12 Top Cloud Computing Skills to Nurture a Career in 2022

According to India Today, the Cloud Computing market, can reach nearly USD 350-380 billion by 2022. Career opportunities for Cloud Architects, Cloud software developers, and Cloud Infrastructure engineers are in high demand and both freshers and experienced professionals have equal opportunities.  

NASSCOM recently published that “India alone recorded nearly 3,79,000 job openings for cloud roles in the past year, and this demand is only set to grow with time.”.  Experts predict that the candidates with Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud computing skills, in general, will be in great demand, in times to come.  In this blog post, we have compiled a list of top skills professionals should develop to carve a career path in the cloud.

1. Expertise in Cloud Platforms

Skills to understand prominent cloud service platforms like Azure, AWS, GCP, IBM, Dell, and others are important to build a career in Cloud Computing. Additionally, it is necessary to understand which cloud provider offers the best services for your applications and workloads. Also, it is important to know the pros and cons of each of these service providers and their suitability to your specific needs.

2. Programming Skills

Programming language skills to develop, build and deploy applications on cloud platforms is important to hone a career in the cloud computing sphere. Cloud architects, engineers, and administrators all must equally cultivate programming skills. Skills to code in Java, Python, JavaScript, and knowledge of SQL and NoSQL are key to making a career in this sphere.

3. Skills of handling Application Program Interface

Application Program Interface (API) glue or connect system and networking components. Cloud professionals are expected to understand and code these APIs to establish connectivity between workloads and the cloud.

4. Hybrid Cloud Handling Skills

Hybrid cloud ensures certain resources are on-premises and other resources are in the cloud. Aspiring Cloud professionals should have a thorough understanding of how various cloud models function and how to unify them in a hybrid environment.

5. Storage

Data storage is one of the critical components of cloud computing. It offers various benefits like low cost, accessibility, reliability, fast deployment, and data backup and recovery. Cultivating in-depth knowledge of the working mechanism of different cloud storage methods are key for cloud computing professionals.

6. Cloud Deployment & Migration skills

Honing skills of cloud migration tools is important to build a career in cloud deployment & migration. Tools such as Discover IT assets tools, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis tools, Application profiling tools on AWS, Azure Migrate tool helps to cultivate a career as Cloud Deployment & Migration professionals.

Also, possessing skills to migrate specialty workloads such as SAP on AWS or SAP on Azure, VMware on AWS or Azure, etc. are in high demand

Earning cloud certifications will cement a strong career prospect in this sphere. Important certifications are AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate Training, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate Certification Training.

7. Cloud Security skills

According to New York Times report, there is a 0% unemployment rate in the cybersecurity sector since 2011. A career in cloud security will therefore enable professionals to turn their talents into a lucrative and challenging career opportunity. Cloud Security professionals have a prominent role to play in the coming days. Importantly, organizations are widely adopting cloud migration and are aiming at securing cloud resources, So, opportunities for cloud security professionals are exponentially growing.

Earning cloud certifications is a proven pathway to build a career in the cloud security sphere. Here are important cloud security certifications aspirants can get benefited from:

AWS Certified Security –Specialty exam, Exam SC-200: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst, Exam SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals, Exam SC-400: Microsoft Information Protection Administrator, Exam SC-300: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator, Exam MS-500: Microsoft 365 Security Administration, Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies.

8. AI/ML skills

Mercer, a Human Resource consultant says the top 5 highly paid technical professionals are from the AI/ML domain. Also, Gartner says “AI will create 2.3 million jobs in coming years while eliminating 1.8 million.” These research reports indicate that reskilling of the workforce to meet AI/ML demands plays a significant role in the survival of organizations.

Moreover, combining cloud computing skills with artificial intelligence skills exponentially increases the repute of an IT professional in the market. Popular certifications in AI/ML realm are: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals, Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure AI. The Machine Learning pipeline on AWS Certification Training, Deep Learning on AWS Certification Training, and AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty Certification.

9. DevOps & Kubernetes skills

According to Global research findings: “Between October 2015 and October 2019, the share of Kubernetes jobs per million grew by 2,141% while the share of Kubernetes job searches increased to 2,125%.” So, honing DevOps & Kubernetes skills by cloud aspirant cloud professionals is a very smart move.

Prominent DevOps and Kubernetes certifications are: DevOps Essentials, Ansible Essentials, Terraform Essentials, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional, AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions, Docker Essentials, Kubernetes Essentials, Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certifications.

10. Cloud Database skills

Like other IT functional areas, databases are rapidly migrated to the cloud environment. As per a recent Statista report, 75% of databases will be either deployed or migrated to cloud platforms by 2022. This trend is speed up by the adoption of data analytics SaaS models. Most importantly, working as a cloud engineer demands database skills that go beyond what is required in the data center. Important certifications that can be acquired are DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals, DP-300: Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure, DA-100: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI.

11. Automation in Cloud Environment skills

Automation in the cloud is an important arsenal for a cloud professional. Mastering Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) tools like Terraform, Puppet, Chef, Ansible, SaltStack help professionals to grow swiftly in the cloud automation space. Certifications like Terraform Essentials, Ansible essentials help professionals to build a career in this domain.

12. Internet of Things skills

Human Resource consultant report says IoT specialists earn 76% higher salaries than generic IT professionals. With the rapid strides in data communication techniques, increased devices are coming closer to building systems that drastically change the potential of gadgets with the cusp of IoT and Cloud computing technologies. Important certifications for pursuing a career in IoT cloud is AZ-220:Microsoft Azure IoT Developer.

How CloudThat Helps you to Build a Career in Cloud Computing

CloudThat is a pioneer in cloud certification training with an experience of training more than 400K+ professionals in its illustrative journey of 9+ years. Moreover, being a Microsoft Gold Partner, AWS Authorized Training Partner helps us to deliver trainings in line with Microsoft and AWS curriculum. Importantly, Getting trained from certified experts in the Cloud computing space and from authorized training partners of Microsoft, AWS, Google, and other leading cloud providers provides aspirants a competitive edge. To conclude- “Mastering cloud computing skills in 2022 with help of industry certifications prepares aspiring professionals to be future-ready and move up in the career path.”