Why IT automation training is a smart way to boost your career

In 2019, Comcast discovered a need to create, share, and reuse automation capabilities across projects and teams—with governance and control. The company also required in-house expertise to manage these efforts, so Comcast engaged Red Hat for a five-day onsite training engagement. Comcast Voice Engineers took Red Hat Training courses on Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, providing IT staff with the opportunity to implement, manage, and troubleshoot automation with a hands-on, expert-guided curriculum.

However, the benefits of Red Hat Training and Certification also apply to individuals. Many IT professionals seek automation training on their own and find that it enhances their value to their company and their personal marketability. Take, for example, Christian Sandrini, an IT professional who was named the 2021 Red Hat Certified Professional of the Year. He has earned nearly a dozen Red Hat certifications, including the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Best Practices and the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation Platform.

Sandrini participates heavily in Red Hat Training as a Red Hat Learning Subscription subscriber. He says, "the Red Hat Learning Subscription has helped me because it suits my learning style. I enjoy having the self-paced learning platform where I can go back to rewatch certain videos or do the labs, which are very hands-on. It helped me get into the technology very fast, so even if I didn't know about a certain product, I could sign up for a class and learn very quickly what the product is all about. Another thing I really enjoy is the early-access section of the Red Hat Learning Subscription because it gives you a sneak peek into the technologies that are coming next."

[ Download now: A system administrator's guide to IT automation.]

Introducing your team to automation

The first step toward optimization that Sandrini took in implementing his knowledge was introducing his organization to the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. His goal was to automate functions and modernize how the team provisions and configures servers with an infrastructure-as-code approach. After receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews of his work from the team, he deployed Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. In Sandrini's words, "that was really where the change happened. It allowed us to have role-based access control, and this is when other teams started to become interested. It shows that Ansible cannot be used only for Linux, but for other components around it as well."

Sandrini has become an invaluable asset to his own team, implementing and maintaining IT automation to streamline processes and cut costs using the knowledge obtained through Red Hat Training and Certification. He advocates making training available across teams to acquire and improve skills, as well as to distribute knowledge across team members.

As the demand for professionals skilled in IT automation continues to grow, so does the importance of staying abreast of new strategies and technologies. In the ever-evolving field of IT, training and professional development are key to remaining competitive on an individual and organizational level. Red Hat Training and Certification is constantly updating course content to keep pace with the industry, ensuring that trained and certified professionals who want to enhance their careers in IT automation have the tools they need for success.

[ A free guide from Red Hat: 5 steps to automate your business. ]

Training and certification from Red Hat

For more than 20 years, Red Hat has provided training and certification options for technology professionals to keep up with current and emerging trends. Red Hat Training courses have options to suit various needs and learning styles, from traditional, classroom-based to onsite training to diverse virtual learning options. With an average of 20 years in IT and 11 years using Red Hat products, Red Hat certified instructors strive to create an immediate impact on business goals with their expertise.

Red Hat Learning Subscription allows learners to complete real-time virtual training from their own device and instantly access the complete catalog of self-paced courses, videos, and labs. All of this content is consistently updated to keep pace with the industry. In fact, 41% of courses available in the Red Hat Learning Subscription catalog have been added or updated within the past year. Some Red Hat Learning Subscription tiers also include the cost of sitting for a Red Hat certification exam, simplifying the journey from obtaining knowledge to proving it.

While Red Hat Training helps students keep pace with the latest in automation and digital transformation, Red Hat Certification validates IT professionals as skilled and prepared to take on the most ambitious projects in the face of evolving industry challenges.

Red Hat currently offers two certifications with a focus on IT automation. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Automation with Ansible (RH294) and the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam lay the groundwork for automating workflows, employing DevOps practices, and using Ansible Automation Platform for more efficient development. To take this journey further, Advanced Automation: Red Hat Ansible Best Practices (DO447) and the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Advanced Automation: Ansible Best Practices exam develop and prove the skills needed to use and extend existing Ansible infrastructure across business units in large enterprise environments.

Red Hat certified professionals help their organizations achieve optimal efficiency and cost savings through expertise in automation. In addition, organizations are drawn to recruit and retain certified professionals due to decreased time to onboard and increased cost savings.

[ Looking for more on system automation? Get started with The Automated Enterprise, a free book from Red Hat. ]