EMC Proven Professional Program Achieves 45,000 Certifications

EMC Corporation announced that its EMC Proven Professional certification program has achieved 45,000 certifications, maintaining its leadership position as the premier certification program in the information storage and management industry.

Proven Professional certification allows IT professionals to invest in their careers and formally validates their knowledge, skills and expertise through the industry’s most comprehensive learning and certification program, leading to opportunities for greater career advancement and higher salaries.

"The Proven Professional program provides value to not only the professionals who achieve certification, but to EMC as well," said Benjamin S. Woo, Vice President of Storage Systems Research, IDC. "The Proven Professional program provides a base of end users who leverage and parade its certifications in order to attain increased compensation and career advancement. The professionals often end up in positions of influence."

The number of EMC Proven Professional certifications has grown more than 30% in the past year, and more than 50% CAGR since the program’s inception five years ago. The program offers a role-based series of courses and exams that covers the full range of EMC’s hardware, software and solutions. In addition to three levels of technical learning and certification, the EMC Proven Professional program also includes ‘open’ courses, and associated certification, such as Information Storage and Management, which are not product-specific. Training is delivered through a blended learning model that best fits an individual’s learning style, time constraints and budget, including e-Learning, Instructor-led Training, Video Instructor-led training, and EMC LIVE Virtual classroom. Certified Proven Professionals also receive additional benefits, including access to the new, vibrant EMC Proven Professional online community, part of the EMC Community Network. This community provides interaction and knowledge sharing with other Proven Professionals; access to training updates to maintain knowledge; and opportunities to publish technical findings via an annual knowledge-sharing competition.

In today’s highly competitive employment market, those with technical certifications offer an added benefit to employers. Certification provides an employer with validation of the employee’s knowledge, qualifications and skills. For employees, certification provides credibility and access to greater opportunities. A Foote Partners, LLC analytical report entitled, 2009 IT Skills Trends Report issued in August 2009, summarizes the latest results of the firm’s IT Skills and Certification Pay Index of market values and demand for hundreds of technology skills and certifications. As part of the report, the ‘Foote Partners Hot List’ ranks technical skills and certifications across all technologies and IT disciplines according to near-term forecasted demand projections.

According to this study, EMC Proven Professional
certifications hold three of the top 20 spots:

• #2 EMC Proven Professional Technology Architect-Expert
• #9 EMC Proven Professional Implementation Engineer-Expert
• #19 EMC Proven Professional Technology Architect-Specialist

"My EMC Proven Professional certifications were extremely helpful for getting my resume on the top of the list and justifying my salary requirements," said Chuck Royer, Senior Systems Engineer/Storage Architect at a large health insurance company. "The companies I have worked with over the years, including a major storage consulting company and my present employer, recognize the value of these credentials and have been willing to pay for them."

"The rapid growth of the EMC Proven Professional program is testament to the value it provides information and storage management professionals and the industry," said Tom Clancy, Vice President, EMC Education Services. "The industry benefits from having access to a workforce with proven, validated technical skills. IT professionals can leverage their Proven certification to further their career opportunities; interact with their peers and extend their knowledge through the new interactive Proven online community; and keep their skills cutting edge through ongoing knowledge maintenance programs. We are proud that IDC and Foote Partners have acknowledged the importance of the Proven Professional program and it validates the investments we have made, and will continue to make in the program, to benefit our customers, partners and the industry."