Wanted: Your Cloud Computing Skills

Employers need cloud computing expertise, but demand is outstripping supply

ADAM KEYS

The last several months have certainly been a roller coaster of change for all professional environments. Even before the widespread disruption caused by COVID-19, however, the occurrence of remote work had increased dramatically over the last decade, climbing almost 160 percent across 12 years.

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), which was almost unheard of 10 years ago, now generates almost $50 billion per year with an annual growth rate exceeding 20 percent. The global cloud services market is expected to reach about $258 billion in 2020. The need to access data anytime and anywhere has created a demand for data science and artificial intelligence professionals that can’t be met.

These statistics, along with a variety of other business needs, reveal a glaring IT hiring need. There is an insatiable demand for seasoned cloud computing professionals who can design, manage, and maintain critical IT infrastructure in cloud environments.

The cloud employment landscape

For those who are new to cloud computing, it may be helpful to define the work environment, background, and technology skills employed by a cloud professional. Prior to the emergence of cloud technologies, almost all technology, software, database, server, and other IT requirements were managed on-premise by IT administrators with backgrounds in servers, networking, storage, and more.

Cloud technology has allowed businesses to shift the management of some, or all, of these responsibilities to third-party cloud providers. The three major types of cloud service offerings include Software-as-aService (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and Platform-as-a-service (PaaS).

SaaS started gaining prominence in the late 1990s. Farsighted business management solutions companies such as Concur and Salesforce launched a pioneering shift toward software license sales and cloud accessibility, with all aspects of the software being managed by the SaaS provider.

IaaS is a relatively newer field, with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Microsoft’s Azure rising to prominence in the late 2000s and early 2010s. IaaS companies provide virtual machines, servers, storage, and networking to allow customers to shift their applications, databases, OS, and data to an online environment, without giving up all control to the IaaS provider.

PaaS is the smallest cloud segment. What we find here is typically an enhancement of IaaS offerings that consists of shifting OS and database control from the customer to the PaaS provider, while the customer retains management of applications and data.

A lack of qualified applicants