What Should I Learn To Become A Cloud Engineer?

Understanding which path in technology you want to pursue is very important when you are either starting your career or moving between departments.

As a general rule, you’ll need to get certified with a specific cloud vendor whether that is being AWS, Azure, or Google certified to validate and reinforce your knowledge in these technologies.

However, there is always a structured approach in tackling these certifications to ensure that you succeed in landing yourself a role in cloud computing.

Choosing The Right Certifications

To land a role in cloud computing you’ll first need to figure out which path in the cloud that you want to take. Below is three types of cloud technology paths that you can potentially take.

There is no doubt that vendor-specific certifications have focused on their specific platform. There is always a small section usually at the beginning of the course where it provides the fundamentals of cloud computing. However, the majority of what you’ll be studying will be directly related to the product of the said cloud provider.

If you have no cloud experience, it is recommended that vendor-neutral cloud certification such as CompTIA Cloud + would always be better as it is more generally focused. This will in turn provide the general best practices of cloud computing and then you’ll be able to master its underlying principles and have a stronger approach to understanding cloud computing.

AWS Certifications

If you want to become AWS certified then you need to understand why you’re specifically going after this certification.

  1. Is it because you want to get a job in this field and make a career out of it?
  2. Are you currently working in cloud technology and you need to be certified as suggested by your manager?
  3. Do you want to earn a six figure income?
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It is also important to highlight that certifications provide the fundamental framework to get you up to speed with these technologies and provide a great starting point when you start your journey with AWS and also building infrastructure.

Certification Path

FoundationalAssociateProfessionalSpecialty
Developer AssociateDevOps EngineerAdvanced Networking
Cloud PractionerSysops Administrator AssociateMachine Learning
Security
Solutions ArchitectSolutions Architect Data Analytics
Database

Benefits of AWS certifications:

With the everchanging landscape of technology in particular with the cloud, most companies moving their applications and on-prem infrastructure to the cloud, more cloud engineers are needed to make that process that much easier and smoother.

The demand for AWS professionals has become high in demand in recent years and as a result, many AWS certifications have come about to upskill new or seasoned IT professionals to fill in these positions.

Before looking into AWS certifications before you should understand why they could be good for your career and your constant learning:

  • Ability to validate your knowledge
  • Are not a replacement for ACTUAL cloud experience – nothing really beats the knowledge attained when working in the field it self. However, there are many resources you can leverage
  • AWS certifications can you get you an Interview and also promotion within your current role

What path can I take then?

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner – Foundational

The AWS Cloud Practitioner exam provides an introduction to AWS. It provides a high-level overview of how AWS is structured instead of looking and going in deep with particular AWS services.

This course is recommended if you’re a total beginner and who’s new to cloud computing in general. This will increase your knowledge from the ground up and then diving a bit deeper into the inner workings of AWS.

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LevelDurationCostExam Format
Foundational 90 Minutes100 USD Multiple choice or multiple responses.
  • Recommended Experience: 6 months of AWS and industry knowledge
  • Skills covered
    • Basic AWS Architecture
    • Key AWS Architecture
    • AWS security and compliance

Azure

If you wondering instead of AWS you want to get into more Azure cloud computing then what certification path do I need to take.

Certification Path

FundamentalsAssociateExpertSpecialty
Azure fundamentalsAzure AdministratorAzure Solutions Architect Azure IoT Developer
Azure Data FundamentalsAzure Developer DevOps EngineerAzure for SAP Workloads
Azure AI Fundamentals Azure Database AdministratorVirtual Desktop
Azure Security Engineer
Azure Data Scientist
Azure Data Engineer
Azure AI Engineer

I would consider the below Azure certification guide as a starting point before you start your journey.

Benefits of Azure Certification

There are so many ways to get a role without being certified but the recommended way is by understanding the systems that you’ll build or supporting through a structured way of learning.

Azure sometimes offers bonuses such as making certifications free when there are big certification renewals.

Depending on your goal for acquiring these certifications, maybe for a high-paying role or upskilling with your current skillsets as a cloud engineer, the Azure certification might be the one for you.

There is a lot of factors when it comes to this. The main aspect is where you’re at with the knowledge that you currently acquire.

Some benefits of Acquring Azure certifications:

Salary Increase

The major benefit of studying and passing an Azure certification is the notion that you’ll get a salary increase and have the ability to negotiate for a higher salary by default.

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Acquiring an Azure certification ensures makes you’re more desirable within the marketplace by showing specific technical skills in comparison to general abilities.

Salary expectations for Azure certified professionals can be anywhere from $89,000 and as high as $210,000.

Flexibility

Microsoft Azure certification will help you advance your career options and you would generally have the ability to demand your terms to the potential employer.

As long as you have the right amount of experience with the certifications, you’ll be unstoppable.

It is widely known that organizations are slowly but surely migrating to the cloud because of simplicity. This means that they reap the benefits of getting their compute, storage and networking to azure.

Improved Skills

By learning these critical skills that are vital with IT organizations moving to the cloud or working on projects to put systems into place in the cloud, there is no doubt that you’ll be a valuable asset to the organization.

The benefits of acquiring an Azure certification you’ll be able to guide and suggest improvements to your business in relation to IT costs and adding other implementations that can help the organizations move forward.

Keep up to date

Learning cloud computing requires you to stay up to date since Microsoft is constantly updating and releasing new things all of the time. Learning anything that is new is helps you develop your skills and expanding your knowledge that much more which ultimately makes you valuable to any organization.

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