DataStax, the company that delivers Apache Cassandra to the enterprise, and O’Reilly Media, the leading voice in Data Science, today announced a partnership to launch an Apache Cassandra Certification Program. Delivering on its mission to “train the world” of developers and administrators on the database of choice for web, mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, DataStax is working with O’Reilly to create a formalized program that will establish the industry standard for measuring the skills and proficiency level of Cassandra developers and administrators. The Apache Cassandra Certification Program will launch at Cassandra Summit 2015, the world’s largest gathering of Cassandra users, taking place September 22-24, 2015.

PERSPECTIVES ON THE NEWS
“With the ever increasing impact Apache Cassandra has on the market, the need for qualified Cassandra engineers becomes more and more crucial,” said Matthew Tager, Lead Recruiter, @WalmartLabs. “Certification demonstrates a commitment and passion for the technology and career growth, qualities many companies look to add to their workforce.”

“Due to the overwhelming demand for Apache Cassandra expertise, we are fully committed to growing the community as a whole and meeting the needs of each and every developer and administrator wanting to use the leading distributed database to build the next-generation of mobile, web and IoT applications,” said Billy Bosworth, CEO, DataStax. “Partnering with O’Reilly brings an established and objective industry thought leader around data science to the Cassandra certification process and we are excited to launch this program at Cassandra Summit, the world’s largest gathering of Cassandra developers.”

“O’Reilly’s commitment to helping companies and developers keep pace with the latest innovations in the big data space is evident with our certification programs,” said Ben Lorica, O’Reilly’s Director of Content for Data. “We’re delighted to be partnering with DataStax on the creation, administration and promotion of this program, and look forward to building the right framework for developers and administrators interested in becoming certified Cassandra experts.”

APACHE CASSANDRA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
The new certification program offers developers and administrators a way to validate their expertise with Apache Cassandra. The Apache Cassandra Certification Program will debut at Cassandra Summit 2015, September 22-24, and attendees of the Training and Certification Program will receive:

  • Four hours of in-person exam prep training with DataStax trainers
  • One hour of focused Q&A with DataStax experts
  • 1.5 hours certification testing administered by O’Reilly Media (no additional cost for certification)
  • Material that will be covered in the certification program:
    • The Cassandra data model
    • The Cassandra Query Language
    • Cassandra’s distributed architecture
    • Cassandra internal I/O architecture
    • Essential Cassandra admin tools

DATASTAX MEETS INCREASING DEMAND FOR APACHE CASSANDRA EXPERTISE
Powering mission-critical big data applications that enable life-changing customer experiences, Apache Cassandra is the database of choice for web, mobile and IoT applications. In addition to massive scalability and continuous availability, Cassandra’s architecture is the best choice for maintaining large amounts of data across many commodity servers in multiple datacenters and clouds with no single point of failure.

Technology-recruiting website Dice.com recently published its 2015 Salary Survey and Apache Cassandra is named one of the top paying tech skills. According to survey, the pay for Cassandra-associated jobs has climbed more than 14 percent over the last year, commensurate with the role that Cassandra technology is playing in mission-critical deployments. As leading companies such as Target, Macy’s, Instagram, Spotify, Netflix and Safeway use Apache Cassandra, the Apache Cassandra Certification Program will help expand the Cassandra community and talent pool, and address the growing demand for Apache Cassandra expertise.

To learn more about the Apache Cassandra Certification Program, please visit here.

Cassandra Summit 2015, the world’s largest gathering of Cassandra users, is taking place September 22-24, 2015. To learn more please visit here.