Professional
Certification
Goals
1 / 6
1.
Skills
Inventory
Each
skill
is
listed
with
its
assessed
current
level
and
the
target
level
the
certification
path
is
meant
to
reach
.
Levels
are
rated
as
Foundational
,
Working
,
Proficient
,
or
Advanced
.
Cloud
&
Platform
Infrastructure
AWS
core
services
EC
2,
S
3,
IAM
,
VPC
,
RDS
,
CloudWatch
Working
→
Proficient
Container
orchestration
Kubernetes
,
Docker
,
Helm
,
cluster
operations
Working
→
Proficient
Infrastructure
as
code
Terraform
,
CloudFormation
,
module
design
Foundational
→
Working
CI
/
CD
pipeline
design
GitHub
Actions
,
ArgoCD
,
release
gating
Working
→
Proficient
Linux
administration
&
networking
Proficient
→
Proficient
Data
&
Analytics
SQL
PostgreSQL
,
Snowflake
,
query
optimisation
and
window
functions
Proficient
→
Advanced
Python
for
data
pandas
,
NumPy
,
requests
,
notebook
workflows
Working
→
Proficient
Data
modelling
&
warehouse
design
Star
schemas
,
slowly
changing
dimensions
,
partitioning
Working
→
Proficient
ETL
/
ELT
pipeline
development
dbt
,
Airflow
,
batch
and
incremental
loads
Foundational
→
Working
BI
&
visualization
Tableau
,
Power
BI
,
dashboard
design
Working
→
Proficient
Statistical
analysis
&
experimentation
A
/
B
testing
,
confidence
intervals
,
significance
Foundational
→
Working
2 / 6
Security
,
Risk
&
Compliance
Identity
&
access
management
IAM
policies
,
SSO
,
RBAC
,
least
-
privilege
design
Working
→
Proficient
Risk
assessment
&
control
mapping
SOC
2,
ISO
27001
Annex
A
,
evidence
collection
Foundational
→
Working
Incident
response
&
log
analysis
Triage
runbooks
,
forensic
timeline
building
Foundational
→
Working
Network
security
fundamentals
Firewalls
,
segmentation
,
TLS
,
zero
-
trust
basics
Foundational
→
Working
Engineering
Practice
Version
control
&
code
review
Git
branching
strategy
,
PR
discipline
Proficient
→
Proficient
API
design
REST
conventions
,
GraphQL
schemas
,
versioning
Working
→
Proficient
Observability
&
monitoring
Prometheus
,
Grafana
,
Datadog
,
SLO
definition
Working
→
Proficient
Automated
testing
&
release
management
Working
→
Proficient
Technical
documentation
Runbooks
,
architecture
decision
records
,
API
references
Proficient
→
Proficient
Business
&
Leadership
Project
&
program
management
Scope
control
,
critical
path
,
dependency
tracking
Proficient
→
Advanced
Stakeholder
communication
&
executive
briefing
Proficient
→
Proficient
Budgeting
&
vendor
management
Working
→
Proficient
Mentoring
&
cross
-
functional
enablement
Working
→
Proficient
Change
management
Adoption
planning
,
training
design
,
rollout
comms
Foundational
→
Working
3 / 6
2.
Certification
Goals
Nine
certifications
grouped
into
three
horizons
.
Each
goal
names
the
issuing
body
,
target
window
,
exam
logistics
,
preparation
budget
,
and
the
specific
skill
gap
it
closes
.
Horizon
1 —
Foundational
&
Platform
(
Q
1–
Q
2 2026)
AWS
Certified
Solutions
Architect
–
Associate
Amazon
Web
Services
·
Exam
SAA
-
C
03
Target
:
March
2026
Anchors
the
entire
cloud
skill
block
.
Validates
the
ability
to
design
resilient
,
cost
-
aware
architectures
across
compute
,
storage
,
networking
,
and
identity
—
the
prerequisite
mindset
for
every
later
certification
on
this
list
.
EXAM
FEE
$
150
FO RMAT
65
questions
· 130
min
PREP
HO URS
80
CLO SES
GAP
Cloud
core
services
HashiCorp
Certified
:
Terraform
Associate
(003)
HashiCorp
Target
:
April
2026
Moves
infrastructure
as
code
from
Foundational
to
Working
.
The
exam
is
deliberately
narrow
and
inexpensive
,
which
makes
it
a
fast
,
low
-
risk
win
that
immediately
improves
day
-
to
-
day
delivery
work
.
EXAM
FEE
$
70.50
FO RMAT
57
questions
· 60
min
PREP
HO URS
40
CLO SES
GAP
Infrastructure
as
code
Microsoft
Certified
:
Azure
Administrator
Associate
Microsoft
·
Exam
AZ
-104
Target
:
June
2026
Provides
multi
-
cloud
parity
.
Client
environments
are
split
roughly
60/40
between
AWS
and
Azure
,
and
administration
depth
on
Azure
is
the
single
most
requested
credential
in
recent
project
staffing
conversations
.
EXAM
FEE
$
165
FO RMAT
~50
questions
· 100
min
PREP
HO URS
90
CLO SES
GAP
Multi
-
cloud
operations
Horizon
2 —
Depth
&
Specialisation
(
Q
3–
Q
4 2026)
CompTIA
Security
+ (
SY
0-701)
CompTIA
Target
:
July
2026
Baseline
security
credential
that
satisfies
the
DoD
8570 / 8140
IAT
Level
II
requirement
and
unlocks
a
much
wider
set
of
public
-
sector
and
regulated
-
industry
engagements
.
Also
the
formal
entry
point
before
CISSP
.
EXAM
FEE
$
404
FO RMAT
Max
90
questions
· 90
min
PREP
HO URS
100
CLO SES
GAP
Security
fundamentals
4 / 6
Certified
Kubernetes
Administrator
(
CKA
)
Linux
Foundation
/
CNCF
Target
:
September
2026
Performance
-
based
and
hands
-
on
,
so
it
cannot
be
passed
by
reading
alone
.
This
is
the
certification
that
forces
genuine
cluster
-
operations
fluency
rather
than
exam
-
shaped
recall
.
EXAM
FEE
$
395
FO RMAT
Performance
lab
· 120
min
PREP
HO URS
120
CLO SES
GAP
Container
orchestration
Google
Professional
Data
Engineer
Google
Cloud
Target
:
November
2026
The
deepest
technical
certification
on
the
plan
.
Covers
pipeline
design
,
warehouse
modelling
,
and
operationalising
models
—
directly
matching
the
ETL
/
ELT
and
data
-
modelling
gaps
identified
in
the
skills
inventory
.
EXAM
FEE
$
200
FO RMAT
~50
questions
· 120
min
PREP
HO URS
110
CLO SES
GAP
Pipeline
&
warehouse
design
Tableau
Desktop
Specialist
Tableau
(
Salesforce
)
Target
:
December
2026
A
short
,
low
-
cost
credential
that
formalises
BI
and
dashboard
skills
already
in
daily
use
.
Scheduled
deliberately
in
December
as
a
light
-
load
month
after
the
CKA
and
Data
Engineer
exams
.
EXAM
FEE
$
100
FO RMAT
45
questions
· 60
min
PREP
HO URS
30
CLO SES
GAP
BI
&
visualization
Horizon
3 —
Leadership
&
Specialisation
(2027)
Project
Management
Professional
(
PMP
)
Project
Management
Institute
Target
:
May
2027
Formalises
program
leadership
into
a
recognised
credential
.
Requires
35
contact
hours
of
formal
project
management
education
,
which
will
be
completed
through
PMI
-
authorised
coursework
in
Q
1 2027.
EXAM
FEE
$
405
member
FO RMAT
180
questions
· 230
min
PREP
HO URS
140
incl
. 35
contact
hrs
CLO SES
GAP
Program
management
5 / 6
Certified
Information
Systems
Security
Professional
(
CISSP
)
ISC
2
Target
:
November
2027
The
capstone
credential
and
the
long
-
lead
item
on
this
plan
.
Requires
five
years
of
cumulative
paid
work
experience
across
at
least
two
of
the
eight
domains
,
so
it
is
scheduled
last
by
design
rather
than
convenience
.
EXAM
FEE
$
749
FO RMAT
125–175
questions
· 4
hrs
PREP
HO URS
200
CLO SES
GAP
Security
leadership
6 / 6
