How Does The Career Path Of A Cloud Computing Professional In India Look Like?

Introduction

Today, if we are using the Internet, we will notice that the "Cloud" has become the buzzword in the technology industry and everyone is talking about it. With the advent of the "cloud computing" there has been a drastic change in the way the entire computer industry operates. It is a platform that provides an individual or company access to any digital resources over the Internet from anywhere across the globe and whenever required. It can be also defined as a method which offers a platform for outsourcing and sharing resources and services with others over the Internet.

In the traditional style architecture, there is always certain limitation which sets the boundaries in its way of working. However, the cloud successfully breaks these barriers and creates lots of possibilities for the future. So, it will correct to say that there has never been a better opportunity to work in the area of Cloud Computing technologies.

In today’s tech world we all are using the cloud services most of the times, and it might be possible that we are not aware of it. Let us take a small example to understand it in a better way. We all use social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, etc. and email services like Outlook or Gmail. But do we ever wonder where all the data i.e. photos and documents stored? All these information are stored in the cloud and it is because of the cloud that we are able to access these data wherever we whenever we want.

Best Cloud Computing Certification Programs

As the companies are shifting rapidly towards the cloud, the cloud computing has also moved from being good to have a core competency for the software professionals. Today a certification in cloud computing is required in order to gain most out of the technology. There are many cloud providers competing in the industry and all of them regularly share insights and information about their cloud services. As a result, they also encourage the emerging cloud practitioners and developers to equip themselves with proper information on the latest cloud technology by various cloud-based certifications. Since there are many cloud service providers in the industry so all of these cloud providers offer certifications with respect to their industry standards. Some of the top cloud computing certifications that will guide us to build a great career in cloud computing are

1.  Amazon AWS Certifications

2.  Microsoft Azure

3.  Google Cloud Certifications

4.  IBM Cloud Certifications

5.  CompTIA Cloud+ Certifications

6.  OpenStack Certification

7.  VMware VCP Cloud Certification

Amongst all major cloud providers, AWS, Microsoft, and Google are the big players in the cloud industry and hence the certifications offered by them are the most popular certifications and many professionals consider it as a smart move in going for these three certifications.

Amazon AWS Certifications - AWS is considered a leader in the cloud domain and currently offers eleven certifications which include a foundational certification, three associate-level certifications, two professional-level certifications, and three specialty certifications. It is good to go for these certifications as they not only provide foundational knowledge and skills required to work with AWS services and solutions but also validate a one’s familiarity of best practices and knowledge in cloud architecture, management, and security.

Microsoft Azure - The certification offered by Microsoft is revamped to a role-based certification path. There are no major prerequisites required to get started with one of the paths but it is expected that one should be familiar and have a basic understanding of the cloud services and the Microsoft Azure platform. The new role-based Azure certifications have a great learning path for professional starting from the Fundamental level to Associate level and then moving up to the Expert level. There are five Microsoft Azure Certifications path for five different roles specifically based on Azure; the roles are Azure Fundamentals, Azure Administrator Associate, Azure Developer Associate, Azure Solution Architect Expert, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert

Google Cloud Certifications - The Google certification program has experienced a growth in terms of the number of certifications and hence gaining a lot of attention from the aspiring professional and further provided a boost in the cloud industry. Today, the certification offered by Google includes one associate-level credential, five professional level certifications, and an additional certification aimed at G Suite productivity and collaboration tools.

To help the professionals, there are many training programs available for these certifications in order to prepare and make the aspirants aware of the cloud. So, if we are looking for a certification in the cloud and trying to explore the career in the cloud world, it would be really beneficial for us to leverage this opportunity and fast forward our career by gaining good exposure towards the cloud technology.

Different Career Pathways for Cloud Profession

There are various career streams available in the cloud computing career path and one needs to be wise and identify which one of these streams are best suited for them and make a decision to advance in this field.

Cloud Architect, Cloud Network Engineer, Cloud Database Administrator, Cloud Consultant, Cloud System Administrator, Cloud Product Manager are some of the roles that one can take up to pursue a fast forward career in cloud.

Let us discuss some of the most popular, promising and most sought after roles in the cloud industry by various budding cloud engineers. One can choose amongst them based on their work experience, interest and can decide upon any of the career paths to become a cloud engineer.

Cloud Architect- The main area of focus for a cloud architect is mainly solution based and implementation of specific cloud services. It requires good experience in designing and administration of environments and large scale multi-platform networks. The roles and responsibilities of an architect also include taking measures to ensure the systems are scalable and reliable to cater the business requirements.

Cloud Network Engineer- The tasks as a cloud network engineer is very challenging at times. The duties of a network professional have various activities like performing and implementing the operational support and also to ensure the overall maintenance of the systems are in good shape. They are also required to optimize the cloud infrastructure which comprises of network software, hardware, and communication links

Cloud Product Manager- A good presentation and strong communication skills is a must for a cloud product manager. It also requires a deep understanding of the business and ability to manage the entire portfolio and various cloud-based offerings. They are also accountable for reviewing various strategy documents performing product planning and also identifying the right product positioning in the market.

Companies That Are Booming in The Cloud Segment in India.

The cloud business began to shape up in India in the early 2010 and since then the cloud is getting huge attention in the IT industry and India has become a booming market for the cloud industry. It was thought that these cloud services and solutions would transform the business in the country to have become more efficient and it has done justice to this idea. It is predicted that the Cloud Market in India is set to be worth $4.1 Billion by the end of the year 2020. The reason for this is that over the last couple of years, the cloud services market in India has witnessed phenomenal growth and hence there are many investors coming forward to invest in this sector.

In fact, there is extensive research and development going in this field and many of the global majors such as Amazon, Google, Alibaba, and Microsoft have all opened R&D and data centers in India. The country's local players such as NxtGen, ESDS and CntrlS are also not far behind and are performing notable impact through cloud AI development smart city hosting managed services. This is being driven by the government initiative of Digital India which fulfills the increasing need for business innovation and agility and also the ability to scale at a faster pace in a competitive market.

Companies like Digital Ocean are also fueling the growth of the industry in the country by helping various startups to build the modern application in the cloud. It launched its data center in India in the year 2016 and is now one of the largest web hosting providers in the world. It currently powers more than 2000 startups in the country through its Hatch program. This has made India as one of the faster growing markets in the world for Digital Ocean.

Hence, we can say that the cloud is a booming market in India and provides ample opportunities for everyone who are looking to dive into this ocean. The requirement for this is not going to slow down anytime soon due to its great workforce of varied skillsets and attention from the big players globally.

Conclusion

As we know today that nowadays the cloud computing is the most demanding and sought after skills in the information technology industry. Since its inception, it has been growing rapidly and the credits go to the various research and development which is going into this field rapidly and also there are various cloud service provides that have turned up with variety of services to offer. This is one of the prime reasons that many of the large corporations are moving forward towards cloud computing technologies. It has also inspired many to the new businesses to adopt cloud technologies and build their infrastructure on the cloud from the very beginning.

Cloud computing is becoming a mandate and a norm in many organizations these days as it has significantly made an impact on the earlier way of performing business with the traditional systems in place. As a result of this change, there is a growing need for cloud computing engineers as well. So, if one is planning to choose cloud computing as a career option then will definitely be a good and fruitful career option to opt for.

I hope this post proves to be beneficial and has added significant value to your knowledge in the area of cloud and helps you in getting a clear picture of how the career path of a Cloud Computing Professional in India looks like. For more insights on how to get started, check out Manipal’s exclusive cloud computing course and Earn AWS Badge for Cloud Literacy Program for going through a rigorous training on AWS official Courseware. Manipal’s Cloud Computing course outline is designed to help you brush up your skills in emerging technologies like AWS and understand its usage in DevOps, IoT, Big Data and Machine Learning.