In our world today, everyone needs some level of understanding in artificial intelligence to be efficient and effective. In April, we examined AI training options for non-technical users. Equally, we will now look at some of the best AI training options for IT Professionals. In general, career changers, entry level, mid-level and experienced IT practitioners make up the majority of IT professionals.
Irrespective of your status, it is important to evaluate your career experience and future aspirations before you settle on any AI training. For example, ten years of network engineering may not qualify you for advanced level AI training as these are very different technologies and career paths. For this reason, start with any of the entry level AI training below, then works your way ups as your competency develops.
Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-901)
This course introduces fundamental concepts related to artificial intelligence (AI), and the services in Microsoft Azure that can be used to create AI solutions. It teaches a mix of AI concepts and technology skills that are considered foundational to a successful career implementing AI solutions on Microsoft Azure.
What you’ll learn: You’ll learn core AI concepts and terminology. This starts with a basic introduction to AI concepts and then get started with AI workloads and solutions in Microsoft Foundry.
Investment: Free to enroll, $99 exam fee.
Duration: 8+ hours
Mode: Online self-paced or Instructor led on learn.microsoft.com
Certification Acquired: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901). However, the AI-900 version of this exam will retire on June 30, 2026
Best suited for: In summary, this course is for aspiring technology professionals at the beginning of their career in AI solution development.
IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate
This AI training program is specifically designed to help you build the practical experience employers look for. Throughout the program, you’ll apply your skills in hands-on labs and projects that fine-tune your new competencies.
What you’ll learn: During this program, you’ll learn to build, train, and deploy different types of deep architectures. This includes convolutional neural networks, recurrent networks, autoencoders, and generative AI models including large language models (LLMs).
Investment: $49 per month
Duration: 40+ hours
Mode: Online self-paced on Coursera
Certification Acquired: IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate
Best suited for: All things considered, this intermediate course is ideal for data scientists, machine learning engineers, software engineers, and other technical specialists looking to get job ready as an AI engineer.
AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)
The AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification validates in-demand knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative AI concepts and use cases. Consequently, it will sharpen your competitive edge and position yourself for career growth and higher earnings.
What you’ll learn: You will dive into AWS AI/ML offerings such as Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock, learning about data preparation, model training, deployment, and monitoring. Additionally, the learning plan emphasizes responsible AI/ML practices, covering fairness, accountability, and transparency.
Investment: $100 exam fee. Free to enroll
Duration: 40+ hours
Mode: Online self-paced on AWS learn
Certification Acquired: AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Best suited for: Individuals who are familiar with, but do not necessarily build, solutions using AI/ML technologies on AWS.
Azure AI App and Agent Developer Associate (Exam AI-103)
This course is intended for software developers wanting to build AI infused applications that leverage Microsoft Foundry. Correspondingly, topics in this course include developing generative AI apps, building AI agents, and solutions that implement knowledge connections or tools in your agentic applications.
What you’ll learn: This course also covers multimodal capabilities and understanding of complex content.
Investment: $165 exam fee. Free to enroll
Duration: 40+ hours
Mode: Online self-paced or Instructor led on learn.microsoft.com
Certification Acquired: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI App and Agent Developer Associate. Notably, the previous version, Exam AI-102 – Azure AI Engineer Associate will retire on June 30, 2026.
Best suited for: In brief, this course was designed for software engineers concerned with building, managing and deploying AI solutions that leverage Microsoft Foundry. Additionally, learners must be familiar with Python and have knowledge on using APIs and SDKs to build agents and generative AI solutions on Azure.
Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer
A Professional Machine Learning Engineer builds, evaluates, productionizes, and optimizes AI solutions by using Google Cloud capabilities and knowledge of conventional ML approaches. In addition, the ML Engineer handles large, complex datasets and creates repeatable, reusable code.
What you’ll learn: In summary, this version of the Professional Machine Learning Engineer exam covers tasks related to generative AI, including building AI solutions using Model Garden and Vertex AI Agent Builder, and evaluating generative AI solutions.
Investment: $200 exam fee. Free to enroll
Duration: 40+ hours
Mode: Online self-paced on Google Learning Path or Coursera
Certification Acquired: Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineering Professional.
Best suited for: It’s recommended that learners have 3+ years of hands-on experience with Google Cloud products and solutions before attempting this course.
Things to consider
Most career changers and entry level technology professionals will make a good return on investment on certificate acquisition. This serves as a good indicator to potential employers about your commitment to AI advancements, continuous learning and skill development. However, bear in mind that not all certifications carry the same weight. Certifications from cloud vendors like AWS, Microsoft and Google have the most leverage and offer the best return on investment.
Similarly, developers and experienced IT professionals will benefit the from combination of certifications and hands-on projects. As an experienced software developer or DevSecOps engineer, what will give you the best traction is a couple of automation projects or workflows you have built on Github or Vercel that works from end to end.
The good news is, you are still in the drivers’ seat, for now. The whole world is trying to get a grip of artificial intelligence, so you are not far behind. What matters is taking the right steps and being accountable. Stay diligent and enroll in the best AI training to keeps you relevant in a rapidly changing world.
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