OpenStack Foundation launches its first cloud admin certification exams to combat talent shortage

It’s no secret that it’s still hard to find good tech talent, and that’s definitely the case for the kind of complex and highly specialized skill set it takes to administer an OpenStack cloud. To grow this talent pool and to allow admins to show off their OpenStack skills, the OpenStack Foundation today announced the launch of its first certification program for OpenStack Administrators at its developer summit in Austin.

“Like any major technology shift, cloud computing has challenged companies to re-skill engineers and redefine culture and processes,” said Jonathan Bryce, the OpenStack Foundation’s executive director, in a statement today. The Certified OpenStack Administrator exam will help provide a target for cloud administrators who are in high demand as the number of organizations adopting OpenStack continues to grow.”

The first admins will be able to take their exams during the OpenStack conference this week. As the foundation notes, LinkedIn recently ranked “Cloud Computing” as its “hottest global skill of 2015,” and according to data from Indeed, job listings for OpenStack doubled in 2015.

To prepare admins for the certification exams, the foundation partnered with the likes of Canonical, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Linux Academy, Linux Foundation, Midokura, Mirantis, PLUMgrid, Rackspace and SUSE to offer both test preparation and the actual exam.