By now, it is quite clear that cloud computing is changing the way businesses function, creating a new paradigm of choice to deliver and manage data and applications. Today, you can see that many companies have invested in and shifted to cloud computing for various reasons.
A report by IDC predicts that global spending on public cloud infrastructure and related services will reach around $500 billion by 2023—up from $229 billion in 2019. And, as is the case with any technology that’s growing that fast, so are related job opportunities.
In this article, we will discuss how you can become a cloud engineer. Before learning how to become one, however, you must first understand the fundamentals of cloud computing, and why you should think about becoming one.
Cloud computing refers to services like storage, databases, software, and analytics that are made accessible via the internet. According to Gartner, the cloud tech services market is expected to grow from $175.8 billion in 2018 to $206 billion in 2019—a rise of 17.3 percent in a single year.
As of 2020, it is expected that 90 percent of all organizations in the world will be using cloud services in some form. Today, various companies and organizations claim that cloud computing services have helped their employees perform better and experiment more, especially in fields like machine learning and artificial intelligence.
A cloud engineer is an IT professional responsible for all the technical aspects of cloud computing like planning and design, maintenance, and support. A cloud computing engineer can take up several different career paths, including:
Solutions Architects are responsible for analyzing the technical environment, requirements, specifications. These professionals are required to select appropriate technologies that meet business needs. They estimate and manage usage and operational costs of the solutions they provide and support project management, development, and operations teams.
SysOps Administrators deploy, manage, and operate highly scalable and fault-tolerant cloud-based and hybrid systems. These professionals select an appropriate service based on computing, security, or data requirements. They estimate and manage infrastructure and services usage and operational costs. They are also experts on how to migrate on-premises workloads to the cloud.
Learn about the AWS architectural principles and services like IAM, VPC, EC2, EBS and more with the AWS Solutions Architect Course. Register today.
The first and foremost step to becoming a cloud engineer is to be proficient in at least one of the three major cloud computing platforms—AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). There are many resources that you can find on the internet, like YouTube videos, educational articles, and virtual or physical training, to gain a basic understanding. Once you’ve done that, you can move on to can get certified in any of the respective environments.
For AWS, various certifications can be divided into four categories:
Similarly, for Azure, there are multiple training paths and certifications, as the graphic below indicates:
Most cloud computing platforms also offer a free tier of service. This is especially useful while you are choosing which provider to move to—or, whether you want to migrate your workloads to more than one cloud-based on your business requirements and the ROI you want to achieve.
Unlike general-purpose programming languages like C and C++, cloud computing requires more data-oriented programming languages, such as Python, Java, and Clojure. To learn these, you can use blogs, videos, online/offline classes, and other free resources.
Apart from gaining knowledge in cloud computing platforms and being experienced in at least one programming language, you will also need some understanding of key concepts like:
Cloud computing engineers fetch high salaries, too. According to Payscale, in the United States, they earn an average of around $116,800 annually, and in India, a cloud computing engineer is paid approximately ₹ 6,66,800 per year. In fact, the more experience you gain in cloud computing, the better chance you will have of earning a higher salary.
Cloud computing is rapidly changing how businesses function. That’s not going to change. This has led to almost 80 percent of organizations running some part of their business on cloud computing platforms, like AWS and Azure. While this has created many opportunities for cloud engineers, the skill gap in the industry is concerning.
If you are interested in becoming a cloud engineer or want to start your career in cloud computing, now is the right time. By following the steps mentioned above and earning the proper certifications, you can become a successful cloud engineer. You can also enroll in online certification courses, like Simplilearn’s AWS Solutions Architect Certification Training Course and Microsoft Certified Azure Architect Design Training Course to learn the nuances of cloud technology. What are you waiting for?
Rahul is a Senior Research Analyst at Simplilearn. Blockchain, Cloud Computing, and Machine Learning are some of his favorite topics of discussion. Rahul can be found listening to music, doodling, and gaming.
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