Curious About a Career in Cloud Computing? Get Your Foot in the Door

If you’re interested in working in cloud computing- it’s no wonder. Organizations everywhere are reaching for the cloud to make their businesses more efficient, and they need IT people like YOU to help make this happen. You will also be glad to hear the following statistics:

According to the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), cloud jobs ranked #3 in being the most difficult IT position to fill, behind those handling JavaScript and quality assurance. On a scale of 1 to 99, with 99 being the most difficult position to fill, cloud jobs came out with a score of 81 on the CEB TalentNeuron hiring scale. Meredith Amdur, talent analytics leader at CEB explains how an influx of qualified cloud IT professionals could change everything.

“As new talent trained in cloud related systems and languages enters the workforce, the challenge with unbalanced supply and demand will begin to even out. Businesses will shift away from having to adapt and retrain talent to being able to meet rising adoption.”

So where do you start? In many cases, the demand to fill these jobs also means plenty of free training. If your already in IT, it may be a matter of extra certification- otherwise- there is a wealth of training opportunities, courses in cloud and coding for beginners- experts and every skill set in between.

New Relic– Cloud Career Part 1- and more.

Learning about DevOps by going to DevOps.com and reading their articles to get an idea of the sorts of issues at stake.

Microsoft Virtual Academy provides an overview of DevOps

Linux academy has a short DevOps course that will be helpful, as well.

Chef – Offers tutorials, articles, technical docs and training. If you’re looking to improve your understanding of Chef and DevOps

edX Introduction to Cloud Computing: the basics of cloud computing, including security, usage scenarios, and infrastructure basics- free.

Cloud Academy: Learn everything from basic database management to advanced platform-specific skills. 29-59$/mo

Cloud Computing Platform as a Service from University of California, Irvine: a course with a focus on creating cloud-based solutions using Amazon, Google, and Microsoft technologies. (650$)

Cloud School (varies): with 21 different modules covering everything from the basic to the very advanced, Cloud School will help you go from being a complete beginner to a highly employable expert.

Investing in cloud computing skills and knowledge is a good bet  and a wise career move. While many IT admins will seek cloud skills and knowledge through training and certification programs, cloud computing is moving fast and It’s up to you to do the extracurricular work to stay ahead of the game. Hit the books!