AWS (Amazon Web Services) is the most comprehensive and widely used cloud platform in the world today. Launched in 2006, it includes a combination of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings—175 full-featured services in all. AWS offers its cloud customers useful tools such as computing power, database storage, and content delivery services.
There is a need for engineers to keep things running smoothly with any cloud platform. We’ll take a look at everything you need to know about AWS engineers, including how to become one. Let’s kick things off with the basics.
An AWS engineer is an IT professional who creates, maintains, and evolves an AWS cloud infrastructure for running applications. These infrastructures include production, test, and development environments. Now that we’ve established a definition of the job, we need to get into more detailed specifics of precisely what they do.
So we know that an AWS engineer works with the AWS cloud platform, develops it, and keeps it running. But to fully grasp what an AWS engineer does, we need to delve into specifics.
Here’s what organizations expect from an AWS engineer. Bear in mind that not every business or organization might require their AWS engineers to handle all of these tasks and responsibilities. Expectations can vary depending on the size and nature of the company:
That’s quite a list! AWS engineers have a lot of expectations placed on them in this demanding field. Fortunately, there exist plenty of AWS engineer tools to help get the job done.
In this case, we’re using the words “tools” and “skills” interchangeably, considering that the terms blend into each other, and they’re both resources for getting the job done.
A good AWS engineer needs:
As a special aside, an AWS engineer who works in DevOps should also have experience with:
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Judging by the above list of tools, the aspiring AWS engineer has their work cut out for them! There is a lot to learn, but fortunately, there is an AWS learning path you can follow that will get you to the ultimate destination.
Most AWS cloud engineers start by getting at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, information technology, or some other related technical major. Then, you’ll need to supplement your education by spending some time in the software development field, generally three to five years. Note that some corporations expect a total of 10 years of related systems engineering experience.
Much of the time spent in software development should include working with programming languages such as AngularJS, C++, Java, and Python. Additionally, you should have experience in several tech tools and platforms like Hadoop, Kafka, Kubernetes, Redshift, Scala, Spark, and SQL. You should then round out all of the above skills and experience by developing skills in DevOps, Docker, and Linux.
Cybersecurity is a major concern these days; consequently, cloud engineers should have some cybersecurity skills in their toolbox. According to McAfee, 40 percent of IT professionals have stalled their cloud migration projects over security concerns and a lack of cybersecurity expertise.
Many educational institutions have classes in any of the above skills that you can’t acquire on the job. A few continuing education courses can help fill those knowledge gaps nicely; you can even take night classes if you happen to have a day job.
Once you get that work experience and knowledge squared away, you’re ready to seek out AWS engineer certification. There are many certification programs along the learning path available online from which to choose. More on this later.
In the interest of full disclosure, the term “AWS cloud engineer” is vague. There are so many different roles available to an AWS engineer that it makes more sense to break it down further into specific functions. To that end, here’s a list of the 15 different career paths that an AWS cloud engineer can take. The positions most in demand today, according to Indeed, are as follows:
If you’re looking for where the AWS engineer jobs are, and you happen to be in the United States, these are the five hottest cloud computing markets, according to Forbes:
For a more global perspective, here is a list of where Amazon AWS opportunities tend to concentrate. This list gives you an idea of where you stand a better chance of finding cloud-related careers around the world:
For the record, Amazon also has AWS career openings in the following US cities:
Whoever invented the phrase “Nice work if you can get it” must have seen the salaries for AWS engineers! For instance, a cloud engineer in the United States can earn an annual average of $126,397, according to Indeed.
According to Glassdoor, AWS salaries in India hover around an annual average of ₹1,603,765, AWS professionals in Ireland can expect an average annual salary of £55,581. Working in Japan can earn you a yearly average salary of ¥5,739,000. Finally, Amazon Cloud Support Engineers in Australia earn an average of A$95,146 per year.
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The seven-course program gives you access to over 40 in-demand skills and more than 25 services, delivered by more than 60 instructor-led online classes. After you have completed all the prerequisites, you will earn your master’s certificate, showing any prospective employer that you have all of the tools and knowledge needed to do the job.
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