The Buzzword Cloud Computing is a more prominent word, and it means different for various people. It’s a common word which includes Virtualization, Clustering, Grid Computing, Hosting, Commodity Hardware and a lot more.
The first thing is to realize that cloud computing is a vast field. Now that you have a better understanding recognize that a cloud computing career could be doing software development, traditional IT hardware management, infrastructure support, customer service, or it could be a diverse range of tasks related to managing a cloud system.
Do not aim at a job to master skills. Study what you like to learn, and you will enjoy and make some money. Cloud is a complex ecosystem. It has parts which command right from basic Kernel programming to complex machine learning algorithms. You choose what do you want to do. You can be a DevOps guy making sure systems are up which requires a niche set of skills, or you can be a Machine learning person writing algorithms and models to make sure the machines know how to patch a security hole in the OS on a box automatically.
So my friend, it solely depends on you.
I would spend a lot of time studying object-oriented or scripting languages such as JavaScript, Ruby, Python, C#, PHP, or Java. Then I would spend time learning about relational and non-relational database concepts/languages such as JSON and SQL. If you know basic networking concepts, even not programming, that will help as well.
Good developers are limited. Meaning that if you strive to become a good developer, you’ll be in demand, and mostly able to pick among a bunch of jobs. If you’re interested in working on cloud infrastructure and services, in particular, you might want to choose an organization or two and make sure you’re meeting their qualifications.
The tricky part is that requirements may change, so make sure you’re very focused on the basics: learn how to design a solution, come up with tests that confirm your solution works, and write clear code.
You need to have ample knowledge of SaaS, PaaS, IaaS. You need to identify the major players in the field. That is enough to pass interviews. You do not apply after mastering the skills. You get and hone your skills once you are there.
A generic task could also be to become familiar with Linux, learn about CI/CD processes, understand container technology, etc.
But honestly, you must do some homework and determine what aspect of cloud draws you. Software Defined Storage, Software Defined Networking, Cloud native application Development, etc.
As soon as you have found an area of interest you’d like to concentrate on, you can do a job search and look at the requirements. That will most certainly define where you will need to go with your education.
Since most of the Cloud Service Providers have their variants of a solution to a problem, you need first to choose a single product or a provider to begin your learning process. For instance: Amazon has AWS, Microsoft has Azure and so on. All these providers offer certification courses on their respective products.
Once you have decided on the certification course, practice what you have learned. AWS provides a 750 hour/month free tier for end users which is such a huge bonus.
When it comes to jobs, look out for announcements on LinkedIn, and on the respective company’s website. If you have completed your certification course from a renowned institution, sometimes they offer placements as well.
So there you have it. We hope this helps. All the very best and happy learning!