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1. A differentiator against the competition. When employers are interviewing, the competition is often stiff. If you have the certification, and the other person does not, you are at a definite advantage.
2. Plugs you into two new communities: one that is earning the certification, and one that has the certification. For example, if you are going for your PMP certification, you will immediately have something in common with other hopefuls, and this can provide networking opportunities through classes, the web, and meetings. The same holds true when you have earn the certification; you are a member of the "club." While these are benefits of PMP certification, the same would hold true of most certifications
3. Gives you confidence that you have "passed through the chairs." When you have set your sights on a goal, put together a plan, work hard, and you reach it, you gain confidence, which spills over into all aspects of your life.
4. Gives you tools to draw upon when needed. Having gone through all of the study and hard work, you have mastered a new body of knowledge. Put it to use as soon as you can.
5. While it is said that "experience is the greatest teacher," a certification "rounds you out." Often, experience is strong in some areas, but not in others. Like education, experience rounds you out, giving exposure to ideas and approaches outside your comfort zone. In addition, being able to think outside your experience is an ingredient of leadership.
6. You can be a better mentor. The ability to mentor is based greatly on experience, but the best mentors can reach beyond their experience. They are able to extrapolate from their experience, and relate it to someone else's entirely different experience.
7. Establishes you as a continuous learner. Employers are always looking for people who never want to stop learning. Learning is a value unto itself, and those around you will respect and admire you for it, and sometimes even be a little jealous!
8. Will enable you to make more money. Often, earning a certification, such as the PMP, can quickly lead to compensation increases of 20% and more.
9. Enables you to better evaluate the talents and skills of others. With the discipline to master the material for the certification, you are in a better position to evaluate the skills of others. You have had the opportunity to evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses in the process of earning the certification, and have a broader understanding of the skills and toolsets that can be effective.
10. Gets your foot in the door in the new area. Many career changers turn to certifications to get themselves into a new area. For example, many technical people who want to advance will earn the PMP certification in order to move into a position of greater responsibility.

There are always going to be plenty of possibilities for a person whether s/he starts from a diploma level or a full-fledged engineering degree.
To list down explicitly (in order of priority: top-down) for a fresher, here are some of the best technical course options that IT Companies hunt for in India and abroad:

1. JAVA/J2EE & Its Frameworks (Struts, Spring, Hibernate):
The most widely used technology by almost all the esteemed companies across domains (Banking, Telecom, Life Sciences, Financial Services, Aviation, Academia, Retail & Consumer products) around the world is nothing but Java.

And when it comes to what exactly you will have to learn, Java continues to be an unending ocean where you should focus on strengthening your core part of it as much as possible.

Aspirants normally get carried away with the charm of JSP & Servlets, but that kills you like sweet poison in the long run. Here is what ‘all’ you ‘must’ cover while opting for a Java course:

• J2SE (Core Part)
• J2EE (JSP & Servlets + EJB)
• STRUTS (Framework for Java)
• SPRING and/or HIBERNATE (For more sophisticated & advanced applications)

There are many other frameworks and supporting technologies for Java aspirants but the above ones are a must and most demanding ones in the Software/IT market.

So if a career in any of the above major domains interests you, and the zeal for non-stop coding pleases your soul, then look no further than learning Java.

Priority List of IT course options:

• JAVA/J2EE & its Frameworks (Struts, Spring, Hibernate)
• CISCO Technologies
• SAS
• DBA (Oracle, DB2, MySql, SQL Server)
• System Administration (Red Hat, Solaris, UNIX, VMware)
• Cloud Computing
• Microsoft Technologies
• Mobile SDKs (Android, iPhone, Windows Phone)
• Animation & Graphics
• SQT (Software Quality Testing)
• Other language courses(PHP, Ruby/Perl/Python)

2.CISCO Technologies
If you are fascinated by various types of network wires connected to your computer, the plugs, and switches that hold the programming logic of those cables, and are curious about how data flows (routes)through those switches, CISCO technologies can be your choice of course. To start with CISCO courses while targeting a decent job, you need at least a senior secondary (10+2) or some diploma/graduation in computer sciences (or even a non-computer profile will do).

CISCO technologies are among the few courses which are most popular among non-IT aspirants who are targeting an entry-level job (but not without certain drawbacks viz. below-average work profile).

While opting for any network-based course including CISCO technologies, do thorough research on the infrastructure of practical labs of the institute, as the theories are of almost negligent significance in network-based courses.

The five levels of certification from CISCO are Entry, Associate, Professional, Expert, and Architect along with targeted certifications for Specialist and Technician. These are available in seven different subject areas: Routing & Switching, Design, Network Security, Service Provider, Storage Networking, Voice and Wireless.

Remember, if you’ve jumped into the foray of CISCO technologies then their certifications are a ‘must’ to drive your career forward.

The better the level of degree (graduation recommended) attained combined with the various levels of certifications achieved, the better will be the salary digits in your bank account and the work profile will vary hugely.

3. SAS
Data Analytics is now a rapidly growing field and so this Business Intelligence domain has emerged as the most lucrative option among the current breed of IT graduates.

SAS, originally Statistical Analysis System, is an integrated system of software products provided by SAS Institute, to perform data entry, retrieval, management, mining, report writing, and graphics. Some explicit benefits are as under:

Widely used for business planning, forecasting, and decision support for its accurate results.
Extensively used for operations research and project management
The best tool for quality improvement and applications development
Provides Data warehousing (extract, transform, and load)
Additional benefits of platform independence and remote computing ability
SAS business solutions assist in areas such as human resource management, financial management, business intelligence, customer relationship management and more
Used in the analysis of results and report generation in clinical trials in the pharmaceutical industry
SAS comprises multi-engine architecture for better data management and reporting. SAS training prepares students for rewarding and very well paying career as SAS analyst, programmer, developer or consultant. Anyone can learn this course and appear for the certification exams, but usually, the ones who hold valid graduation in Computers/IT, are preferred.

The SAS Certified Professional Program was launched by SAS Institute, Inc. in 1999 to recognise users who can demonstrate an in-depth understanding of SAS software. The program consists of five certifications across different functional areas. Several SAS courses prepare users for the certification exams. To date many programmers have taken these courses, some experienced users just take the exams, and many other SAS savvy professionals are experienced but not SAS certified.

As per some recent surveys, about 60,000 SAS Analysts and programmers will be required in the next couple of years. Moreover, SAS consultants are paid the big bucks when compared to other software technologies.

4. DBA (Oracle, DB2, MySql, SQL Server)
In a highly unpredictable and dynamic Software/IT industry, the one course which you can rely on for a stable career is Database Administration (DBA).

DBA is all about creating, managing and maintaining huge data files; and from the several database flavours available in the market, Oracle can be your best bet. Others are popular, but once you are through with Oracle, the ones like MySql and DB2 can be easily learned later on in a much shorter period.

To move to more advanced levels, courses like Data Warehousing can be pursued further. Again as with many Software/IT courses, there is no strict minimum eligibility to learn DBA, but a regular diploma/graduation in computers continues to be preferred from a job perspective. To enhance your profile, you should look for certifications (after completion of course/self-learning) like from Oracle or IBM.

Demand for DBA will remain positive as there’s no project in Software/IT that doesn’t use a database, irrespective of the size of the project. So if you’re on the lookout for a steady job option and data maintenance (programmatically) infatuates you, then a DBA course is the way to go!

5. System Administration (Red Hat, Solaris, UNIX, VMware)
For the ones who are fond of installation and computer administration activities like User Management, system security, risk management, package installations – System administration can be an enchanting choice.

As with CISCO technologies, system administration is also popular as a course among non-IT aspirants. You need to have done 10+2 or valid diploma/graduation (IT or non-IT) to start with this course and then appear for the certification exams.

Unless you hold a regular IT graduation, the certifications are almost mandatory for you if picking this administration route. There are various options in certifications from Red Hat, VMware, and Solaris.

System administration is by and large considered an average salary fetching profile, but yes there are loads of exceptions to it and those who hold 4-year graduation in computer science are at an advantage to draw bigger salary packages. Comparatively, non-IT aspirants need to be a bit patient and focus on gaining the initial 4-5 years of experience.

6. Cloud Computing
The biggest buzz in the IT town is all about the Cloud! We’re already using many cloud-based services such as from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, HP, and others.

It’s all about the “On-demand self-service “ model which allows users to obtain, configure and deploy cloud services themselves using cloud service catalogs, without requiring the assistance of IT. Traditionally, people and corporates would buy software and install it on their computers for use. With the advent of the Internet, all sorts of programs became available on a ‘Cloud’ – which is a word used to describe the network formed by the Internet.

Cloud computing customers do not own the servers and other physical infrastructure that stores these programs. Instead, they rent the programs – or the usage of the programs – from a service provider/ supplier. This helps save resources since the customer pays only for the resources that he or she uses.

Significant innovations in virtualisation and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated corporate interest in Cloud computing.

You will be learning things viz.:

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Software as a service (SaaS)
• Network as a service (NaaS)
• Storage as a service (STaaS)
• Security as a service (SECaaS)
• Data as a service (DaaS)
• Database as a service (DBaaS)

The rapid development of data being generated, advances in virtualisation and cloud computing and the convergence of data centre infrastructures are creating high demand for skilled IT professionals.

Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Windows Azure is one of the trustworthy course options.

Note of Vigilance: The cloud courses are many, and the Indian software industry is no better than a newbie in this cloud, so before opting for a course available here, its content should be thoroughly analysed. The demand though will only continue to rise.

7. Microsoft Technologies
Microsoft has diversified technology offerings for IT aspirants ranging from web/desktop based application development with .NET to the Desktop/Data/Server administration and even the cloud platforms viz. Azure as discussed under Cloud Computing courses.

.NET is often thought of as a direct rival to JAVA, but with time both have matured enough to find their own space in the worldwide software industry.

.NET continues to enjoy being the most popular solution for desktop-based software applications and for the lighter web applications (which don’t have stringent security demands), ASP.NET is there to compete.

MCSE used to be hugely popular with administration & networking geeks, which has been replaced by Microsoft with a plethora of other more narrowly focused certifications like MCAD, MCSD, MCDST, MCDBA, MCAS, etc.

For application and enterprise developers, MCITP has several options to choose from.

If you’ve decided to be part of the Microsoft bandwagon then certifications will be required to boost your resume, except for application developers learning .NET (who can even do without certifications).

All these courses and certifications are grouped by Microsoft under one hat named “Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)” series.

Growth wise, application & cloud development courses are comparatively more charming.

8. Mobile SDKs (Android, iPhone, Windows Phone)
The growth in the mobile sector is celebrated by all of us. So a possible career in mobile application development proves to be a perfect infatuation (even for experienced software engineers).

You have limited options in terms of platforms to choose from viz. iPhone, Android, Blackberry (not recommended as a safe career option with all due respect), and the newbie Windows Phone.

Android should be the choice for those who want to play safely in this more dynamic mobile industry, though the iPhone and others have their own fascinating stories to tell.

Even a primary student can develop a mobile application and start earning but jokes apart you will just need to be good at programming in languages like Java, C/C++ and then you can jump into this mobile thingy!

Degrees will hold their value if you’re looking to get employment in some multinational.

9. Animation & Graphics
The animation industry is already on a high around the world and is catching fire in the Indian market too. All the animation movies (2D/3D), cartoons, and noticeable high-end graphics you watch over an LCD/LED/TFT or a big giant theatre screen are a product of the Animation & Graphics sector.

Though in India, the growth in this animation domain has been relatively very slow, still it’s enough to excite an aspirant. Nowadays, graduations and diplomas in multimedia are increasing in popularity in India and do remember that a valid regular degree is always a big plus to boost your profile and enhance the growth probability, irrespective of the course you opt for.

You will easily find academies in your area offering short-term courses on animation and the various courses specific to your interests like Visual Effects, Web Designing, Fine Arts, etc.

Varying from course to course, a typical curriculum will comprise of modules like  Story Boarding, Character Designing, Concept Designing, 3DS MAX, Texture Painting, Using 3D Maya, editing sounds & videos , Toon Boom Studio, Wax modelling, Digital Illustration, Lightbox animation, Auto Desk Maya, Corel Draw, Flash Action, Photoshop.

Eligibility: A senior secondary certificate and basic knowledge of computers are good enough to start with.  A hand on experience of programming is always an added advantage.

10. SQT (Software Quality Testing)
A career option often unknown (or mostly unpopular/ignored) to an industry fresher is Software Testing. While the truth of any medium or large scale project is that it’s incomplete without the Testing teams.

An untested application is always the most dangerous one and suspected to fail in the longer run.

Testing is a process used to help identify the correctness, completeness, and quality of developed computer software. With that in mind, testing can never completely establish the correctness of computer software. Testing helps in verifying and validating if the software is working as it is intended to be working. This involves using static and dynamic methodologies to test the application.

Testing should systematically uncover different classes of errors in a minimum amount of time and with a minimum amount of effort. A secondary benefit of testing is that it demonstrates that the software appears to be working as stated in the specifications.

Any Testing course should cover at least the following topics:

Static Testing: Static Analysis, Static Control Testing, Static Testing Techniques, Static Pressure Testing, Dynamic Testing, Load Testing, Black box Testing, White Box Testing, Unit Testing toolkits, extreme programming unit testing

Requirements Testing, Regression Testing (Software), Automated Regression Testing, Regression Testing Tools, Web Regression Testing.

Eligibility: From the Indian perspective, it’s recommended only for regular IT graduates (3 or 4 years).


11. Other Language Courses (PHP, Ruby/Perl/Python)
Lightweight web applications (or more famously dubbed as websites) need easier to learn and less complex languages and that is where languages like PHP and Ruby come to help.

PHP considered sometimes a direct rival to ASP.NET, has an advantage of easy coupling with MySql environment and you can easily find a cheaper web host over the internet offering PHP + MySql as the hosting option.

So if you’re planning to set up your web designing firm, PHP (along with MySql database) is the perfect option to start with.

Ruby comes in so many flavours that you might initially be confused but a little bit of research will lend you on the right Ruby framework that suits your need. Ruby on Rails is among the more popular ones while the other Ruby variants face stiff competition from technologies namely Perl/Python.

A job in multinationals might not fetch you big figures with PHP/Ruby, but they are still among the hunted skills in the Indian IT market.

For more Details : 
Redback IT Academy 
No : 5/X2 Hari Ohm 2nd Street,
Phase III, Sathuvachari,
Vellore. 632009
+91 8189985551