Are you ready to move on or up in your career but can't find the right opportunity? Maybe it's time for you to invest in yourself. Taking advanced training classes and building your IT certification portfolio are two great ways to stand out from the IT crowd.
In this list of the 13 best IT training and certification resources, we take a look at some of the market leaders. These companies offer technical training and certifications that can help differentiate yourself from the herd, while accelerating your career path to a better—and better paying—job.
Most IT training companies offer instructor-led training (ILT) as well as online computer-based training (CBT) options. Look for companies that provide the specific courses and certification training to support you in developing deeper knowledge in your chosen IT niche. For those of you looking to change direction to a different IT specialty, training classes and certifications make a great first step in developing different skillsets that may open new doors.
InfoSec Institute: IT Security And More
Because information security remains such a popular industry arena, the InfoSec Institute is well positioned to provide in-depth instructor-led and self-paced mentored online training for IT security professionals. But wait, there's more!
The popularity of its training has prompted the InfoSec Institute to offer boot camps in non-infosec IT specialties as well, including the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) credentials and much more.
InfoSec Institute also offers vendor-specific certification programs including Cisco, Microsoft, EC-Council, ISACA and VMware, just to name a few. These training offerings are grouped in tracks related to common IT subject matter; for example, penetration testing, security and information assurance tracks. The InfoSec Institute also offers an intriguing boot camp and training track called the 8570 Directive, which speaks to certification requirements for those who work in and around information security for the U.S. government, U.S. Department of Defense or related contracting companies.
Microsoft Learning: The 800-Pound Training Gorilla
Who knows better than Microsoft how to train and certify IT professionals on Microsoft technologies? Microsoft Learning is one of the largest training organizations on the planet, with courses and certifications delivered via a variety of methods including online courseware and classroom training options delivered through Microsoft Learning Partners. Many professionals start by taking a course or two through the Microsoft Virtual Academy, which offers hundreds of courses that are free of charge and delivered by technology experts.
Considering the size of the Microsoft training market and the demand for Microsoft-focused training, IT pros have many options for learning Microsoft technologies and getting certified. Get started by perusing the Microsoft Learning website, or go directly to your favorite training and certification company. Nearly all of the major training companies cover Microsoft topics as part of their curriculum.
To ensure that you are getting the latest information required to master a subject or attain a certification, look for the Microsoft Certified Learning Partner logo, if you don't get your training from a Microsoft training center directly. In particular, all-you-can-learn plans are a good way to acquire ongoing training. Find offerings like this from training companies such as Pluralsight, CBT Nuggets or QuickCert, where you get access to their entire training catalog (stuffed with Microsoft and other topics) for a low monthly fee.
Project Management Institute (PMI): Projects Are Us
IT is all about problem-solving to support the business goals and requirements of the organization. Those of us with experience in IT have discovered over time that projects without planning, structure and management will almost certainly fail at some point in the project cycle. There are just too many variables, dependencies and gotchas in modern IT processes for companies to take a "Wild West" approach to mission-critical IT projects and implementations.
The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) is a well-established professional credential that demonstrates mastery of project management principles, practices and procedures. While the PMP is already a prerequisite for most project manager and program manager roles, there is significant value to other IT professionals who earn the PMP credential. The PMP has been, is today and will remain something of a gold standard for project management certification.
If your organization plans, develops and delivers large-scale IT projects that serve critical business needs, you'll find value in learning how projects should be managed to ensure that they're successful. PMI also offers certifications for those charged with the task of managing programs and portfolios, as well as certifications in risk, scheduling and business analysis.
The Cisco Learning Network: All Things Cisco
The Cisco Learning Network is your one-stop shop for Cisco-related training and certification preparation. Cisco leverages its own corporate training resources with approved Cisco training partners around the world. This gives Cisco control over the training and certification preparation process without having to open a Cisco-owned training center in the back of every Starbucks on the planet.
As with other vendor-specific training, always look for the Cisco Certified Learning Partner logo when you search for local or online training options. Cisco offers more certification programs than you can shake a stick at, from the entry-level CCENT and CCT to masters of the Cisco universe of certification, the CCIE, CCDE and CCAr.
If networking is your game and your network is based primarily on Cisco hardware, the Cisco Learning Network offers enough training and certification options to bring joy to your heart and a skip to your step—not to mention a lifetime of learning opportunities.
Red Hat: Go Straight To The (Open) Source
Red Hat is one of the premier vendors of open source Linux software and its training and certification programs cover everything Red Hat, from load balancing, security, systems management, cloud computing, including OpenStack and high availability, to JBoss Middleware and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform. Red Hat Training offers instructor-led and online training options, as well as onsite classes, remote ILO classes and self-paced online learning options.
Note that not all classes are offered via every training method. That said, training classes dealing with the core Red Hat server products and the popular add-on technologies are offered in whatever learning mode might appeal to you. Red Hat also offers online virtual labs that give students the ability to train in an online virtual environment with console access to various Red Hat products. Red Hat's virtual labs are an excellent way to get hands-on training on Red Hat products that might not be available within your IT organization.
Oracle University: Back To School
The Oracle universe has expanded exponentially over the last decade to include a multitude of enterprise software and hardware solutions. Oracle University is the place to go for hundreds of Oracle-specific courses and dozens of certifications, including a slew of Oracle application software packages, Oracle database and data warehousing, Java programming and virtualization technology.
Of course, Oracle University offers to teach you any way you choose to be taught: instructor-led classroom courses, on-demand courses, virtual classes and self-paced online training. Additionally, Oracle University offers more than 200 certifications within the Oracle ecosystem, including its database platforms, programming tools and languages, and all of its major applications and platforms.
IBM Authorized Training: Get Watson Skills And More
IBM Authorized Training has a huge portfolio of training options in areas like cloud computing, analytics, security, systems, mobile and even IBM's Watson platform. IT professionals can take on-demand training courses or attend live technical training events that take place all over the world. In addition to professional certifications, IBM also offers a badge program that allows IT Pros to display their badges in email signatures, social networking and professional sites, and most importantly, to prospective employers who can easily verify credentials through the badges.
You can find the appropriate training by product or job role, but for those who aren't sure where to start, IBM Training offers "Learning Journeys" and "Training Paths." These specially curated collections of learning content are designed to help you acquire skills in a specific area like cloud computing, security and mobile administration or development. Simply click through to the appropriate Learning Journey to find course links, related articles and additional resources or select a Training Path to learn about IBM product and training resources related to the specific technology.
Skillsoft: Training Options, Large And Small
Skillsoft is a global training company with a dizzying array of instructor-led, online training and self-paced online learning offerings. Skillsoft will also develop and deliver personalized training content for companies worldwide. The company even offers a training development platform for oranizations that want to develop their own training materials while utilizing a proven course development framework.
In addition to these heavy-duty tools and services, Skillsoft also caters to the training and certification market for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using self-paced online training modules.
Skillsoft offers mobile education platforms to put training and certification curricula directly in the hands of IT professionals whenever and wherever they might wish to use them. The company also offers access to a Learning Management System (LMS) for organizations too small to host their own, or integrate with major third-party LMSs in situations where the client already has their own LMS.
Digital Intelligence: The Resurrection Of Computer Forensics
Digital Intelligence occupies a small but critical niche in the IT training and certification market: computer hardware and software forensics. Digital Intelligence offers a number of instructor-led and online training courses on computer forensics including DFF, FTK, EnCase/DFFEN, NUIX, Cellebrite, Forensic Explorer and IEF.
If you've never heard of those technologies, you are probably not a target customer for this über-specialized training. But if your company has ever needed to "unformat" a hard drive, recover a lost password or explore an encrypted drive, Digital Intelligence is the perfect place to start your knowledge acquisition in computer forensics.
InfoPro Learning: Your Training Development Partner
InfroPro Learning is a global training company that looks to partner or consult with enterprise-level organizations on customized learning and development (L&D, in their terminology) solutions.
InfoPro also offers a learning management platform for companies that want to develop their own course materials utilizing an established course development framework.
InfoPro Learning has offices in the U.S., Europe and India that will work with your company to develop and deliver customized training courses in all aspects of IT. InfoPro also has an established training consultancy for large companies struggling to keep up with new developments in online and virtual training methodologies. While not a destination for people looking to take a single class, InfoPro Learning offers a strategic learning solution for large companies with specific training needs.
Global Knowledge: The IKEA Of Global Training
Global Knowledge offers a stunning array of IT training course and certification prep classes in every conceivable way that you might want to learn. The company supports more than 20 vendor-specific training programs with certification training classes and big-picture training tracks such as cloud computing, networking, virtualization and big data.
In total, Global Knowledge lists more than 1,500 class offerings via instructor-led, online, self-paced and onsite delivery. The company is a vendor-approved training partner for Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, Citrix, CompTIA, VMware, Red Hat and Amazon Web Services (AWS) technologies and certifications, and partners with more than 30 companies to provide excellence in learning solutions.
And if you have ever registered for a training class that failed to "make" due to insufficient enroll numbers, you'll be glad to know that Global Knowledge claims to have the largest schedule of guaranteed dates in the industry. This means that if you register for a guaranteed class, you are guaranteed that the class will be taught at the time and place you chose.
Fast Lane: Spanning The Globe
Fast Lane offers instructor-led classroom and online training classes (which include innovating options such as "Night School" and the "Flex Classroom"), as well as a plethora of vendor-specific certification programs. Fast Lane's global reach is impressive, with training classes and certifications offered by Fast Lane subsidiaries in North and South Americas, Europe, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
With the option of onsite classes delivered by Fast Lane instructors at customer sites, Fast Lane is a perfect match to provide enterprise-level training for major corporations around the world. Fast Lane caters to the enterprise market segment by concentrating its offerings on the most popular training classes and certifications, including CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, ITIL, NetApp and Juniper. They also cover Cloudera, Red Hat, Riverbed, Brocade, Veritas, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Symantec, and IBM topics and certifications.
Fast Lane also offers training on a multi-vendor converged infrastructure platform called FlexPod, which combines hardware and software from industry-leading players. The training combines components from NetApp, Cisco and VMware into a single cohesive program that focuses on the challenges and opportunities inherent in virtualized environments. Other combinations are available, too.
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