Who Is a Cloud Architect? How to Become One

Cloud computing is a term heard by anyone working as an IT professional. In the current IT world, this technology is becoming popular. The reason is that a rising number of businesses around the world are in the process of implementing cloud computing technology.

Cloud architects are in high demand these days, with a steady rise in the emphasis on cloud computing technology over the last few years. For better scalability, mobility and security, more and more companies have migrated to cloud services, so professionals specialized in cloud computing skills are expected to be in high demand to meet this growing industry.

In this blog, we will cover what a cloud architect is and how to become one. Connect with our experts to learn more about our cloud courses.

What Is a Cloud Architect?

A cloud architect is an IT specialist who designs the computing strategy of a company. Cloud adoption strategies, cloud application architecture, as well as cloud management and monitoring are included in this approach. Support for application architecture and implementation in cloud environments requires additional responsibilities.

The architect also assists with the public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud in cloud environments. When designing and implementing dynamic cloud technologies, this professional draws upon a solid knowledge of the company's cloud infrastructure and platform.

The expert should have a clear understanding of the principles and moving elements that are involved in continuous integration and continuous delivery. They must provide professional advice on infrastructure to development teams. There is a need for architects during life cycles to take responsibility for IT environments. They also decide on the types of schemes that the company may need to carry out.

What Are the Required Initial Skills: Cloud Architect?

Ideally, you should have a good background in cloud computing or a related technological field if you are serious about becoming a cloud architect. If you feel comfortable with most, or at least some, of the following principles, then you are definitely on the right track. Otherwise, before you tackle the position of cloud architect, I would suggest some initial study or work in these areas.

Start your 30-day FREE TRIAL with CloudInstitute.io to get access to over 200+ courses. 

Cloud architect: How You Can Become One

Building Your Talents, Competence, and Experience

In general, cloud architect positions go to those in their professions in the middle and later stages. Typically, people who aspire to and eventually fill those roles have 8-10 years of previous on-the-job experience, often with a mix of jobs that include serving as a strong technical contributor or specialist, team leader or manager of the first or second level. The role demands a combination of hard technical skills, good individual skills and leadership skills that are difficult to obtain without building tenure and extensive IT workforce experience. That said, it's great for IT professionals to realize that at some point in their career, regardless of their specialty or field of expertise, it is still possible to expand their skill set into an architectural role.

Technical Skills

• Excellent understanding of at least one operating system: Linux, Unix, Solaris, Ubuntu, Windows. My choice is any Linux operating system (for example, Ubuntu or Red Hat), but it is also beneficial to have previous experience as an administrator or architect on any of the well-known operating systems.
• Good networking understanding: TCP/IP, IP addresses, HTTP, DNS. Before seeking a position as a cloud architect, I recommend that you have some experience with these concepts.
• Computer programming languages: A programming or scripting language would need to be at least minimally understood. This is not a must, but it is certainly going to help.
• Security: Cloud security is critical, and a high-level understanding of key security principles is therefore a must for a cloud architect. An initial understanding of certain basic security principles, such as firewalls, is therefore important.

Soft Skills Required:

• Communication: For Cloud Architects, strong communication skills are foremost. In the course of holding meetings, these specialists are involved, coordinating with all sorts of individuals, including supervisors, technical experts, clients, etc. So, they need to have strong skills in communication.
• Leadership: Cloud architects are not responsible for evaluating the efficiency of the cloud but are responsible for leading the technology team and controlling it. These professionals should possess solid, efficient leadership skills. Their objectives can be accomplished effectively by the technology team.
• Planning and organizing: It is supreme to plan and coordinate correctly. To make and execute action plans for projects that can take a lot of time to complete, cloud architects must have planning and organizational skills.
• Business strategy: Cloud architects need to consider what is cardinal to their company or organization in advance. Therefore, concentrate on innovations and solutions that will likely increase productivity. These experts must also understand business strategy and prioritize their advice and guidance on technology accordingly.

The Work of a Cloud Architect

With its origins in software development, cloud architecture is a relatively new discipline. Throughout the life of a cloud-based creation or implementation project, modern cloud architects plan and design cloud environments, usually providing guidance. A cloud architect must understand the principles and moving parts involved in continuous cloud integration and continuous delivery, providing development teams with their cloud-based architecture experience and build-and-release strategies.

But rather than build systems or IT worlds, cloud architects do far more. Throughout their life cycles, they must also take care of various structures or conditions. Architects participate in the study of initial specifications and see it even further down the line until retirement and replacement.

Some of the cloud architect-related occupations are as follows:

• Architect of Platforms
• Senior Architect for Technology
• Key Architect for Business
• Architect Lead System
• The Architect for Infrastructure.

Responsibilities of a Cloud Architect

According to Gartner, the three principal, high-level obligations of a cloud architect are:

• Leading cultural transition for cloud adoption
• Cloud architecture production and synchronization
• Developing a cloud approach and coordinating the process of adaptation

Cloud Architect’s Duties

Although those are the high-level duties, a cloud architect's day-to-day duties, according to Gartner, include:

• Seeking talent with the abilities required
• Evaluating apps, applications and hardware
• Creating a team of "cloud brokers"
• Establish business-wide best cloud practices
• Cloud provider selection and third-party service vetting
• Governance control and risk reduction
• Work closely with IT protection to track privacy and establish procedures for incident-response
• Budget handling and cost calculation
• Scale-operating

Start your 30-day free trial to gain access to over 200 self-paced courses.