The hyperscalers are ramping up the types of cloud certifications managed service providers and other channel partners may earn.

The activity reflects the unstoppable momentum of cloud computing in general. While the exact figures vary, research firms throughout the industry predict market size to surpass $500 billion  over the next five years.

As such, this week, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services both debuted new curricula that will come of interest to partners and their employees.

Google Cloud hit the market first on Tuesday with the announcement of its beta program for its Professional Cloud Database Engineer certification. (The news followed its Data Summit last week, which featured the Database Migration Program.)

“As more databases move to fully managed cloud database services, the traditional database engineer is now being tasked to handle more nuanced and advanced functions,” Andi Gutmans, general manager and vice president of engineering for databases at Google Cloud, wrote in a blog. “In fact, there is a massive need for database engineers to lead strategic decision-making and distinguish themselves with a more developed and advanced skill set than what the industry previously called for.”

To that point, Google Cloud has crafted the new cloud certification to give engineers the ability to translate business and technical requirements into real-world capabilities.

“Cloud database engineers are critical to the success of your organization and that’s why this new certification from Google Cloud is so important,” Gutmans said. “These engineers are uniquely skilled at designing, planning, testing, implementing and monitoring databases, including migration processes. Additionally, they provide the right guidance about which databases are best for a company’s specific use cases and they’re able to guide developers when making decisions about which databases to use when building applications. These engineers lead migration efforts while ensuring customers are getting the most out of their database investment.”

Why Cloud Certifications Are Coming at Rapid Pace

Google Cloud’s cloud certification efforts come as one research firm, Valuates, projects the global cloud database will hit $68.5 billion by 2026. Indeed, Google Cloud, the world’s third-largest cloud computing provider is optimistic that forecast will materialize — it’s offering 40% off the cost of its new cloud certification to entice participants. Google Cloud did not say how long the beta period will apply to the cloud database program.

AWS followed Google Cloud’s news on Thursday with the expansion of its container and DevSecOps competencies. The former targets enterprise environments while the latter addresses the increasingly pressing practice of security. (Considering that, by 2031, a ransomware attack will strike every two seconds, and the annual expense of recovery at that point will cost $265 billion, that’s a big deal.)

Microsoft Azure, too, offers training and certification. The company updates its so-called learning paths and modules on a consistent basis.

Vendors’ cloud certifications give partners the ability to prove their specialization in specific and proprietary technologies and products. However, they’re often expensive, which can be tough for smaller channel partners. This week at the 2022 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, attendees learned about alternatives to the hyperscalers, which do not require cloud certification. Speakers from Linode and Vultr said this is because they have made their platforms so easy to use that complicating them with hefty training and education requirements doesn’t make sense. Such initiatives would also go against the ethos of appealing to MSPs and customers in search of independent options to the hyperscalers.