- ASQ
- Autodesk
- Avaloq
- Avaya
- Axis Communications
- BlackBerry
- Blue Coat
- Business Objects
- Checkpoint
- CIPS
- Cisco
- Access Routing and LAN Switching
- Advanced IP Communications Sales Specialist
- Advanced Routing and Switching Field Specialist
- Advanced Routing and Switching Sales Specialist
- Advanced Routing and Switching Solutions Specialist
- Advanced Wireless LAN Design Specialist
- Advanced Wireless LAN Field Specialist
- Advanced Wireless LAN Sales Specialist
- APE for Validating Knowledge
- Architecture
- CCDA
- CCDE
- CCDP
- CCENT
- CCIE
- CCIE Security
- CCIE Service Provider
- CCIE Service Provider Operations
- CCIE Storage Networking
- CCIE Voice
- CCIE Wireless
- CCIP
- CCNA
- CCNA Security
- CCNA Service Provider Operations
- CCNA Voice
- CCNA Wireless
- CCNP
- CCNP Security
- CCNP Service Provider Operations
- CCNP Voice
- CCNP Wireless
- CCSP
- CCVP
- CICSP
- Cisco Specialist
- Connected Grid
- Content Networking
- CRMAM
- CSE
- CXFF
- Data Center Application Services
- Data Center Application Services Design Specialist
- Data Center Networking Infrastructure Design Specialist
- Data Center Networking Infrastructure Support Specialist
- Data Center Networking Sales Specialist
- Data Center Storage Networking Design Specialist
- Data Center Storage Networking Support Specialist
- Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist
- Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
- Express Foundation Design Specialist
- Express Foundation Field Specialist
- Express Foundation Sales Specialist
- Field Technician
- Firewall Security Specialist
- ICND
- ICND 1
- ICND 2
- IOS Security Specialist
- IP Communications
- IP Communications Express Sales Specialist
- IP Communications Express Specialist
- IP Communications Support Specialist
- IP Contact Center Express Specialist
- IP Telephony Design Specialist
- IronPort
- IT Certification and Career Paths
- Network Admission Control Specialist
- Network Management
- Optical
- Proctored Exams for Validating Knowledge
- Rich Media Communications Specialist
- Sales Expert
- Security Sales Specialist
- SMB Engineer
- SSSE
- Storage Networking
- TelePresence Solutions Specialist
- Unified Presence Specialist
- Unity Design Specialist
- Unity Support Specialist
- VPN and Security
- VPN Security Specialist
- WAASSE
- Web Security Field Engineer Specialist
- Wireless LAN
- Citrix
- CIW
- Cognos
- CompTIA
- Computer Associates
- CTP
- CWNP
- Dassault Systemes
- Dell
- DTS Demonstration
- EC-Council
- EMC
- Enterasys Networks
- Ericsson
- Exin
- Extreme Networks
- F5 Networks
- FileMaker
- Fortinet
- Fujitsu
- Genesys
- GIAC
- Guidance Software
- H3C
- HDI
- HIPAA
- Hitachi
- HP
- HRCI
- Huawei
- Hyperion Solutions
- IBM
- Administrator for SOA Solutions
- Advanced Application Developer
- Advanced Database Administrator
- Advanced Deployment Professional
- Associate BPM Administrator
- Associate BPM Analyst
- Associate BPM Developer
- Associate BPM Program Manager
- Certified Administrator
- Certified Advanced System Administrator
- Certified Advanced Technical Expert
- Certified Associate
- Certified Associate Developer
- Certified Developer
- Certified Enterprise Developer
- Certified Operator
- Certified Sales Expert
- Certified Sales Specialist
- Certified Solution Designer
- Certified Solution Implementer
- Certified Specialist
- Certified Systems Expert
- Database Associate
- DB2
- Deployment Professional
- eserver Certified Specialist
- IBM certifications
- IBM Cognos
- IBM Lotus
- IBM Mastery
- Integration Developer
- On Demand Business
- Sales Mastery
- Solution Specialist
- Solutions Developer
- Solutions Expert
- Solutions Version
- System Administrator
- Technical Sales Specialist
- ICDL
- IFPUG
- IIBA
- Isaca
- ISC
- ISEB
- Isilon
- ISQL
- Japan Management Association
- Juniper
- Lotus
- LPI
- Lucent
- Lucid Imagination
- McAfee
- McData
- Mile2 Security
- Mincom
- Motorola Solutions
- MySQL
- Network Appliance
- Network General
- NI
- Nokia
- Nortel
- Novell
- OMG
- Oracle
- Pegasystems
- PEOPLECERT
- PMI
- Polycom
- PostgreSQL CE
- PRINCE2
- Red Hat
- RES Software
- Riverbed
- RSA
- SAIR
- SAS Institute
- SCO
- SCP
- SDI
- SeeBeyond
- Siemens Enterprise Communications
- SNIA
- SOA
- SolarWinds
- SpringSource
- SPSS
- Sun
- Sybase
- Symantec
- The Open Group
- TIA
- TruSecure
- UMTP
- Universitas 21 Global
- VMware
- XML Master Certification
- Zend