Cloud Academy Team

Cloud Academy Launches Multi-Year Plans: Build Multi-Cloud Skills for the Future

Now that cloud is the new “norm,” most businesses understand the benefits of using multiple cloud service providers and are leveraging multi-cloud strategies. There are a number of reasons why businesses are using more than one cloud service provider, but a few of the top reasons include reducing costs, preventing vendor lock-in, improving disaster recovery, and making migration easier for some data and appliances.

In a recent Gartner survey of public cloud users, 81% of respondents said they are working with two or more providers.

With 81% percent of businesses using more than one cloud provider, it is more important than ever for enterprises to have a staff of employees who are well-versed on multiple cloud platforms. According to Gartner, one of the top four trends impacting cloud adoption in 2020 is a lack of cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) skills:

Through 2022, insufficient cloud IaaS skills will delay half of enterprise IT organizations’ migration to the cloud by two years or more.

Now that we understand the growing need for cloud skills, you may see how it presents a massive benefit for IT professionals who have knowledge and certifications in more than one cloud platform. Not only that, but organizations also gain substantial benefits by hiring or training their staff on multiple cloud technologies.

Why do certifications even matter?

Globally recognized, industry-leading cloud certifications validate your skills and provide peace of mind to prospective employers. In the enterprise, certification demonstrates an understanding of a platform, terminology, and a certain level of cloud expertise that can speed up cloud adoption projects.

What’s the best way to get certified?

When it comes to certifications, there are many programs that offer video-based courses that teach the basic concepts of cloud platforms. However, meaningful cloud skills require more than book knowledge. Hands-on experience is required to translate knowledge into real-world results. We see this time and time again in studies about how people learn best — performing the actual task is key.

At Cloud Academy, we’re passionate about all technologies, and we’re constantly striving to improve our platform for individual learners, small- and mid-size businesses (SMB), and large enterprises. Our certification learning paths are not the “typical” training that you might find online. They are all-in-one solutions that provide video-based courses to learn the theory along with quizzes and practice exams to test your knowledge, hands-on labs, lab challenges, and lab playgrounds to practice your skills in live environments.

After you complete the entire learning path, you’ll feel confident in your ability to ace the exam and earn that certification. But we all know that having a certification doesn’t mean anything unless you can back it with experience. Our learning paths provide hours of hands-on experience to make you — and your organization — feel confident in your ability to jump right into a live production environment.

How long does it take to get certified?

Depending on the difficulty, Cloud Academy’s certification learning paths can range from five hours up to 47 hours. On average, most people dedicate two hours a day to studying for a certification. With an average of 10 hours a week, most foundational and associate certifications can take one to two months, and professional and specialty certifications can take up to two to three months.

However, the time it takes to complete a certification learning path is just part of the bigger picture. AWS recommends six months of experience for foundational certifications, one year of experience for associate certifications, and two years of experience for professional certifications. Since Cloud Academy gives you the experience you need working in live AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform environments, you’ll gain the real-world experience you need in no time at all.

Announcing new multi-year plans

Since we know getting certified is a long process, we want to help you achieve your goal of multi-cloud expertise. We’ve been working hard to create a valuable solution for all of our customers, from aspiring IT professionals to C-level executives. Today we’re excited to announce new multi-year plans to help you with your goals today and your goals for the future.

Whether you’re looking to get certified on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or just want to master another programming language, DevOps, or security hacking tools, we have the certification learning path for you or your team. Just think about how many certifications you can earn between now and 2023.

With our new multi-year plan options, you can now purchase two or three years at a significant discount. The two-year plan provides a 35% discount and the three-year provides an amazing discount of 45%!

Cloud Academy Multi-Year Plans Discount

How it works

 New customers

  1. Choose either the enterprise plan or personal plan.
  2. Use the drop-down field to select the subscription length.
Multi-Year Plan

Existing customers

  1. Go to https://cloudacademy.com/pricing/update/
  2. Select the subscription length.
  3. Your plan will be pro-rated based on the number of months you have left in your current plan.
Upgrade plan to multi-year

Note: Current enterprise customers must contact support@cloudacademy.com to upgrade to a multi-year plan.

Which certification should you start right now?

AWS

Foundational
Associate
Professional
Specialty

Azure

Fundamental
Associate
Professional

Google Cloud Platform

Associate

Professional

Cloud Academy