IBM is an American multinational technology corporation that believes in progress. It believes that the application of intelligence, science, and reason can improve business, human condition, and society. The goal of this company is innovation and transformation, which is why it produces and sells computer middleware, software, and hardware. The vendor provides consulting and hosting services in various areas ranging from nanotechnology to mainframe computers and offers its certification program that can validate the skills of working in these sectors.
Certification Program
The IBM certification program covers many different technology areas, which is why there are several tracks, each of which gas a certain amount of paths. All in all, there are about 200 options that you can choose from, and they include the following:
1. Cloud
This track is with the highest number of options, so you can choose among more than 60 paths. The most popular of them are the following:
- IBM Certified Application Developer – DB2 11 for z/OS: This certification is intended for the IBM DB2 for z/OS app developers who are responsible for the development of applications that utilize the DB2 product. This means that you need to know about the z/OS operating system and understand new features and functionality;
- IBM Certified Deployment Professional – Tivoli Netcool/Impact: As for this certification, you should have the skills in implementing and supporting the IBM Tivoli Netcool/Impact solution. You need to be able to perform these tasks with limited assistance from the product documentation or vendor support services;
- IBM Certified Professional Developer – Cloud v4: The key goal of this certification is to understand how to develop and operate secure Cloud applications. You should also know how to create and maintain apps on IBM Cloud.
Besides that, there are the following options:
- IBM Certified Solution Implementer – DataPower Gateway;
- IBM Certified Advocate – Cloud;
- IBM Certified Technical Advocate – Cloud;
- IBM Certified Administrator – IBM Netcool Operations Insight;
- IBM Certified Developer – Datacap;
- IBM Certified Solution Implementer – API Connect.
There are a lot of paths, thus it is recommended that you visit the official website to know the details.
2. Security
This track is all about the security sector, and you can choose among the following certificates:
- IBM Certified Associate Administrator – Security Guardium Data Protection;
- IBM Certified Deployment Professional – Security Identity Governance and Intelligence;
- IBM Certified Administrator – Security Guardium;
- IBM Certified Deployment Professional – IBM QRadar SIEM;
- IBM Cloud Pak for Security V1.x Administrator Specialty;
- IBM Certified Analyst – i2 Analysts Notebook;
- IBM Certified SOC Analyst – IBM QRadar SIEM;
- IBM Certified Administrator – Security Verify;
- IBM Certified Deployment Professional – Security Access Manager;
- IBM Certified Administrator – Cloud Pak for Security;
- IBM Certified Deployment Professional – Security Verify Access.
Each path requires that you pass the qualification exams.
3. Systems
As for this track, the popular certifications include the following:
- IBM Certified Solution Architect – Spectrum Storage;
- IBM PowerVC v2.0 Administrator Specialty;
- IBM Certified Advanced Deployment Professional – Spectrum Storage V8;
- IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty;
- IBM Certified Solution Advisor – Spectrum Storage Software;
- IBM Certified Administrator – Spectrum Protect;
- IBM Certified Technical Specialist – IBM Spectrum Protect.
All in all, there are more than 15 certificates that you can choose from.
4. Watson Customer Engagement
There are only two options in this track, and namely:
- IBM Sterling B2B Collaboration – Supply Chain Business Network V1 Sales Engineer Specialty: This certification validates your knowledge of AI Apps Sterling Offerings for B2B Collaboration and SCBN Suite of products;
- IBM Sterling Supply Chain Solutions V1 Sales Engineer Specialty: This certification proves that you know about IBM AI Apps Supply Chain Suite of products. This means that you know about Order Management, CPQ, Fulfilment Optimizer, Inventory Visibility, and Control Tower.
To obtain any of these certificates, you should complete the corresponding exams.
5. Watson Internet of Things
This is the last available track that comes with 15 paths. The most popular of them are the following:
- IBM Certified Specialist – Rhapsody for Systems;
- IBM Certified Architect – Sterling Order Management v10.0 and Order Management on Cloud;
- IBM Certified Solution Architect – Watson Internet of Things Platform;
- IBM Certified Infrastructure Deployment Professional – Maximo Asset Management;
- IBM Certified Associate Application Developer – TRIRIGA Application Platform;
- IBM Certified Solution Architect – Watson IoT Continuous Engineering.
Career Prospects
The IBM certification program has many options for the interested IT specialists, so you can choose the path you want and increase your chances of getting a promotion or expecting a higher salary. You will learn valuable skills that will enhance your career, including the expertise in using SQL to DELETE, INSERT, or UPDATE data, applying a job plan sequencing to PMs, and building RESTful services. Depending on the track, you may know about the methods that are used to restrict data access as well as be able to use SecurityPEP Node.
