Cloud computing is a key part of an enterprise's digital transformation

strategy. As more and more companies are moving critical business processes and
applications to a mix of cloud infrastructures, qualified cloud
computing professionals are in high demand. According to Gartner's report on
the cloud services industry, from a market size of $182.4
billion USD in 2018 to a projected market size of $331.2 billion
USD in 2022, the market size and growth of the cloud services
industry is at nearly three times the growth of overall IT services. That is
the scale at which the cloud market is growing. Employer demand is outpacing the
number of qualified candidates available. Gartner talent neurons database of more
than 1 billion unique job listings scores the hiring scale for jobs
requiring cloud computing skills at 78, which means that employers are finding
it difficult to get the right applicants for open positions in cloud
technologies. There are many specialization areas within this domain.
Here's a look at some of the common roles available currently. Cloud
developers or cloud software engineers work through all phases of the software
development lifecycle; writing, testing, and maintaining the code. They work with
the front and back-end of applications as well as platforms and systems that
their applications run on. Cloud developers need to have a mix of
technical skills, business knowledge, and experience with at least one of the
major cloud providers. Technical skills for a cloud developer would typically
include knowledge of data structures, distributed systems, operating systems,
and algorithms. experience with databases, proficiency in commonly used web
application development languages such as Python, JavaScript, Java HTML, and CSS.
Cloud integration specialists are responsible for integrating new cloud
services, applications, and infrastructure into the organization's portfolio of
internal systems and existing cloud services. These specialists assess the
implications and trade-offs between different solutions as they relate to
the integration between external and internal systems, optimize integration
and user experience, and ensure that performance standards adhere to service
level agreements set with the enterprise. Cloud data engineers are responsible for
designing, developing, and deploying scalable data pipelines and data
services. They look at integrating new data management technologies and
software engineering tools into existing infrastructure. Their responsibilities
include understanding existing systems to recommend automated integration of
disparate datasets, collaborating with data scientists and researchers to
develop predictive models and proofs of concept, promoting best practices that
enable teams to accelerate their consumption and understanding of data,
improving overall efficiency by introducing new engineering processes
and tools. Cloud security engineers provide expertise around the systems and
processes needed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of an organization's systems and application data. They
determine security requirements, plan, implement, and test security systems,
perform threat simulations to detect possible risks, recommend innovative
technologies that will enhance the security of cloud-based environments.
Cloud security engineers need to have deep knowledge of cloud platforms and
services, software design patterns, and DevOps tools and methodologies. Cloud
DevOps engineers collaborate with development and operations teams to
create reliable and rapid release pipelines for software and updates. This
may typically involve creating custom automation tools, building and
maintaining configuration and deployment frameworks,
tracking design bugs, and automating the debugging process for developers,
maintaining and deploying web-based applications,
monitoring security systems, measuring performance against expected business
outcomes. Containerization expertise is increasingly a must-have for DevOps
engineers. Cloud solutions architects work to translate business requirements
into application architecture and design. Some of the technical skills required
for a cloud architect role include deep knowledge of cloud platforms and
services, deep understanding of software design patterns, knowledge of DevOps
tools and methodologies, good understanding of networking, a high-level
understanding of key security concepts. Solution architects work closely with
cloud developers, networking specialists, security engineers, integration
specialists, and DevOps engineers to architect and design solutions. There are
several resources available for learning cloud technologies in a variety of
delivery methods including instructor-led courses, self-paced online
courses, online videos, books, and also technology-focused community forums. Many
cloud providers have dedicated learning portals with extensive resources
available on the complete range of cloud technologies and services they provide.
They offer learning paths, which make resources available as per specific
career roles, hands-on learning labs with interactive learning resources that can
be filtered by role, level or product, free trials on their suite of products
and services.