It’s a great time to be in the cloud computing industry. As established companies move toward cloud technologies, companies expand IT departments, and new companies form, IT professionals with cloud computing skills are in high demand. Computerworld’s 2017 salary survey showed that, compared to all IT professionals, those working in cloud computing were commanding the highest compensation, at an average of $129,743.
In this post, we’ll look at some of the most common cloud positions that companies are hiring for and where to look for your next cloud computing job.
What are the typical roles in cloud computing?
If you’re looking to start a career in cloud computing, these are some of the most common roles that require cloud skills.
Engineer is your general purpose engineer for building features and fixing bugs in any type of application. There are entry, mid, and senior level cloud engineer positions open across the industry.
Data engineer is the gateway to business insight. Data engineers build the data infrastructure to answer business questions. There should be entry, mid, and senior level opportunities in growing teams.
The system administrator maintains various IT systems. This may cover system provisioning, configuration, maintenance, and decommissioning. Also, this position may be undergoing the most rapid change of the bunch.
The DevOps Engineer and Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) are two sides of the same coin as they work on improving the quality in the final product. Both touch all phases of the software development process and act as force multipliers for the rest of the team. These are in-demand positions, and the requirements are changing fast.
The architect is your IT city planner. They make the big decisions on what goes where, how to prioritize each area, and what the shape of the final solution looks like. It requires years of knowledge to answer these kinds of questions and bridge the gap between business and tech.
These are just some of the general types of positions that you will find. However, as you’ll likely discover in your job search, the actual positions are not always so neatly defined. It’s likely that there will be a lot of overlap between these positions in many companies. This is especially true the smaller a team is. It’s simply not possible to specialize in a team of three. However, a team of 300 is a completely different story, so be prepared to change hats and move between different technical domains in your daily work.
If you’re already working in one of these roles, the odds are that your existing job is not going away if your company is moving to the cloud. It’s more likely that your responsibilities will change to match cloud architecture. Commonly, this means a move toward more programming, automation, and abstraction. This means that you will want to be prepared to gain some new skills and lose some old ones.
Learn more about these positions and the major cloud computing platforms in our learning path, Considering a Career Cloud Computing?
9 Great job sites to start with
Now that you know what types of roles are out there, it’s time to start looking for the job that matches your experience and goals. Here are some of the sites to consult in your job search.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) JobSite offers featured positions and a searchable database for jobs and internships in engineering and technology, as well as links to upcoming career fairs and webinars.
ComputerWork, now part of JobServe Limited, has been a leading IT employment website since 1995. Refine your search with salary or rate criteria or search by skill and role.
In addition to helping startups raise money and apply for funding, AngelList also a great resource for finding jobs in the startup world. AngelList matches candidates with employers. You’ll need to create a profile get started, and you can privately send your profile to the companies you’re interested in. If they’re also interested, you’ll be able to continue the conversation via email or through AngelList. It’s 100% free.
Glassdoor.com is a great place to search for jobs and see what current and former employees have to say about their employers. You’ll also have access to company-specific information such as salary reports, interview questions, and more.
Women in Technology International (WITI) is a leading association for helping women advance in all sectors of technology. Search all technology jobs, get a free resume review, and connect with the association through networking events.
LinkUp posts jobs exclusively from company websites and offers up-to-date, high-quality listings. Search their database, automate with alerts, and save listings to apply later.
StackOverflow Jobs is part of the StackOverflow online programmer community that lists high-quality developer jobs. Browse by technology, salary, location, company, and more.
Dice.com offers a searchable database of tech jobs, and includes information on salaries, trending skills, and career resources.
The Muse is a career resource that offers not only a searchable jobs database, but career support. Browse jobs by companies, trending, job title, and location. With the Muse, you get a closer look inside the companies themselves so that you can see what it’s like to work there. Check out their resources for making a career change, networking, creating your resume, and more.
Next: Get your cloud skills up to date
Now that you know where to look for your next job in cloud computing, it’s time to start brushing up on your skills! Whether you’re starting from scratch in IT, want to bring your existing skills up to date, or would like to add experience with some of the newest cloud services to your resume, Cloud Academy is your source for the most up-to-date cloud training available.
Explore our Content Library of courses, hands-on labs, quizzes and learning paths for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, DevOps, containers, and more.
