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The Cloud Computing market is hot right now, especially for Cloud Professionals. Gartner predicted that global public cloud spend will grow 18% in 2021, with 70% of organizations using cloud to increase their spending due to COVID-19.

Cloud computing jobs show up on practically every search of the top 10 IT skills in-demand for 2021. Organizations require servers, databases, storage, networking, analytics, software, and intelligence to deliver computing services to customers. Moving away from hosted in-house to delivering these computing services over the cloud offers economies of scale, the opportunity for faster innovation, flexible resources, and even lower operating costs for many organizations. The current COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated customer demand for cloud-based computing, however with more employees now working remotely, there is an increased stress on technology-based back-end support. If working from home is going to be the norm, having a robust and sustainable technology architecture will be essential to delivering uninterrupted service and experience to both employees and customers.     

So, what does this mean for individuals considering a career in cloud computing?

It means you are going to be part of a future technology career experiencing a bigger and sustained boom. The demand will be seen in every industry including manufacturing, finance, education, retail, and consulting. While the types of jobs vary, examples of common job types and potential salary include the following:

Cloud Architect. Cloud architects develop an organization’s cloud computing strategy and infrastructure. With knowledge of different cloud offerings (multi-cloud), they help to plan the design, deployment, management and monitoring of cloud adoptions and use. The architect also helps with planning the cloud environment, i.e., public, private or hybrid. Some regard cloud architects as key to cloud success. Depending on the region, organization, the level of education and experience, a cloud architect could earn between $110,000 to $200,000 per year.

Cloud Engineer. Cloud engineers usually work with other cloud professionals in the actual design, implementation, management, monitoring, security, and privacy of cloud systems. Depending on the size of the organization, a cloud engineer could also work as a cloud architect, or as a cloud security engineer, systems engineer or software engineer.  Depending on the region, organization, the level of education, and experience, these individuals could earn between $107,500 and $178,500. The salary for cloud engineers has been described as stratospheric.

Cloud Developer. Cloud developers design, build, test and maintain cloud solutions. While they perform similar functions as a software engineer, they analyze, and support customer needs by designing and developing solutions that run on virtual or cloud systems. They typically have cloud specific skills in design, networking, DevOps, scaling and security. Salaries for Cloud developers could range from $104,000 to $165,000 depending on the organization, the individual’s level of education and experience.

Cloud Administrator. Cloud administrators help organizations transition on-premise infrastructure and applications to the cloud. Working with other cloud professionals, they help to configure cloud environments to meet an organization’s needs. They help to implement, monitor, and maintain cloud solutions. Salaries for Cloud administrators could range from $74,000 to $133,000 depending on the organization, the individual’s level of education and experience

Given what the top three cloud providers (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) earn on cloud services, and their expanded reach across several industries including the government and military, cloud professionals will continue to be in demand. A recent PwC survey indicated that almost 75% of finance leaders plan for a more agile business environment, with 85% needing to scale back on capital expenses. Cloud solutions allow them to be agile, and also turn many capital expenses into operational expenses.

For individuals considering a career in cloud computing, start by enrolling in a degree program in cloud computing, where you not only learn foundational skills in programming, networking, storage, databases, and security, but also have an opportunity to earn industry-relevant certifications. Remember that now and likely in the future, most basic and advanced computing functions including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and security as we know them today will happen in the cloud.

Andy Igonor, PhD.

Associate Dean, IT/Cloud Computing