Announcing the 2022 Red Hat Certified Professional of the Year, Neil D’Souza

Each year during Red Hat Summit, we recognize Red Hat Certified Professionals who make a difference in their organizations by demonstrating enthusiasm, commitment and dedication to their role and industry. We’re proud to announce that Neil D’Souza, Senior Site Reliability Engineer at ServiceNow, has been named the 2022 Red Hat Certified Professional of the Year.

Neil holds eight Red Hat certifications, including Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) in Infrastructure. Through Neil’s studies using Red Hat Learning Subscription, he was able to achieve his RHCA certification within a single year. According to Neil’s manager, Warren Gaudron, "Neil deserves this year's Red Hat Certified Professional of the Year award because what Neil accomplished in the last 365 days is nothing short of awe-inspiring. He has become a Red Hat Certified Architect in one year, while continuing his regular work without skipping a beat."

Through Red Hat Training and Certification, Neil gained valuable skills in automation using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and stayed on the cusp of evolving technologies like Red Hat OpenShift, becoming a champion of Red Hat products.

"Red Hat Training has given me more than just skills — the courses have given me confidence that has impacted the way people perceive me at work. My colleagues think of me as a professional who can actually get my job done," D’Souza said.

As a Red Hat Certified Professional, Neil has demonstrated through hands-on, performance-based exams that he has the skills and knowledge needed to use Red Hat technologies in his day-to-day work. "Exams in many IT certification programs tend to focus on selecting the right answer out of multiple choices, whereas Red Hat Certification exams are more practical, more difficult, and you actually learn a lot more. I decided to become a Red Hat Certified Professional because I like to focus on things that actually push me to be my best."

Neil is dedicated to creating highly reliable software systems, using technology to solve day-to-day problems, and pursuing lifelong learning in order to make a positive impact in his organization and around the world. During the pandemic, ServiceNow played a key role in vaccine administration across various sites in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Neil collaborated with the Site Reliability organization to put his new skills to good use to aid in these efforts and ensure a smooth rollout of COVID-19 vaccines across their local community.

For more than 20 years, the Red Hat Certification program has had a single goal: validating skills through a program with rigorous, hands-on and performance-based testing. Red Hat’s certifications can help system administrators, application developers and IT architects advance their careers and help close the skills gap facing the IT industry. Red Hat certifications establish benchmarks for what an IT professional should know when using Red Hat technology.

Congratulations to Neil D’Souza, who will be recognized this week during Red Hat Summit 2022!