5 Best IT Certs to Survive the Singularity

"What if I told you, The Cloud is codespeak for Skynet" Anonymous

When the Singularity reaches that exponential Point of No Return and AI begins to rule here on Earth, IT will be one of the first professions to be stripped from the human race and assigned to the robot workforce.

Think about it. No truly intelligent AI is going to let flesh and blood manage its infrastructure and hardware for any longer than necessary. Humans are lazy, imprecise, and far too prone to emotion. In other words, we pose an existential threat to AI more so than AI poses a threat to us.

Predictions from the world's big thinkers in AI, machine learning, and science fiction have set the date of the Singularity's arrival at anywhere between 20 to 100 years from now.

Thankfully, that leaves more than enough time to prepare yourself with the skills you will need to survive the technological Big Crunch.

Here are some IT certifications that may just keep you and your career intact once the shift takes place. For a while, at least.

Big Data

Big Data is all about collecting huge amounts of data about the world. Why? To feed our future AI masters in the hope they will be sated and merciful, of course.

Today, it's web traffic and customer analytics. Tomorrow, it'll be nanobot sensor swarms filling the very air that surrounds us. Getting trained in Big Data with a certification such as Google BigQuery will ensure that you are looked upon kindly by our silicon overlords.

Advanced Linux

By definition, the technological singularity will be sudden and unpredictable. There's one thing we can be sure of, however, and it's that robots of the future will not be running Windows.

CERN, DARPA, Google, Boston Dynamics, NASA and other pioneers in AI and robotics all use Linux extensively. Start with your LPIC-1 and keep going until you know Linux as well as Linus Torvalds himself.

This is one of the best paths to escape the looming IT Jobocalypse and even if the Singularity never happens, well, no one has ever regretted learning Linux!

Info Security

To fight a hacker, you must think like a hacker. In the post-Singularity world, to fight an evil AI you must think like a human. CISSP and CISA are two excellent InfoSec certifications for defending your organization (or the human race, if it comes to that) against the occasional robot insurrection and will be essential to keep rogue AIs in check.

CCIE

When all the world's networks are maintained by CCNA-certified robotic humanoids, the only human position left in networking will be the person who calls the shots and commissions the drones.

That would be the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert. Study hard to be that guy, and the Singularity will be smooth sailing.

For other non-Singularity related training, you can check out our full course list.

Not a subscriber? Start your free week!