A list of skills to learn for anyone trying to become an IT Automation Pro

1. 5 Important Skills for Automation
Experts to Have
IT testing automation is an important concern of businesses, and a growing field in which
IT professionals are able to make a name for themselves. If you are not already involved
in automated IT testing, here are a few of the most important skills to have when holding
an automation related position.
1. Configuration Management (CM) Software Experience
Mitigating development drift is essential for implementing reliable automated procedures,
so familiarity and skill with some of the more common CM tools is important. These
programs include names like Puppet and Chef, and they help to manage large systems
and high volume databases. Without these tools, managing complicated systems can
take untold amounts of time, and as more staff would be needed to complete the project,
there would be a greater chance of issues arising within the setup. One or two small
issues can result in automated procedures failing to work correctly.
2. Troubleshooting

2. Testing in general is the use of troubleshooting methodology on a large scale to find
errors that have not been made apparent, and automated testing is the use of
programming tools to facilitate this troubleshooting process. For this reason, it stands to
logic that if you intend to design systems that automate troubleshooting, you should
have a firm grasp on the technical aspects of troubleshooting. Since it involves both
routine steps in addition to ones that require more intuition, troubleshooting knowledge
will better enable you to make a functional and useful automated assistant.
3. Development Methodology
Far beyond the need for technical knowledge, proper testing design requires integrating
a large number of systems together, while incorporating a multitude of workers and
inputs. For this reason, familiarity with processes and standards, such as ITIL
and DevOps philosophy, play a role in the proper development of testing software. In-
depth knowledge of these processes will help your production speed, make sure you
deliver a quality program, and ensure that it is in compliance with any standards.
4. Coding and Scripting Expertise
There are a few programming languages which are essential when dealing with
automated tests, or simply automation in general. These are generally object oriented
with powerful functions already included, or they are designed for easier understanding
and to ease the integration of coding from multiple programmers. Luckily, the languages
used for automation are relatively common: C and its varieties, Python, Perl, Java, Ruby,
and Shell. Expert knowledge in one or two of these is necessary. There are programs
that may alleviate the need for extensive programming knowledge, such as ScriptRock.
That said, not every situation can count on an outside resource to work perfectly, and
programming knowledge is a generally helpful information set throughout IT.
5. Certifications
While certifications are mostly official recognition of skill with certain hardware or
software, the importance placed on them by businesses indicates how important the
skills are, even in specific fields, like automation. The top certifications include ones such
as PMP, MCSA, VMP, CCNP, various standard certifications, and CompTIA Server+.

3. The PMP (Project Management Professional) certification also relates back to number
three on this list.