I have a few opinions on certifications. Often they are not worth the paper they are printed on. However, if you are a serious developer/engineer/architect and your goal is to have good business partnerships with vendors and customers, you need to have a few serious certifications.

Education is a lifelong process and continuing to advance into new areas expands your horizons on problem-solving. Certifications are one method to show that you complete what you start. However, most people cram for an exam instead of taking their time and deeply learning the technology so you can be productive in the real world.

This page only lists my current certifications. It would require another page or two for the expired and retired ones. The biggest problem with having a bunch of certifications is that you are always preparing for the next re-certification. This has the benefit of keeping your knowledge current on products and services you don’t work with on a day-to-day basis.

Below you can see my fifteen cloud, security and networking certifications.

Amazon Web Services

I have worked with AWS since the early days, back when there was basically just S3. EC2 did not yet exist. I have watched AWS grow its services into the powerhouse it is today. About 12 years ago I wrote a C++ SDK for AWS that I still support to this day. Working on this SDK early in AWS’ growth gave me a deep insight into AWS services in a way that most people never experience.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional
AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty
AWS Certified Security Specialty
AWS Certified SysOps Associate
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate
AWS Certified Developer Associate
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Alibaba Cloud

I have the Alibaba Cloud Professional Cloud Computing Certification and 13 minor Alibaba Cloud Certifications. I have a page dedicated to my Alibaba certifications. I am also an Alibaba MVP Network and Security.

Alibaba Cloud Professional – Cloud Computing Certification

Google Cloud

I started working with Google Cloud about eight years ago. Primarily with their Cloud Storage. The C++ SDK that I wrote for AWS was enhanced for Google Cloud Storage. Today, I am very fascinated with Google Cloud. They do a lot of things just like AWS, but they also do many things differently. Google also has an enormous number of services I feel are overlooked when comparing vendor products and services. The contrast in product development between these giants is very interesting. Plus a large percentage of my customers are working with more than one cloud vendor. Being able to design and develop across clouds is becoming more important every day.

Google Developers Expert – GDE Cloud Platform – I am the only GDE Cloud Platform in Seattle, WA
Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer
Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer
Google Cloud Certified – Associate Cloud Engineer

Azure Cloud

I have worked with Azure for a decade. I have been a business partner (Gold) with Microsoft since the 1980s. I am a former Microsoft MVP Networking. I don’t know why I have not certified on Azure. I should also certify on Exchange and SQL. I work with these products every day. I will correct this in 2019.

IBM Cloud

I finally started a path to learn the basics of IBM Cloud. I am writing an article that documents everything that I am doing to learn IBM Cloud for the next 30 days (started July 17, 2019) to be published next month.

Storage

Certified Data Storage Professional (CDSP)

802.11 Wireless Security

Security and networking are my favorite specialties. There are two major areas I focus on where security is critical in today’s companies: in the cloud and over 802.11 wireless networks. I have Alibaba, AWS and Google cloud security covered above, below are my credentials for 802.11 wireless.

CWNP Certified Wireless Security Professional
CWNP Certified Wireless Technical Specialist