AWS Certified Solutions Architect

The industry's undisputed champion offers a number of certifications, but this is the one most partners consider essential. The exam validates the skills and experience necessary to deploy distributed applications at scale on Amazon's cloud.

An AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate sees an average salary of $119,233, according to the 2017 IT Skills and Salary Survey conducted by Cary, N.C.-based business training and certification company Global Knowledge.

"AWS is eating everyone's lunch, so teams better have an understanding of how to properly use the tools," said Chris Ciborowski, CEO of Nebulaworks, based in Irvine, Calif.

"From an individual perspective, those are valuable," said Jason Noble, vice president of technology solutions at Neudesic, also based in Irvine. "From a corporation perspective, getting those competencies is super valuable."

One downside to the AWS certification – an outcry from some partners that the company's new managed services offering for its largest multinational customers lays the groundwork for channel conflict and muddies the waters on where they should focus their AWS consulting practices.