devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Author: Michael Gibbs

  • 8 Skills Cloud Architects Need to Succeed

    8 Skills Cloud Architects Need to Succeed

    For cloud architects, a deep understanding of cloud tools and technologies is only the starting point in terms of skills that need to be mastered. Enjoying a successful career as a cloud architect requires much more, including certain skills that are typically not associated with the tech industry. 

    Architecture and Design

    The cloud architect needs to be an expert on end-to-end system design since their primary responsibility is solving a customer’s problems through the use of technology. The architect’s ability to develop a design that solves a business’s problem is where their true value lies. Because design is architecture, the cloud architect must have expert knowledge of all the current and legacy systems that exist in the network and in the data center and also understand how to migrate them to the cloud, matching them to the proper cloud-based systems.

    Network and Data Center Technologies

    Networking and data center skills are critical for the cloud architect because one of their major responsibilities is designing a plan to take the systems that were on the network and hosted in a data center and migrate them to the cloud. To do this successfully, cloud architects must be experts on networking and data center technologies.

    Digging deeper, they must be experts at routers, load balancers, switches, routing protocols, IP addressing and WAN connections whether those are private line-based, VPN-based or software-defined networking. They must be experts on servers and server virtualization and containers and storage, too: Block storage, object storage and file storage. The cloud architect also needs to be an expert at file-sharing protocols such as Server Message Block for Windows and NFS for Linux. Security, too, is an important skill; they must understand how firewalls, IDS/IPS systems and how VPN concentrators work. The cloud architect needs to have full knowledge of databases, understand how web applications work and understand ERP applications and supply chain applications. Good, strong network and data center knowledge is the foundation for architects who are overseeing the migration of tech from the data center to the cloud.

    Business Acumen

     Cloud architects are digital transformation specialists. They must craft end-to-end business solutions for customers with the goal of improving their businesses. If they do not have a thorough understanding of customers’ business, they cannot effectively engineer solutions that will solve their business problems.

    Business skills include the ability to calculate an ROI model based upon the expected value of an opportunity, to read a financial statement and to read a balance sheet. It includes knowledge and understanding of what the CEO, CFO, CIO and CTO care about and being able to communicate with them in ways they understand. Without an understanding of business, cloud architects limit themselves to simply adding or removing technology, which might make business outcomes better or might make them worse.

    Leadership

    Accomplishing anything great requires a team, which means being a great cloud architect requires leadership skills. When working for a client, a cloud architect typically will need to set a baseline of current systems. Accomplishing that effectively might require a team of 50 cloud engineers working together to evaluate the customer’s systems. Leadership skills allow you to effectively manage that team of engineers.

    And leadership skills go beyond effectively managing people as they work on proofs-of-concept and deployments. Leadership skills empower the architect to make sure teams are motivated, are fully engaged with projects and are contributing to success.

    Sales

    When on the job, a cloud architect is constantly selling. The solutions they designed need to be sold to the customer. The plan to implement the solution needs to be sold to management before the necessary resources can be obtained. When it is time to get people to work with us on a project, we need to sell them on its value. Sales skills are employed in a wide variety of ways. Cloud architects sell to customers, internal stakeholders and to management.

    Presentation

    Cloud architects also need exceptional presentation skills because they will be presenting to customers. Those customers could be technology professionals like engineers; they could be presenting to management and/or to C-level executives. Additionally, cloud architects will be presenting information at executive briefings and at conferences. In general, presentations are part of everyday life for the average cloud architect.

    Communication

    Determining the business requirements for any cloud architecture project requires asking a lot of questions. They’re never just handed a piece of paper by a client that says, “Build this.” Without stellar communication skills, it’s difficult—if not impossible—to determine the business’ requirements, meaning the solutions that are designed could be incorrect.

    Even once the business requirements are well understood, the next step is to take those requirements to a team of technology professionals, which means communicating effectively with tech people as well as business people. Communication skills, which include communicating to customers, teammates and various other stakeholders in the organization, are critical.

    Emotional Intelligence

    Emotional intelligence is a critical skill for those who want to increase their professional value and propel their cloud architect career forward. Emotional intelligence increases the capacity for leadership, understanding and communication. When used regularly in the job, it is the best predictor of career success and typically results in about a $30,000 increase in the average person’s salary. For a cloud architect to have a successful career, building on the skills outlined above is critical.

  • Great Resignation Spurs Interest in Tech Certifications

    Great Resignation Spurs Interest in Tech Certifications

    It has been almost a year since the phenomenon known as the Great Resignation started appearing in national news. The reports showed millions of U.S. workers leaving their jobs each month to look for something better. This trend, according to the latest news, is not going away.

    While labor experts have provided a steady stream of speculation about why people are leaving their jobs, from frustration with pay to fear of COVID-19 to a desire to find positions that are more meaningful, they have yet to arrive at a consensus as to what those who are now out of work are doing with their time.

    In the world of IT and tech, it appears that those who joined the Great Resignation are spending their spare time growing their skills and improving their resumes by pursuing tech certifications.

    Tech Courses Surge in Popularity in 2021

    According to Class Central, a search engine and review site for free online courses, the top online courses for 2021 were tech courses, many of which are offered by Google and provide the type of certifications that look great on a resume. Here are some examples of the top courses:

    • Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design, which is the first in a series of seven courses on the topic.
    • Data Analysis With R Programming, which provides training on how to “clean, organize, analyze, visualize and report data in new and more powerful ways.”
    • AWS Cloud Technical Essentials, which presents the fundamentals of AWS.
    • AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials, which explores “fundamental AWS Cloud concepts to help you gain confidence to contribute to your organization’s cloud initiatives.”

    Certifications That Pay Dividends

    In general, certifications provide a boost to job seekers. They communicate a commitment to professional development as well as provide a reliable catalog of the skills that one will bring to a position. For those looking to stand out, certifications can definitely increase the chances that you’ll get an interview.

    However, it is critical to think of the opportunity cost of an individual’s time. While we love free certifications, many of the free certifications are unlikely to help someone start their career. In many cases, after the person spends months achieving these free certifications, they will need to spend additional time getting new certifications to ensure that they have the specific certifications that employers desire. When you consider the salaries some of these tech positions command, spending months on the wrong free certifications can cost someone tens of thousands of dollars in lost earnings.

    While the following certifications may be more difficult to achieve and might not be available for free, they definitely make a difference in terms of preparing IT workers for the most desirable jobs:

    • Networking – Cisco Certified Internet Expert (CCIE) and Cisco Certified Networking Professional
    • Cloud Computing – Azure Expert, AWS Certified Solution Architect Professional and Google Professional Cloud Architect
    • Security – Certified Information System Security Professional, Certified Information Security Manager, Certified in Risk and Information Security Control, or CRISC (Note: these certifications required documented experience)
    • Cloud DevOps – AWS DevOps Engineer Professional

    Adding Soft Skills to Certifications

    The certification process can provide the technical skills for which many IT employers are looking. And promoting certifications on your resume can significantly increase the chances that you’ll be called in for an interview. However, in my experience, landing the job is one thing; thriving in it requires a different set of skills that fall outside the realm of IT certifications.

    Soft skills are not the skills that allow you to do your job, like coding or engineering. They are the skills that define how you do your job. They include people skills like networking, communication and conflict resolution, as well as creative thinking and time management. When applied to the world of IT, I like to think of them as “certifications plus.”

    While IT workers often overlook the value of soft skills, I can assure you that IT employers definitely do not. With the fierce competition that exists for IT work, IT providers need every advantage they can get to acquire and retain clients. If their workers do not have people skills to pair with their tech skills, companies lose that advantage.

    For those looking to boost their appeal to employers by acquiring certifications, take some time to get certified in soft skills. The courses exist and they will pay you great dividends both before and after you land the job.

    Bringing an End to the Great Resignation

    For IT companies, the growing popularity of certification courses may offer some insight on how to bring an end to the Great Resignation, at least within the IT sector.

    Recent research showed that IT “resigners” are wrestling with many of the same employment issues as those in other industries, including frustrations with salary and the desire to have more work flexibility. However, tech workers also cited some issues that indicate that certification training, provided before employees resign, might be enough to keep them at their desks.

    For example, the top reason cited by workers at tech, IT and software development companies for wanting to leave their job, other than salary and benefits, was limited career progression. In addition, nine out of 10 said they “would like to get more learning and development opportunities from their company.”

    For tech workers looking for a job, “skills development” was the second-highest criteria they considered behind salary and benefits when selecting a company. More than 60% also reported that “more learning and training opportunities would make them more motivated at work” and 75% felt that their companies focused more on attracting new employees than they did on investing in existing employees.

    Could it be that retaining IT employees and filling the positions left open by the Great Resignation is as simple as making certification training available to employees?