For most skills, certifications are usually a way employers or organizations can determine that one is truly knowledgeable. The same applies to FinOps, as certifications are one of the ways to prove that one has substantial knowledge of the concept.
However, only some organizations provide people with high-quality certifications of skills related to FinOps. Besides the FinOps Foundation, other reputable third-party organizations provide these certifications. Continue reading as we dive deep into top organizations offering FinOps certifications.
Top FinOps Certification Organizations
Below are organizations where you can get access to some of the best FinOps certifications:
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FinOps Foundation
The best place to learn what is cloud FinOps is from the pioneer of the concept — FinOps Foundation has a wide range of certifications to earn. The good thing is that their courses and certifications are not extremely expensive, and many people can afford them. Below are some of the certifications you can get from the FinOps:
- FinOps Certified Practitioner
A FinOps Certified Practitioner (FOCP) certification is the fundamental aspect of FinOps certifications for this organization. This course is created for beginners and contains the fundamentals of the FinOps concept. Categories such as cloud economics, cost optimization, and cloud financial management are the critical areas of this certification — mostly meant for beginners and intermediates.
However, a good knowledge of cloud computing is needed before taking up this certification. This will be very important to understand many things covered in the FinOps Certified Practitioner certification.
- FinOps Certified Platform Engineer (FOCPE)
FinOps Certified Platform Engineer (FOCPE) is another course in the catalog of FinOps Foundation. Apparently, someone taking this course should understand FinOps best practices, such as using cloud optimization tools like Globaldot.
Furthermore, cloud governance, cost management, and automation are the critical parts of this course, and it’s meant for intermediates. An important aspect of this certification is that it gives users access to a wide range of resources on the FinOps Foundation platform.
- FinOps Certified Professional
FinOps Certified Professional is no longer for beginners, as it is specifically crafted for those who want to become professionals in implementing FinOps best practices. In other words, this course is extremely advanced, and only those who have extensive knowledge and experience of FinOps will have an understanding of the certification.
Unlike the previously mentioned certifications, there are stringent rules and policies regarding this certification. There are also exams where the candidate or student must achieve a 75% or higher score to be considered for the certification.
- FinOps for Containers
This is a specialized certification meant for certain cloud environments — containerized cloud environments, to be specific. This certification covers a wide range of subjects around this specialization. Some of the key areas of this certification include management and optimization of containerized cloud environments.
Another certification from the FinOps Foundation is the FinOps Personas: Finance Training. However, this certification is mostly for the financial department that wants to learn to identify cloud-saving opportunities and reduce the cost of running a cloud-based business.
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Amazon Web Services
Amazon also offers certifications to help professionals further develop their skills in reducing the cost of running in the cloud. One prominent certification this tech giant offers is AWS Cloud Financial Management for Builders.
Apparently, this certification isn’t for beginners as it is for intermediates and experts who want to improve their knowledge of cloud cost optimization further. However, this certification was specifically tailored for managing and optimizing AWS cloud costs. Before laying hands on this certification, having previous knowledge of Architecting on AWS certificate will greatly help.
One of the first things one will learn through this certification is how to reduce the cost of cloud services running on the AWS platform. Secondly, this certification provides recommendations on Amazon tools that can be used to optimize cloud costs. Others like Globaldot might even do a better job of helping organizations detect and implement cloud cost-saving practices outside Amazon tools. Also, this certification helps an individual gain more insights into planning for future workloads to avoid going over the budget.
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Coursera
Coursera is another platform or organization to gain a certification related to FinOps. Already, the platform has built a positive reputation for offering some of the best certifications, including the ones related to FinOps. AWS collaborated with Coursera to offer the platform’s certification course called Cloud Cost Management: Optimization Strategies.
It offers a wide range of insights on some of the best practices that can help even beginners reduce the cost of operating in the cloud while maintaining quality. The major objective of this course is to develop skills related to finance management and cloud optimization.
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Cloud Academy
Cloud Academy is another reputable organization where one can get FinOps certifications — most of them are beginner courses. So, starting with Cloud Academy might be a good option if you are a beginner trying to learn how FinOps works and its practices.
Since the courses offered here are beginner-friendly, many are broken down into layman’s language for better understanding. One of the key things one can leave here is how to analyze cloud spending and reduce such costs.
Wrapping Up
Without proper knowledge, one won’t know how to reduce the cost of operating in the cloud. This often requires the services of top-level professionals and specialists. However, these professionals often get their knowledge through courses and certifications from different organizations. Some examples of organizations where one can get their FinOps certifications are the FinOps Foundation, Coursera, Amazon AWS, and Cloud Academy.