The 10 Highest-Paying Cloud Certifications In 2023

A new report from online boot camp provider Simplilearn reveals the cloud computing certifications with the highest average annual salaries, including those from AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud.

“Google Certified Professional-Cloud Architect,” “Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert” and “AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Associate” are among the cloud certifications linked with the highest average annual salaries.

That’s according to Simplilearn, a San Francisco-based online boot camp provider that partners with universities as well as companies.

Simplilearn recently published a report on the cloud computing certifications with the highest average annual salaries, featuring certifications from top cloud computing vendors Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google Cloud.

Best-Paying Cloud Certifications

CRN has ranked the list according to average annual salary, from lowest to highest.

CRN also has reached out to Simplilearn, Microsoft, Google Cloud and AWS for comment.

AWS is still considered the dominant cloud business with about one-third of the market. Microsoft is No. 2 with less than a quarter of the market. And Google ranks third with about one-tenth of the market.

A longtail of other vendors including IBM and Oracle are far behind the three vendors.

According to Simplilearn, all of the exams on this list require a 70 percent or higher score to pass. They also feature multiple-choice questions as well as those with multiple responses.

Some other certifications mentioned include:

*AWS Certified Developer Associate

*Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

*Google Associate Cloud Engineer

Here’s what you need to know.

Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate

Average Annual Salary: $107,683

The “Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate” is an intermediate exam on Simplilearn’s list.

The exam shows who can deploy, monitor and manage Azure services with significant compute, storage, network and security involved.

The exam has 40 to 60 questions, according to Simplilearn. It lasts 120 minutes and costs $165.

Simplilearn recommends that test takers be familiar with Azure security, privacy, pricing, support and other concepts.

Google Associate Cloud Engineer

Average Annual Salary: $109,415

Google Associate Cloud Engineers deliver and protect apps and infrastructure, according to Simplilearn. These engineers also oversee project operations and maintain corporate products and services to make sure performance goals are met.

These engineers, programmers and developers demonstrate an ability to work with public clouds and on-premises systems. They deploy, monitor and manage operations of cloud-based web apps.

This intermediate exam costs $125 to take and lasts 120 minutes, according to Simplilearn. The exam has 50 questions.

Simplilearn recommends that test takers have an understanding of virtual machines, containers, networking and other cloud concepts.

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

Average Annual Salary: $110,000

The “Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals” exam shows which professionals understand Azure services, workloads, security, privacy, pricing, support and principles, according to Simplilearn.

The exam is considered an easier one, along the lines of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Solutions Architect Associate and Developer Associate, according to Simplilearn.

The exam costs about $99 and lasts 85 minutes. It has at least 40 questions, according to Simplilearn.

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate

Average Annual Salary: $111,966

The “AWS Certified SysOps Administrator–Associate” exam is another intermediate difficulty one akin to the AWS Certified Developer Associate certification.

Systems operations (SysOps) administrator associates can develop, manage and operate AWS workloads.

The $150 exam lasts 130 minutes and has 65 questions, according to Simplilearn.

Simplilearn recommends that test takers have at least one year of AWS deployment, management and operation experience. They should understand AWS CLIs (command line interfaces), SDKs and APIs. They also should understand AWS tenets, network technologies, security concepts and compliance.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Average Annual Salary: $113,932

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification holders understand essential cloud infrastructure, architectural concepts and AWS services.

The exam ranks on the easier side of the difficulty spectrum, akin to AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate and AWS Certified Developer Associate, according to Simplilearn. The exam costs $100, has 65 questions and lasts 90 minutes.

Simplilearn recommends test takers have experience in creating a cloud implementation strategy, AWS apps deployment, AWS platform architecture creation oversight and cloud platform management and monitoring.

AWS Solutions Architect Professional

Average Annual Salary: $118,266

At $300, this is the most expensive exam on Simplilearn’s list. The “AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Professional” certification is meant to show acumen in creating distributed apps and systems on AWS.

Certification holders can develop, implement and evaluate AWS apps under a variety of conditions, according to Simplilearn.

The exam is on the harder side of the difficulty spectrum, akin to Google Professional Cloud Architect and Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert. The exam has 75 questions and lasts 180 minutes.

Before taking the exam, professionals should understand AWS CLI, AWS APIs, AWS CloudFormation templates, Windows environments and Linux environments, according to Simplilearn.

They also should know best practice architectural design across multiple corporate apps and projects.

AWS Certified Developer Associate

Average Annual Salary: $130,272

This exam shows programmers’ and software developers’ ability to develop and maintain applications on AWS, according to Simplilearn.

The exam costs $150 and is considered intermediate in difficulty, according to Simplilearn. Simplilearn ranks this exam harder than the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate one but easier than the Google Professional Cloud Architect and Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert exams.

This exam runs 130 minutes and has 65 questions, according to Simplilearn.

Simplilearn recommends that before people take the test they should gain an understanding of the AWS shared responsibility model and practice writing applications with AWS’ CLIs, APIs and SDKs.

Simplilearn also recommends learning the continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) method popular with DevOps engineers.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate

Average Annual Salary: $130,883

The “AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Associate” certification shows that a professional can work with an enterprise architecture, build distributed systems on AWS and deploy those systems.

The exam costs $150 and is considered an easier exam than others, according to Simplilearn. The exam has 65 questions on the harder end of these certifications and lasts 130 minutes.

Simplilearn suggests that, before taking the exam, professionals work with AWS for at least a year and understand Java, Python, C# or another programming or scripting language.

Before taking the exam, professionals should also develop an understanding of data storage fundamentals, networking and cloud technologies.

Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Average Annual Salary: $135,000

Programmers, developers and engineers who pass the “Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert” exam demonstrate the ability to work with cloud administrators, cloud database administrators and customers, according to Simplilearn.

They can advise stakeholders and translate business requirements into dependable, scalable and safe products and services.

The exam costs $165 and lasts about 150 minutes, according to Simplilearn. The exam features at least 40 questions on the harder end of these certifications.

Before taking the exam, professionals should demonstrate an ability to implement workloads, implement security, deploy infrastructure, configure infrastructure, create and deploy applications for the cloud and Azure storage, implement authentication and secure data, according to Simplilearn.

Google Professional Cloud Architect

Average Annual Salary: $140,000

The certification with the highest average annual salary is the “Google Certified Professional-Cloud Architect.”

These cloud architects must show abilities in designing and planning cloud service architectures and managing and provisioning cloud infrastructure.

The certification measures designs for security and compliance, according to Simplilearn. Certification holders can work with Google tools such as Big Table, Big Query and the Google Cloud Platform.

The exam costs $200 and lasts about 120 minutes, according to Simplilearn. The exam has 40 questions.

Simplilearn suggests test takers become proficient with CLI, Linux operating systems, systems operations and have more than three years of industry experience.