With new technologies coming into picture every day-every hour, it has become a tough challenge for the existing technologies as well to keep up with the pace or else get listed in the obsolete technology list. For example, once the market leader in Camera technology, Kodak, is now a name very rarely heard off.

Top 10 Technologies to Learn in 2018

Similarly, the workforce, who support existing and new technologies are also at risk. In this ever-changing world of technology, now it has become mandatory for everyone to keep a track of the changes & upgrade themselves accordingly. An expert in one technology, might become a liability to the organization, if the technology itself is scrapped after couple of years & is replaced with another. Hence, the importance of learning new skills, has increased many folds in last few years.

Adding to these, even the economic conditions of many countries has started falling apart which has made the job market very competitive. To survive the competition & end up on the winning side, we have listed few niche technologies, which can give the readers an edge over the others:

1. Data Analytics

The process of analyzing the data to determine patterns and correlate them to understand the market trends & customer’s preference is known as Data Analytics. This helps the organizations to understand and align their business properly.

For example, when a user uses Facebook, they see many ads on the screen. These ads are not published on the screen based on any assumptions. The websites collect the browsing history details of the users from the cookies & based on user’s interest, adds are flashed on the user’s screen.

To become a successful data analyst, we have listed below few of the most valued certifications in the industry:

Certifications Organizations IBM Certified Data Engineer – Big Data IBM Professional Certification Program IBM Certified Data Architect – Big Data IBM Professional Certification Program EMC Proven Professional Data Scientist Associate (EMCDSA) Dell EMC Education Services MongoDB Certified Developer Associate MongoDB University SAS Certified Big Data Professional SAS Academy for Data Science

2. Database Management

With the ever-increasing size of the Data being analyzed & stored by the organizations now-a-days, which is very critical for their business, the requirement of having a secure & robust Database has also increased.

Hence, it has become very important for the organizations to have a Database Management in place which helps the users & programmers a way to create, update, manage and retrieve data, all in a systematic and well-defined way. To capture & analyze the data stored in the Database, the database management system should be able to interact with end-users, another applications & the database itself.

But just having a Database Management in place without a skilled administrator is like having a pair of firestone & not knowing how to light the fire. Hence, skilled Database administers are highly valued in the industry.

Few certifications which can help someone to start the career as a DBA or to enhance the skills of an existing DBA are listed below:

Certifications Organizations MCSA: SQL Server Microsoft MCSE: Business Intelligence Microsoft SAP HANA SAP Labs Oracle 12c Database Administrator Oracle Oracle Certified Professional Oracle

3. Web Development

The pace at which e-commerce is spreading itself across the world, more and more businesses are moving to the web. Be it a small business, like flower delivery to the big tycoons in e-commerce like Alibaba and Amazon, moving to web has paid huge dividends to all these businesses.

But just moving to web does not help any business, unless they have a skilled team of web developers who can build & maintain the website along with protecting it from various attackers like SQL injection & Cross site scripting.

Certifications Organizations MCSA: Web Applications Microsoft MTA: HTML5 App Development Microsoft Zend Certified PHP Engineer Zend

4. Mobile Application Development

As more and more users have started using Mobile phones, mobile apps are gaining popularity as well. Now just games or entertainment apps, now we get apps for a huge range starting from food ordering, online shopping, digital money, banking, dating, matrimony, remote controls, mailing and instant messaging, we can get a Mobile App for each and everything.

Hence the requirement of skilled Mobile App developers has also increased in last few years. Any Mobile App developer can get themselves certified & give an enhancement to their career.

Certifications Organizations Android Certified Application Developer Android Google Developers Certification Google Associate Android Developer Google

5. Security & Forensics

With the rising number of Cybercrimes & increased virus attacks, any business which is connected to the Internet needs to be protected. This protection can be of any type starting from Infrastructure security to end-point security.

As the landscape cyber crimes are increasing, security is also evolving day by day & new technologies are coming into picture like Anti-DDoS solutions & Zero-day attack defenders which can ensure the networks will be functional even after being attacked by the hackers.

Along with these, the skills of cyber forensics will enhance the organization to identify the offenders & take appropriate legal actions against them.

Experience is obliviously a plus but a certification in this field will be a huge boost to the career. Few highly valued certifications are:

Certifications Organizations Checkpoint Certified Security Administrator Checkpoint CCNA Security CISCO Certified Ethical Hacker EC Council Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator EC Council Global Information Assurance Certification GIAC

6. Risk & Compliance

Businesses nowadays just don’t have to ensure that they are secure. They must be extra vigilant to make sure there are no vulnerabilities in the system, which allows an attacker to enter the system unattended or unnoticed.

Along with that, Businesses must comply to the “Land of Law” and meet all the regulatory restrictions. Especially the financial firms like banking sector, need to follow very strict regulations laid by the government to ensure that there is no violation. The data protection measures should ensure the security of the financial & personal data of the users.

To comply the with all the regulations, it is important to first identify the critical resources of any business, identify the risks & then mitigate them. The below mentioned certifications can help in gaining momentum in the career, in the field of Risk & Compliance:

Certifications Organizations Certified Information Systems Security Professional ISC2 Certified Information Systems Auditor ISACA Certified Information Security Manager ISACA Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control ISACA

7. Cloud Computing

Many organizations like Amazon & Microsoft has started providing Cloud based solutions to business across the world. These Cloud based solutions are based on the following types of business models:

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

Service provider offers the computing infrastructure & other resources to the subscriber as a service.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

Service provider offers the computing platform to the subscriber as a service.

Software as a service (SaaS)

Service provider offers the application software & database to the subscriber as a service.

Security as a service (SECaaS)

Large enterprises merge their security services with the Cloud service providers to reduce cost & ownership.

Mobile “backend” as a service (MBaaS)

Service provider offers the cloud storage & computing services with APIs which can communicate to their resources, to the App developers.

Serverless computing

Service provider offers the ease of manageability of Virtual machines, as & when required.

Certifications related to cloud are highly rated. Few of them are listed below:

Certifications Organizations AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional Amazon MCSA: Cloud Platform Microsoft MCSE: Cloud Platform & Infrastructure Microsoft MCSD: Azure Solutions Architect Microsoft

8. Virtualization

To reduce the cost of business, virtualization has played a very important role. Organizations like VMware, Microsoft & Citrix has helped businesses to cut down on the infrastructure costs heavily & build a much more robust & stable platform for the business.

Also, Virtualization has reduced a lot of other administrative overheads like backup, as many virtual servers are created on one physical server. Hence, a certification in Virtualization adds a lot of value.

Few renowned certifications related to Virtualization are listed below:

Certifications Organizations VMware Certified Professional VMware VMware Certified Design Expert VMware MCSE Private Cloud Microsoft Citrix Certified Professional – Virtualization Citrix Citrix Certified Expert – Virtualization Citrix

9. Automation

Automation has been another concept which has helped the organizations to reduce the costs to a substantial amount. Most of the organizations are looking forward to Automate all those activities which are kind of repetitive & does not involve much of human intelligence.

Hence, any experience with automation skills is valued a lot. Few of the certifications which can help in the career for Automation are:

Certifications Organizations Certified Automation Professional® ISA Test Automation Engineering ISTQB

10. IoT

The concept that is making headlines nowadays in the field of technology is “Internet of Things”. Researchers are trying to interconnect all the physical devices, so that our life can become easier. The concept of Smart Cities, also came from this idea.

But to fulfill this dream of researchers, a huge pool of talented & skilled resources is required. Go get an edge over others, in this competitive sector, it is worth enough to get certified & be future ready for IoT.

Certifications Organizations Internet of Things Specialists CISCO Certified Internet of Things Specialist – CIoTS Global Science and Technology Forum Azure Certified for IoT device partner Microsoft

[Top 10 Technologies to Learn]