The Cloud Foundry Summit Silicon Valley opened in Santa Clara, California today with an announcement by the Cloud Foundry Foundation of a new certification program for developers. The Cloud Foundry Certified Developer program was originally announced in March and offered through an exclusive partnership with the Linux Foundation.
"We knew the need for cloud-native skills was significant, but the response to this program has been explosive," said Chip Childers, the foundation's CTO. "After a gradual program rollout over the last couple of months -- training 5,000 developers on the way -- CFCD is now generally available. This product was conceived and developed to solve the demand of developer productivity for the many Fortune 500 organizations using Cloud Foundry."
The program should be a good way for developers to add weight to a resume or to increase their skill sets. Learning the ins and outs of Cloud Foundry might also help fatten the paycheck. According to an article published March 31 in Forbes, Cloud Foundry developers are the third highest paid developers in the U.S., with an average annual salary of $124,038.
According to foundation figures, there are currently 250,000 job openings for software developers in the U.S., 500,000 unfilled positions requiring tech skills, and expected growth of more than one million in the next decade. The program was at least partially the result of a report the foundation issued in November revealing a widening gap in cloud skills which threatens enterprises’ ability to embrace digital transformation.
According to the foundation, candidates for the certification exam should have hands-on practical experience building software that runs on Cloud Foundry. Topics covered in the exam include:
- Cloud Foundry basics
- Cloud-native architectural principles
- Troubleshooting applications on Cloud Foundry
- Cloud-native application security
- Working with services in Cloud Foundry
- Application management on Cloud Foundry
- Container management within Cloud Foundry
- Aptitude in modifying simple Java, Node.js and Ruby applications
For those in need of training before taking the exam, a program suite of training is also available which includes:
- A free introductory course offered via the edX platform.
- A self-paced eLearning Cloud Foundry Developer course.
- A training partner program which includes licensed materials for in-person or eLearning Cloud Foundry developer classes offered by training partners including: Biarca, CapGemini, Cognizant, Dell EMC, EngineerBetter, Fast Lane, IBM, Innovivi, Pivotal, Resilient Scale, SAP, Stark & Wayne and Swisscom.
- “Cloud Foundry Certified Developer” Certification, awarded to individuals who pass a performance-based exam.
The Certification exam takes up to four hours to complete and discounts are available for bundled and bulk pricing purchases.
To launch the certification program, the foundation is offering the Cloud Foundry for Developers course for $1 to anyone who pays full price for the CFCD exam, which works out to be a savings of nearly $500. This discount will be in effect until June 23. Full information on the program is available on the Cloud Foundry website.
The Cloud Foundry Summit Silicon Valley will run through June 15.
