How to Choose Your Cloud Career Path?

Cloud computing has been on the rise since the digital revolution began. With increased digitalization and expanding cybersecurity concerns across the globe, the cloud computing landscape is one that's always in need of talent. To keep employees, devices and data safe from internal and external threats, many organizations are turning to cloud computing for the security it provides. No matter your skills or your preferences for a job environment, there's a cloud computing position with your name on it.

If you're serious about a career in cloud computing, you'll want to create an action plan. Find the right combination of education and experience to drive your cloud computing career forward, to help build your skills in key fields.

Here are a few steps to pursue in order to correctly choose your career path.

1. Choose the right certification

It's no secret that most cloud computing employees, particularly those who have found success in the field, have high-quality certifications. When pursuing a career in cloud computing, one of your first steps should be choosing the right certification program. The certification you choose should include modern trends in cloud computing, preferably taught by leading cloud experts.

Here are a few certifications to consider:

Google Cloud Certification

The Google Cloud Certification represents an excellent starting point for anyone looking to learn cloud computing. The Google Cloud Certification is actually a collection of certifications that Google offers, each personalized for individual cloud-related careers. Google segments their cloud career-specific certifications under "Foundational", "Associate" or "Professional" categories, depending on your experience and intended cloud role.

For example, if you want to pursue a career as a Cloud Digital Leader — an entry-level cloud position — you'll participate in the Cloud Digital Leader Certification, during google's next available session. Google also individualized courses for positions in cloud architecture, cloud database engineering, cloud development, cloud security and other fields.

ALL Google cloud certifications are offered by licensed Google instructors — and they're all free for learners like you.

Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

As a certified cloud provider, Microsoft also provides cloud-specific training for anyone interested in learning more about cloud computing. If you know that you want to work in Azure-specific cloud environments, then this cloud certification is a must-have.

In this free course, Microsoft teaches fundamentals in Azure cloud best practices. You'll learn more about defining and planning a cloud strategy, managing cloud responsibilities, leveraging the Cloud Adoption Framework and identifying triggers for cloud adoption. 

AWS Certification

As another leading cloud provider, AWS also offers certifications in its cloud framework. If you know that you'll be working in an AWS environment, or you know that you want to work with AWS, this is the certification for you.

The basic AWS certification provides a foundational familiarity with the AWS framework. AWS outlines their certification options similarly to Google: you can choose between a Foundational, Associate, Professional or Specialty certification level, to obtain the training, knowledge and skills that will best suit your current or future role.

AWS certifications are also career-specific. For example, you can pursue an injdividual AWS certification for professions in solutions architecture, DevOps engineering, cloud development, data analytics or other fields.

Before you join an AWS, Google or Azure certification program, it's a great idea to obtain a basic understanding of the cloud computing field. This will help to decrease your learning time from AWS, Azure or Google, and will give you a distinct advantage over other non-educated students. Enroll in our Cloud Computing Bootcamp and hone your cloud skills to become a cloud computing expert, before you ever start learning from a cloud provider.

2. Developing technical skills

Cloud professionals also rely on several important skills in cloud computing. For example, you'll need skills in complex cloud technologies, in at least one cloud provider like AWS, Azure or Google. You'll also need an established knowledge of technologies and methodologies such as DevOps, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Docker, Database management, SQL query system and various other fields. In addition, you'll also need to know about the usage, implementation, limitations, integration and optimization of each of these fields as well.

3. Building your cloud portfolio

The next thing you'll need for a cloud computing career is a portfolio. Your portfolio should demonstrate your cloud computing skills, capabilities and any projects you've completed to date. It will showcase your education, courswork and any other certifications you've completed. need to have is a portfolio all designed and up for grabs. This portfolio should showcase your current education, courses, and certifications that you have completed. You can even include a section on your portfolio that highlights any other certifications you're currently working on.

Building an impressive portfolio helps both you and your employer. Your portfolio represents your capabilities and your career aspirations, while identifying your hardworking nature for any potential or actual employers.

4. Working to gain education

It's important to note that you might not immediately achieve the exact cloud computing career you want. Instead, you might want to look for an entry-level role that helps you gain the experience you'll need for a more meaningful, second-level position in the cloud environment. Working to gain education doesn't mean taking a position you hate; instead, it only means finding a position in cloud computing, even an entry-level position, that teaches specific skills you might still need to polish.

Working to gain education not only allows you to further polish your skills in cloud computing; it also gives your employer and your executives the chance to review your work, provide suggestions and identify opportunities for further improvement.

If you don't find a position in the cloud computing field that you feel can help you polish your skills, don't worry. Feel free to reach out to a preferred employer yourself, to see if they have any openings or would be opening to bringing you into the fold.

5. Build your network

Last but not least, building your professional network can also help improve your cloud computing career outlook. There are several different ways to build a network of like-minded cloud computing professionals, or people in related industries (IT, cybersecurity, etc.) who can be helpful. Your network can help you find new job listings, build additional cloud skills, identify new growth opportunities, even provide you more confidence in your current role.

Talk to our experts for more information about our Cloud Computing Bootcamp program details, to start your cloud certification journey from a library of 900+ self-paced courses.