The cloud computing industry is one of the fastest growing today. In 2015, the share of organizations using cloud technologies in Sweden was 60 percent. Only two years later the figure had jumped to 83 percent, and is now nearing 100 percent. This trend is echoed around the world as cloud computing replaces legacy hardware and software systems. The great news is that with the growth of the cloud computing industry comes the growth and diversification of job opportunities in the space. But what are the main cloud developer roles?
There are a variety of cloud platforms out there, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure to name a few. Cloud professionals are expected to be knowledgeable on them all and understand how to implement the benefits of such platforms. Below is a breakdown of the most sought-after cloud developer roles today and what is needed to thrive in these positions.
1. Cloud architect
Cloud architect is the most strategy-oriented role of the cloud developer positions. As a cloud architect, you will be responsible for overseeing an organization’s entire cloud computing approach—everything from planning, organizing, and designing to implementing and structuring cloud delivery models.
Integral to this position is understanding a multi-cloud environment and being able to recognize which combination of providers meets the needs of your specific organization. Sometimes, a cloud architect may even conclude that using cloud services exclusively may not be the optimal solution.
Another important part of a cloud architect’s role is understanding cost structure and being able to define, forecast, and report cost impacts on the business back to management.
2. Cloud consultant
A cloud consultant is like a cloud guru—knowledgeable on all the technical aspects of cloud systems, with a profound understanding of the cloud marketplace and excellent communication skills.
This is because cloud consultants are hired by different organizations to conduct technical studies and evaluations of different cloud systems in order to assist them in choosing the right cloud-based solutions to accurately meet their needs.
3. Cloud engineer
The role of a cloud engineer is primarily one that is responsible for implementing and managing cloud service delivery models such as IaaS, PaaS, and Saas. Traditionally, this role was centered around designing and connecting networks for multiple units across different company locations. However, the modern role has now shifted to being responsible for determining:
How to connect outside provider data centers back to your company’s network
A disaster recovery plan that compensates for the unlikely yet possible scenario that a cloud provider goes down
Network bandwidth
Guaranteed uptime percentage, how fast it will be, and if the provider uses an annual or monthly uptime guarantee
4. Cloud software developer
A cloud software developer designs and develops secure cloud applications, services, and products. This can include everything from back-end, front-end, web application, full-stack, data and application integration, and cloud application deployment. Similar responsibilities to a traditional software developer’s job, yet with a different focus.
Things that need to be considered as part of the role include determining:
If you need to develop cloud-native applications or migrate legacy applications
How to better utilize API’s effectively
What your go-to language for development will be
How to automate different parts of the development process
The cloud development world is changing fast, and there will no doubt be new roles to add to this list in the coming years. Candidates are changing fast too, and increasingly it is possible to find individuals that have expertise in more than one of these areas. We are often able to place candidates that our clients didn’t think existed, or at least couldn’t be found in a feasible time frame. Experienced Cloud Engineer-Cloud Consultants do exist for example, even if in small numbers.
You just have to know where to look.
For more information on cloud developer roles or candidates, please email me today at rhys.powell@oliverparks.com.
About Oliver Parks
Oliver Parks Consulting offers search-based recruitment solutions to the technology sector, specialising in the ERP, CRM, CMS, ECM, BI and Open Source Technology spaces. The firm’s multilingual consultants operate in narrowly-defined niche market segments, enabling them to gain extensive knowledge of the people and companies operating in each technology. Oliver Parks has a proven track-record with more than 100,000 candidates worldwide and more than 300 clients globally.