Certification Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Certification Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Certification Survey data.

Some people don't need to read books, or watch videos, or complete online training courses, or use other certification training materials to effectively prepare for their next certification exam. Many successful IT pros tend to learn by doing, or pick up new concepts from product documentation, or rely on workplace training to stay abreast of changing technology.

Among certified Big Data professionals who participated in our Big Data Certification Survey, conducted earlier this year, about two out of every three respondents said that they did not use any certification training materials or study aids created by the certification provider to prepare for their most recent certification exam.

In like fashion, almost three-fourths of respondents said they did not use certification training materials or study aids created by a third-party training provider to prepare for their most recent exam. So the first thing to note about the various kinds of certification training materials out there is that a lot of people in the industry don't use them. Or so it would seem.

Some individuals, on the other hand, probably especially including those who are relatively new to Big Data, do indeed rely on certification training materials and study aids, either developed by the certification provider or created by a third-party training company. For those who do use books, videos, training courses, and such, we asked where they got their training from.

Among certified Big Data professionals who prepared for their most recent exam using certification training materials created by the certification provider, the five most popular sources of training are as follows:

1) Microsoft
2) IBM
3) Hortonworks
4) Oracle
5) CompTIA

Among certified Big Data professionals who prepared for their most recent exam using certification training materials created by a third-party training company, the five most popular sources of training are as follows:

1) Udemy
2) edX
3) Lynda
4) INE
5) Coursera

If there's a Big Data certification in your future, and you'd like to have the benefit of some additional training, but haven't been certain where to turn, well, now you have some options.