Cloud computing market is expected to rise from $272 billion in 2018 to $623.3 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 18%. The cloud computing market is lucrative, and several companies around the globe have been moving to cloud services from their on-premise data centres. With increased internet usage, automation, and agility, the cloud computing industry is set for a great future. So, naturally, this opens many job opportunities for aspirants.
Below we have mentioned some must-have skills for aspirants who want to break into the cloud computing sector:
Cloud Platforms
One thing you cannot do without when you start learning cloud computing is the knowledge of cloud platforms. But, not only does one need the knowledge about a particular cloud platform, but they also have to understand how different cloud providers work. The cloud service providers like Azure and AWS offer end-to-end services like database, compute, storage, migration, and ML. So, knowing how these cloud service providers work inside out becomes crucial.
When it comes to choosing which platform you can study, the popular choice is always between AWS and Azure. Both these are market leaders and are always at war with each other. There is another choice in GCP too, which comes next.
Storage
Storage is defined here as ‘storing data online on the cloud.’ Data is the main driving force behind cloud computing, and it is vital to understand where it is stored and how it is stored. Depending on a company’s needs, it can choose from the following types of storage:
- Hybrid cloud storage
- Personal cloud storage
- Private cloud storage
- Public cloud storage
So, when one completely understands how the data is stored and where it is stored, it gives them a complete idea of how data is dealt with inside a cloud environment.
Networking
As centralised computing resources for clients are shared over the clouds, networking has led to the rise of network management functions inside the clouds. Having more network management functions results in fewer customer devices needed to manage the network.
Two other reasons, apart from sharing the cloud resources, which have pushed for more networking are the increasing internet access and more reliable WAN bandwidth. These factors have also spurred the demand for cloud networking as customers are always looking for network access using cloud-based service. So, a cloud engineer might also be responsible for designing ways to ensure that the networks are always responsive to the demands of the customers by building automatic adjustment procedures. A cloud engineer needs to understand networking fundamentals and virtual networks that are important for networking on the cloud.
Cloud Security
Irrespective of the sector, security is an important thing to consider for any company. In the initial days, one of the main reasons organisations were sceptic about using cloud services was security. Considering how unsafe the internet was a few years ago, people were concerned whether cloud storage is safe enough to house sensitive and important information. Although today’s internet is safer than it was in the past, cloud security is the primary aspect for developers and cloud engineers.
Today, organisations use cloud security tools like Bitglass, Skyhigh networks, Okta, CipherCloud, etc., to secure their data. In addition to having security tools, professionals who will be responsible for the security are expected to have in-depth knowledge of these tools.
To be able to handle the security better, one also needs to go through the CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) training that will help one gain adequate knowledge and professional understanding of cloud security. Cybersecurity professionals are in great demand.
Data Management
It is already a known fact that data is an essential factor when it comes to cloud. From a general perspective, clouds are used by the public to store information like their photos, videos, documents etc. And for companies, the most important part is the sensitive information that is stored on the cloud. So, an effective way of collecting, storing, maintaining and accessing data on the cloud is crucial for organisations. Given how important data management is, it becomes essential to obtain data management skills in cloud computing. To be better at data management, one needs to learn data-oriented languages like SQL and Hadoop.
Serverless Architecture
Serverless architecture offers many advantages over the traditional cloud-based or server-oriented infrastructure. For many, it offers better scalability, flexibility, and speed while running at a reduced cost. Developers do not need to worry about purchasing, managing backend servers, and provisioning.
Today’s cloud consists of industry-standard technologies and programming languages that help in moving serverless applications between cloud vendors. With the many advantages that serverless architecture holds, it becomes imperative to learn serverless architecture. There are many courses online, like Lambda tutorials, to learn serverless architecture on AWS platforms.
