If you are seeking a way to enhance your professional resume, software development certifications are ideal career boosts. In this guide, we discuss certifications for software development, where to find them, what types and levels to consider, and what they cost.
We discuss the highest-paying software development certification jobs and provide resources for software development students and professionals. If you want to stand out in the competitive job market and increase your earning potential, a software development certification is perfect for you.
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What Is a Professional Certification?
A professional certification is an achievement earned by passing certification exams and meeting foundational skills and industry standards set by a third party. Once a professional certification has been acquired you are usually assigned a professional designation such as CISSP or PSD, among others.
What’s the Difference Between Certification and a Certificate?
The difference between a certification and a certificate is that certifications involve passing an exam and meeting a set of requirements established by a reputable organization, while a certificate involves completing a course or set of courses successfully. A certification serves as stronger proof that one has experience and knowledge in one’s field.
Why Is Certification in Software Development Important?
A certification in software development is important because it validates your foundational knowledge and technical expertise in software concepts like software design, security practices, and database servers. According to Statista, 87 percent of IT professionals worldwide have acquired at least one certification.
An associate certification illustrates your intermediate level of expertise, while an advanced certification proves your expert level of expertise in the field of software development. Certification in software development is highly valued amongst employers.
Best Software Development Certifications by Salary
| Certification | Provider | Average Salary | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) | (ISC)² | $120,000 | $749 |
| Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer | Oracle University | $105,000 | $297 |
| Amazon Web Service Certified Developer – Associate | Amazon Web Services | $105,000 | $150 |
| Professional Scrum Developer | Scrum.org | $100,000 | $200 |
| Microsoft Azure Fundamentals | Microsoft | $97,000 | $99 |
| Zend Certified PHP Engineer | Zend | $81,000 | $195 |
| Certified Software Development Professional | IEEE Computer Society | $76,000 | $390/member $485/non-members |
| Oracle Certified Professional, Java EE 7 Application Developer | Oracle University | $71,142 | $297 |
| CompTIA A+ | CompTIA | $66,000 | $239 |
| Adobe Certified Professional | Adobe | $58,000 | $125 |
Best Software Development Certifications to Further Your Career
The CISSP certification can accelerate your cyber security career. It proves you have the knowledge and technical skills to design, implement and manage cyber security programs. Acquiring your CISSP certification with (ISC)² will give you access to exclusive resources, education tools, and the opportunity to network with experienced professionals.
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Overview
- Average Salary: $120,000
- Cost: $749
- Requirements: Five years minimum of professional experience in an IT security role
- Valid For: Three years
- Exam Length: 125 to 175 multiple choice questions in four hours
- Best Suited For: Cyber security experts who want to formally prove their skills
Potential Careers With Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
This certification for web development verifies your proficiency in Java programming, coding practices, and the uses of the Java SE 11 features. Topics covered in this certification include working with Java data types, controlling program flow, learning Java object-oriented approaches, and securing coding in the Java SE application.
Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer Overview
- Average Salary: $105,000
- Cost: $297
- Requirements: Java language and coding proficiency
- Valid For: 18 months
- Exam Length: 90 minutes
- Best Suited For: People who want to get started in coding
Potential Careers With Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer
This Amazon Web Service Certified Developer certification is ideal for web developers. It verifies your expertise in creating and maintaining AWS-based applications and implementing cloud initiatives like writing and assigning cloud-based applications. They recommend one year of experience working with AWS-based applications before taking the exam.
Amazon Web Service Certified Developer Overview
- Average Salary: $105,000
- Cost: $150
- Requirements: At least one year of hands-on experience developing and maintaining an AWS-based application, general IT and AWS knowledge recommended
- Valid For: Three years
- Exam Length: 130 minutes (65 questions)
- Best Suited For: Beginner to intermediate coding professionals
Potential Careers With Amazon Web Service Certified Developer
A Professional Scrum Developer (PSD) certification validates your proficiency in using Scrum to develop complex software products. A thorough understanding of the role of a Scrum Developer is recommended to pass this certification with the minimum 85 percent pass mark.
Professional Scrum Developer Overview
- Average Salary: $100,000
- Cost: $200
- Requirements: Experience with Scrum development
- Valid For: Lifetime
- Exam Length: 60 minutes (80 questions)
- Best Suited For: Intermediate coding professionals
Potential Careers With Professional Scrum Developer
Microsoft provides this Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification to verify your fundamental knowledge of cloud services. It is intended for those beginning to work with could-based solutions and services. Microsoft has various certification exams with different levels of expertise and validity to select. Note that their prices are varied.
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Overview
- Average Salary: $97,000
- Cost: $99
- Requirements: Knowledge of the technical concepts of networking, storage, computer, application support, and application development is recommended. It is also recommended to take the practice exam
- Valid For: 12 months
- Exam Length: Between 45 to 65 minutes
- Best Suited For: Beginner coding professionals
Potential Careers With Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
The Zend Certified PHP Engineer certification is identical to the Java programmer and Microsoft Certified Professional certified programs. It verifies your mastery of PHP basics, functions, data format and types, web features, and object-oriented programming
Zend Certified PHP Engineer Overview
- Average Salary: $81,000
- Cost: $195
- Requirements: Knowledge and understanding of databases using SQL, Perl regular expressions
- Valid For: Lifetime
- Exam Length: 90 minutes (70 questions)
- Best Suited For: Intermediate coding professionals
Potential Careers With Zend Certified PHP Engineer
The IEEE Computer Society provides the Certified Software Development Professional certification. This certification validates extensive knowledge and technical skills in design, construction, and testing software. It is a three-hour exam with 160 questions that should be renewed every three years.
Certified Software Development Professional Overview
- Average Salary: $76,000
- Cost: $390 (members); $485 (non-members)
- Requirements: Recommended two years of college education in computer science or two years experience in the industry
- Valid For: Three years
- Exam Length: Three hours (160 questions)
- Best Suited For: Beginner and intermediate coding professionals
Potential Careers With Certified Software Development Professional
Acquiring the Oracle Certified Professional, Java EE 7 Application Developer certification qualifies you to build applications using Java EE 7. It is ideal for software engineers, architects, and backend and front end web developers. You need to score a minimum of 66 percent to pass.
Oracle Certified Professional, Java EE 7 Application Developer Overview
- Average Salary: $71,142
- Cost: $297
- Requirements: Programming capabilities to develop and deploy applications using Java Platform and Enterprise Edition 7
- Valid For: 18 months
- Exam Length: 110 minutes (70 questions)
- Best Suited For: Intermediate coding professionals
Potential Careers With Oracle Certified Professional, Java EE 7 Application Developer
The CompTIA A+ certification provided by CompTIA is another well-known and respected certification in the IT industry. It verifies proficiency in supporting business technology in security, networking, and virtualization. Two exams need to be completed for certification.
CompTIA A+ Overview
- Average Salary: $66,000
- Cost: $239/exam ($478 total)
- Requirements: Nine to 12 months hands-on experience recommended
- Valid For: Three years
- Exam Length: Two exams (90 minutes and 90 questions each)
- Best Suited For: Beginner coding professionals
Potential Careers With CompTIA A+
The Adobe Certified Professional certification verifies your professional level of expertise and technical skills in one or more of Adobe’s products on offer. Certifications in digital communication and graphic design can be very useful for software developers. Expert and master-level certifications are also available.
Adobe Certified Professional Overview
- Average Salary: $58,000
- Cost: $125
- Requirements: 150 hours of instruction and hands-on experience in an application before earning the certification is expected
- Valid For: Three years
- Exam Length: 50 minutes
- Best Suited For: Beginner coding professionals
Potential Careers With Adobe Certified Professional
How to Choose the Best Software Development Certification for Your Career
Choosing the best software development certification for your career may seem daunting. The best way to decide on which of the many certifications is best for you is to consider your career goals, decide on a budget, and do your research to find out what it will take to get there.
Consider Your Career Goals
Knowing the specific field you want to join in software development is a good way of choosing which certification is best for you. Each certification covers different special skills, so knowing the one you want can help you plot your education strategically in the long term.
Decide on a Budget
It’s essential to know how much you can spend on your certifications for software developers. Sticking to your budget will help you boost your resume and still attend to your other responsibilities. As there are also preparation or training courses available to help you get ready, these costs also need to be considered in your budget. The best free budgeting apps can help you.
Know How to Break Into Tech
Knowing how to break into tech helps you plan for the costs, study time, and exam location. Knowing the exact skills that are currently in demand by employers will allow you to choose a certification worth your time. Being in software development and other tech related fields will require continued education due to how fast our technology advances.
Which Software Development Certifications Pay the Most?
The software development certifications that pay the most have excellent yearly salaries. The top five certifications for software developers pay between $97,000 to $120,000 per year. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published data that shows this is much higher than the average salary for all occupations in America.
Highest-Paying Software Development Certifications
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP): $120,000
- Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer: $105,000
- Amazon Web Service Certified Developer: $105,000
- Professional Scrum: $100,000
- Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: $97,000
Which Software Development Certifications Are the Best for Beginners?
The software development certifications that are best for beginners are the Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer, Amazon Web Service Certified Developer, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, and CompTIA A+. These certifications cover the most common skills you need to succeed in tech.
Best College Certificate Programs
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How to Prepare for Your Software Development Certification Exam
There are multiple ways to conduct your software development exam prep. Students can attend a preparation course, gain practical experience, join online communities, browse websites with searchable resources, and read books. We highlight the best software development certification resources below.
Best Courses to Prepare for Software Development Certification Exams
Once you know which certification you want to do, you will need to find a suitable software development prep course to stand the best chance of passing your certification. Below are some of the best courses to prepare for software development certification exams.
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- Cost: $6,061
- Duration: One to five years
- Best Suited For: Java SE 11 Developer, Java SE 8 Programmer - Associate, Java SE 8 Programmer - Professional, Java SE 11 Upgrade, Enterprise Java Developer
Oracle University provides this cloud platform learning for people who want to prepare for various software certifications, including the Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer.
It covers challenges presented by exam questions, question-taking strategies, and important concepts tested by the exam. Oracles’ website states that more than 99 percent of students give Oracle University their highest recommendation.
- Cost: $1,858 for the Developing on AWS classroom training
- Duration: Three days
- Best Suited For: Amazon Web Service Certified Developer - Associate
Amazon Web Services provide many free digital training resources, such as Classroom Training Developing on AWS. Intended for intermediate-level developers, the course covers end-to-end cloud applications, command-line interface, Identity and Access Management (IAM) permissions, and programming patterns.
- Cost: Free
- Duration: Self-paced, video is one hour and 34 minutes
- Best Suited For: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
Microsoft provides free online training and paid instructor-led training. The online training covers core Azure concepts, services, general and network security, identity, governance, privacy, compliance features, and cost management. Indeed reviews rate this 4.4 stars out of five.
- Cost: $129
- Duration: 13 to 16 hours
- Best Suited For: CompTIA A+
CompTIA provides this CertMaster Practice for A+ Training. It covers essential skills in operating systems, networking, software troubleshooting, virtual cloud, and computing. Students review this entry-level certification training at 3.3 stars out of five.
- Cost: Courses and Exam Bundle $595 (members); $775 (non-members)
- Duration: Self-paced, exam voucher must be redeemed within one year.
- Best Suited For: Certified Software Development Professional
IEEE Computer Society provides the Certified Software Development Professional course and exam bundle. It teaches candidates essential skills in software requirements, design, construction, and testing. IEEE also offers the Associate Software Developer Certification and the Professional Software Engineering Master Certification, both of which include the course and exam bundles.
Other Resources to Prepare for Your Software Development Certification Exams
There are loads of other resources for your software development exam prep. Books, online communities, and websites help aspiring software developers on their journey to becoming certified. Here are a few resources to get you started.
Dream.In.Code
This online community features hundreds of thousands of registered members. It connects experienced software developers with others in the programming and web development fields. Users share information and tips for the field.
Dream.In.Code Overview
- Type of Resource: Online Community
- Cost: Free
- Ideal For: Aspiring software developers who want to engage with software developer professionals
Stack Overflow
The Stack Overflow online community provides relevant information, techniques, and answers to questions at all skill levels. It’s easy to use as the best-voted answers to questions about IT subjects are pushed to the top of the page. Learn and stay up-to-date on your topic of interest.
Stack Overflow Overview
- Type of Resource: Online Community
- Cost: Free
- Ideal For: Aspiring software developers who want to get answers from other software developer professionals
Google Code
Google Code is a searchable resource for self-teaching. Although the Google Code Project Hosting Service has been closed down, the Google archive still has over 1.4 million projects, 1.5 million downloads, and 12.6 million issues available for use. Beginner software developers can use these for self-teaching.
Google Code Overview
- Type of Resource: Website
- Cost: Free
- Ideal For: Aspiring software developers
OER Commons
OER Commons is another self-teaching website resource. It has an open-education directory that provides access to programming courses like Teachers’Donmain and Foundation. It offers high-quality information on a wide range of relevant subjects for aspiring software developers worldwide.
OER Commons Overview
- Type of Resource: Website
- Cost: Free
- Ideal For: Aspiring software developers
“Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship” by Robert C. Martin
This book delineates fundamental principles used when writing clean code and provides case studies on how to clean up existing code. It ends by reviewing the rule of thumb principles from the previous section’s case studies to ensure you understand how to produce clean code consistently.
“Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship,” by Robert C. Martin Overview
- Type of Resource: Book
- Cost: $42.49
- Ideal For: Aspiring developers, software engineers, project managers, team leads, or systems analysts interested in producing better more concise code
Best Online Courses
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Software Development Job Outlook and Average Salary
BLS shares data that the job outlook for software developers is set to increase by a whopping 22 percent and notes this is much faster than the average. The average salary for software developers is an impressive $110,140 per year.
Software developer certifications often increase your earning potential. It is also worth mentioning that having one or more of these certifications may fetch excellent salaries of between $58,000 and $120,000 per year.
Best Software Development Jobs After Certification
Software development jobs require soft skills, technical skills, and programming skills. Software development certifications teach the critical skills needed to conduct intermediate-level software development tasks. These are some of the best software development jobs you may be able to secure once you have acquired certification.
Marketing specialists design, create, and oversee marketing projects such as multi-platform marketing campaigns, advertising, promotions, and sales. Marketing specialists may specialize in emails and social and digital marketing as examples. Some similar roles are Email Marketer, Digital Marketer, SEO Marketer, or Marketing and Communications Specialist.
Best Certification for the Job Role
Adobe Certified Professional. Adobe is one of the leading authorities in digital communication and graphic design, which is related to the job of a marketing specialist.
Cloud Solutions Architects design cloud software infrastructure using their in-depth knowledge of networks, data centers, applications, cloud management, and security. They evaluate hybrid clouds, public clouds, and private clouds. They collaborate with technology teams like DevOps developers to resolve technical concerns businesses may be encountering.
Best Certification for the Job Role
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. Microsoft Azure is widely used in the tech industry. This credential how Microsoft Azure provides cloud services.
Senior software engineers use mathematical principles and programming skills when designing and building computer software products. They train junior programmers, function as the technical lead, update software, and collaborate with other teams.
Best Certification for the Job Role
Certified Software Development Professional. This credential validates your technical knowledge of design, construction, and testing software. Senior software engineers use and oversee software daily.
Network architects design information sharing and communication frameworks for businesses. They are experts who manage organizations' computer networking systems. They provide the infrastructure supporting software like email, internet browsers, and memory.
Best Certification for the Job Role
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). This qualification proves that you have the critical skills to design, implement and manage cyber security programs.
Software Engineers create, maintain, and manage various types of software applications. They update programs, create new programs, conduct analyses, and keep track of internal code to ensure the application meets the product users' needs. A software engineer may even be responsible for the creation, maintenance, and management of an entire product.
Best Certification for the Job Role
Professional Scrum Developer. The Professional Scrum Developer certification verifies your foundation of skills needed to develop complex software products using Scrum.
Best Software Development Associations
Staying connected once you pass your software development certification is essential for professional development and networking opportunities. The best software development associations can help by engaging you with other professional networks. They also provide articles, journals, education, credentials, and conferences.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society
The IEEE is the world’s leading association of engineering and technology professionals. It supports the principles, practice, and application of information-processing science and technology. It provides more than 215 conferences yearly. IEEE has a digital media center with 847,000 online education materials to support its members and the industry.
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
ACM has over 100,000 student and professional members worldwide, many of which are computing educators, researchers, and professionals who share resources to meet or overcome the field’s challenges. There are 37 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) such as computer graphics, security, and software engineering.
Python Software Foundation (PSF)
The PSF supports and maintains Python, one of the most popular programming languages. It conducts conferences, meetups, user groups, and development projects worldwide for Python developers.
Are Software Development Certifications Worth It?
Yes, software development certifications are worth it because they validate your skills and abilities needed for software development roles. Software development certification jobs come with high-earning salaries over an incredible scope of diverse and advanced software development jobs.
If you would like to enhance your skills even more after your certification, you can attend a software development bootcamp. The best software development bootcamps offer valuable career services to help you land the software development job of your dreams.
Additional Reading About Software Development
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Software Development Certifications FAQ
Yes, many people are able to pass software development certification exams through self-teaching. However, most certifications suggest that you take their recommended preparation courses.
No, a software development certification is not the same as a software development degree. A degree is acquired by attending a college or university and is a comprehensive academic education. A certification is an assessment of your skills in software development.
Yes, many people have secured remote software development jobs with one or more software development certifications. So long as you can prove your skills, they will apply to any type of IT job you desire.
Yes, some have secured software development jobs without software development certifications. However, you need to show evidence of your knowledge and technical skills through demonstrations and portfolios.
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