DEVOPSdigest

CloudBees announced the rollout of a professional certification program for both Jenkins and CloudBees Jenkins Platform engineers.

Though Jenkins and the CloudBees Jenkins Platform are utilized in over 128,000 projects globally by countless engineers, no formal certification existed until now.

CloudBees developed the certification program in collaboration with a Certification Advisory Board comprised of Jenkins subject-matter experts, as well as CloudBees customers and partners. Registration opens on March 15, 2016 and engineers can take the exam in Prometric test centers around the world as of May 12, 2016.

The program offers two options for certifications:

- Certified Jenkins Engineer, for demonstrated knowledge and hands-on experience in the use of the open-source Jenkins server and plugin ecosystem

- Certified CloudBees Jenkins Platform Engineer, for certification of additional, specific knowledge and hands-on experience in the use of the CloudBees Jenkins Platform, which adds enterprise functionality on top of the open source Jenkins server

Achieving certification can benefit engineers in several important ways. Along with recognizing them for their Jenkins skills, certification helps engineers build credibility with colleagues, differentiate themselves from their peers and gain additional knowledge through the certification preparation process.

The certification program offers benefits to employers and organizations, as well. Hiring managers can more easily identify qualified candidates and have confidence that they are acquiring an employee with a documented level of expertise. Alternatively, if an IT manager contracts a services organization employing certified staff, the IT manager will feel more confident that they will receive competent, skilled Jenkins experts for their project. Finally, services organizations who employ certified staff will be confident that their teams have the right skills, showcasing the organization’s qualifications and differentiating their services from competitors.

Attaining Certified Jenkins Engineer status will mean the engineer possesses the technical skills and knowledge necessary to effectively implement and use Jenkins with a proven level of proficiency. The exam questions are designed to test an engineer’s knowledge and hands-on experience with Jenkins throughout all stages of the software delivery process – from development to build, test, stage and deployment. Achieving Certified CloudBees Jenkins Platform Engineer status means the candidate has answered additional exam questions related to functionality specific to the CloudBees Jenkins Platform.

“As the popularity of Jenkins for continuous delivery grows, the market demand for advanced skill levels in Jenkins as a discipline is tracking right alongside that growth,” said VP of Customer Success at CloudBees, Francois Dechery. “We’re proud to offer Jenkins and CloudBees Jenkins Platform certification opportunities. We’re looking forward not only to helping engineers build knowledge and improve their career prospects as domain experts, but also to making a contribution to the overall improvement of DevOps and CD practitioner skills available in the marketplace.”