As you might have seen in my last post, it’s been quite a journey for me, but I made a decision to stick with cloud and grow within this space. For several reasons, but majorly because it’s an ever-growing field and I’ll find myself doing something new everyday. It’s also one that companies will always require and right now, people with the skills are few so it’s the best time to jump on this train!
If you’re reading this post, I’m assumming you already know a bit about this field, so I won’t be explaining it much here. If however, you need some more introduction, then you could check out:
This post by me – https://tosinfarai.home.blog/2021/04/11/what-exactly-is-cloud-computing/
This video by Cloudboosta – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utyLiRKM_Xs
Career Options
There are very few jobs with the actual title ‘Cloud Devops’, it’s more of a combination of several fields. You’d most likely see more specific roles such as Cloud Architect, Cloud Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Platform Engineer (my current role), Infrastructure Engineer, Solutions Architect, SRE and a lot more. While the specific tasks would differ, they mostly require the same basic skills to secure the job.
Now let’s talk about gathering these basic skills to help get that first role.
Cloud Platform
Whether you’re coming from a software engineering background or a non-tech background, this is always the best place to start. The top cloud platforms right now are AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). AWS is the most used by companies and also has an extremely wide range of services so I’d advice starting with this. The skills are also easily transferable to other cloud services if your job requires that in the future. For example, I started my cloud journey with AWS, but I’m working extensively with Azure in my current role. Even though I had no prior experience with Azure, my background in AWS has made it easier to understand the concepts.
Get Certified
Each certificate exam covers a range of concepts for specific roles. I believe taking the exam or preparing for the exam helps you focus on exactly what is needed rather than just studying a broad range of topics. And a certificate gives employers some level of confidence in your abilities. Most cloud certifications are tough and give real-life scenarios. So if you can take and pass these exams, it’s almost as good as actually working professionally for some time.
If you choose AWS, then I’d suggest the Certified Solutions Architect Associate. This certificate is equivalent to 1 year of work experience so it gives you an edge in the job market. Most people starting out opt for the Cloud Practitioner exam and this is good if you just want general knowledge about cloud. If however, you’re looking for a job now, then I’d suggest the Solutions Architect path. It could take 1-4 months (or longer) of learning depending on your other commitments.
Automation
One of the top reasons this career was even created is the need to automate lots of tasks. As you keep growing in this field, you always want to keep thinking of how you can automate every task rather than do things manually.
One major form of automation is Scripting.
A good example of scripting is creating a folder on your computer:
- You can create it manually like shown below:
2. Or you can create using a linux script as shown below (don’t worry if you don’t understand what it means)
Now while the first option seems like the one you’d want to go with, imagine having to create 1000 folders at a time or not even creating it yourself at all, but instead having your computer automatically create it when a particular trigger occurs. This is exactly what scripting is about.
Linux, as you’ve just seen is the main scripting language and most other tools were created to use it. You’d certainly not be dragging and dropping or manually creating stuff, but using linux to do most of your work. Don’t worry, you won’t even realize you’re using it once you get the hang of it and it’s really easy to learn as long as you have already been using a computer before.
Python – this is another scripting language I usually recommend for someone trying to learn cloud. You might not eventually use it at your job, but understanding the basics helps you ease into other automation tools. If you’re already using another language such as Javascript, then you can carry on with this. If however, you’re trying to decide on a first, then I’d advice python.
Version Control
You might have heard of Git, GitHub, BitBucket etc – these are all version control tools. In a nutshell, version control helps projects manage collaboration and updates, since multiple people are constantly making changes to a codebase. You would always need this at work so it’s best to learn it now. It takes less than 5 mins to create a GitHub account and you can start learning immediately.
My Tip
I got to learn Python, Linux and Git indepth by working on actual projects and asking lots of questions. So what I’d advice while you’re working towards your AWS certification, is to make some time to learn Python, use it with Linux and build simple projects you can push to GitHub using Git. There’s also some scripting in AWS called Cloudformation; try to create some Cloudformation templates based on whatever tutorial you’re following and push them to GitHub. Doing all these together helps you build your basic scripting and version control skills and as you grow, you’d find more problems to solve and they would make more sense over time.
If you already use these tools, then you have an upper hand!
Other DevOps Tools
I’d advice taking some time on the above – AWS, automation and version control. Once you’re comfortable with these (and maybe written your certification exam), I honestly think you can start testing the job market. You might get a role that would be happy to train you in other skills, or get a few rejections that would give feedback on necessary skills.
Either ways, some of the tops skills right now to start building are Terraform (my top choice), Jenkins, Docker and Kubernetes (containerisation), Ansible, Azure DevOps (if you chose to learn Azure cloud). Once again, all companies and job roles are different and won’t require all skills. You can have a look at jobs and requirements then choose the one that seems to suit you. You could also learn the basics of all and dig further into the ones that interests you the most.
The world is your oyster!
Community
There’s nothing better than learning with people. Personally, I learnt with a community and that was what helped me stay accountable and also keep me on the right track.
For me, that community was (and still is) Cloudboosta. If you’re not one to go for self-learning, then I’d highly recommend checking them out! It also helps to have people who can share job opportunities as time goes by.
Also, follow people on social media. There are lots of people who talk about cloud on twitter (like me😊) and you get to learn and just stay up-to-date with the market.
On a final note…
Picking a new career can be a long and overwhelming process, but you can decide to take it as a new adventure and enjoy the process!
tosinadedoyin 
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