The top 15 big data and data analytics certifications

Certified Analytics Professional

The Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) credential is a vendor- and technology-neutral analytics certification that certifies end-to-end understanding of the analytics process, from framing business and analytic problems to acquiring data, methodology, model building, deployment, and model lifecycle management. It requires completion of the CAP exam and adherence to the CAP Code of Ethics.

Organization: INFORMS

Price: US$495 for INFORMS members; US$695 for nonmembers; team pricing available for organizations

How to prepare: A list of study courses and a series of webinars are available through registration.

CDP Data Analyst

The Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) Data Analyst certification verifies the Cloudera skills and knowledge required for data analysts using CDP. The exam tests knowledge of Cloudera Data Visualization, Cloudera Machine Learning, Cloudera Data Science Workbench, and Cloudera Data Warehouse, as well as SQL, Apache Nifi, Apache Hive, and other open source technologies. The exam consists of 40 questions and the candidate has 120 minutes to complete it.

Organization: Cloudera

Price: US$330

How to prepare: Cloudera recommends candidates have familiarity with Salesforce, BI tools, Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, and Python/R. Optional training is available through Cloudera Educational Services.

CDP Generalist

The Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) Generalist certification  verifies proficiency with the Cloudera CDP platform. The exam tests general knowledge of the platform and applies to multiple roles, including administrator, developer, data analyst, data engineer, data scientist, and system architect. The exam consists of 60 questions and the candidate has 90 minutes to complete it.

Organization: Cloudera

Price: US$330

How to prepare: Cloudera recommends candidates take the Cloudera Essentials for CDP and CDP Generalist Exam Preparation courses.

CompTIA Data+

The CompTIA Data+ certification is an early-career data analytics certification that validates the skills required to facilitate data-driven business decision-making. Candidates show facility with data concepts and environments; data mining; data analysis; data governance, quality, and controls; and visualization. The exam consists of 90 multiple-choice and performance-based questions administered via Pearson VUE. Candidates have 90 minutes to complete the exam.

Organization: CompTIA

Price: US$246

How to prepare: CompTIA offers elearning, interactive labs, and exam prep through CertMaster, study guides, and instructor-led training.

Google Data Analytics Professional

The Google Data Analytics Professional certificate is a beginner-level certificate that validates understanding of the practices and processes required by junior or associate data analysts. Individuals with the certificate understand how to clean and organize data for analysis, and complete analysis and calculations using spreadsheets, SQL, and R. They can visualize and present data findings in dashboards, presentations, and commonly used visualization platforms. The certificate requires completing an eight-course series that takes six months at 10 hours a week.

Organization: Google and Coursera

Price: US$49 per month after a 7-day free trial period.

How to prepare: No degree or prior experience is required.

IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate

The IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate is a beginner-level certificate that demonstrates proficiency in data wrangling and data mining, creating charts and plots, building dashboards with IBM Cognos Analytics, and visualizing data using Python libraries. Individuals with the certificate can describe data ecosystems and compose queries to access data in cloud databases using SQL and Python. Earning the certificate requires completing nine courses (taking roughly four months at 10 hours per week).

Organization: Coursera

Price: US$49 per month after a 7-day free trial period

How to prepare: No degree or prior experience is required.

IBM Data Science Professional Certificate

The IBM Data Science Professional Certificate is a beginner-level certificate that demonstrates an individual’s skills in data science topics, including open source tools and libraries, methodologies, Python databases, SQL, data visualization, data analysis, and machine learning. Earning the certificate requires completing nine courses (taking roughly five months at 10 hours per week), during which the candidate will complete several hands-on assignments and build a portfolio of data science projects. At the end, candidates earn a Professional Certificate from Coursera and a digital badge from IBM recognizing proficiency in data science.

Organization: Coursera

Price: US$49 per month after a 7-day free trial period.

How to prepare: No prior computer science or programming knowledge is necessary.

Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate

The Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate credential is a measure of a candidate’s ability to define and prepare Azure development environments, prepare data for modeling, perform feature engineering, and develop models. The exam requires the candidate to use applications involving natural language processing, speech, computer vision, and predictive analytics. The credential does not expire.

Organization: Microsoft

Price: US$165 for the exam

How to prepare: Microsoft offers free online training and a paid, instructor-led course.

Microsoft Certified Power BI Data Analyst Associate

The Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification is a measure of a candidate’s proficiency with using Power Query and writing expressions by using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX). They know how to assess data quality and understand data security, including row-level security and data sensitivity. Holders of this certification can collaborate with enterprise data analysts and data engineers to identify and acquire data. They can also transform the data, create data models, visualize data, and share assets by using Power BI.

Organization: Microsoft

Price: US$165 per exam

How to prepare: Microsoft offers free online training and a paid, instructor-led course.

Open Certified Data Scientist

The Open CDS is an independent global certification that qualifies the skills, knowledge, and experience of data scientists. Open CDS requires candidates demonstrate their skills and experience against a set of conformance requirements through written applications and peer interviews. It does not include training courses and there are no written exams. Attaining the certification follows three stages: First, the candidate must obtain four to five milestone badges; second, the candidate must complete the Experience Application Form; finally, the candidate must attend a board review. The certification lasts for three years, after which the holder may re-certify.

Organization: The Open Group

Price: US$400 for a Level 1 certification, US$500 for a Level 2 certification, and US$550 for the Level 3 certification. Each certification requires the completion of certain milestone badges, which carry an additional fee. There is no specific recertification fee, but there are fees to maintain milestone badges.

How to prepare: The Open CDS certification is an evaluation of a candidate’s skills and experience. Candidates should use the certification self-assessment tools on the certificate authority’s website to validate their readiness to certify at the level and discipline they’ve selected.

SAS Certified Advanced Analytics Professional

The SAS Certified Advanced Analytics Professional credential validates the ability to analyze big data with a variety of statistical analysis and predictive modeling techniques. Candidates should have experience in machine learning and predictive modeling techniques and their application to big, distributed, and in-memory data sets. They should also have experience with pattern detection, experimentation in business, optimization techniques, and time series forecasting. The certification requires passing three exams:

• Predictive Modeling Using SAS Enterprise Miner 7, 13, or 14
• SAS Advanced Predictive Modeling
• SAS Text Analytics, Time Series, Experimentation and Optimization

Organization: SAS

Price: The Predictive Modeling Using SAS Enterprise Miner exam is US$250, while the others are US$180 each.

How to prepare: SAS recommends candidates prepare using its Applied Analytics Using SAS Enterprise Miner training and SAS Academy for Data Science: Advanced Analytics training or several eLearning courses. It also recommends answering sample questions it provides and taking a practice exam.

SAS Certified Data Scientist

The SAS Certified Data Scientist credential validates the ability to manipulate and gain insights from big data with a variety of SAS and open source tools, make business recommendations with complex machine learning models, and deploy models at scale using the SAS environment. The certification requires a combination of the SAS Data Curation Professional, SAS Advanced Analytics Professional, and SAS AI & Machine Learning Professional credentials.

Organization: SAS

Price: US$180 for each exam

How to prepare: SAS recommends candidates prepare using its SAS Academy for Data Science, or several eLearning courses. It also recommends answering sample questions it provides and taking a practice exam.