Hi!
I have not been around lately but intend to be more regular now
I want to hear from others that have made similar journey's. Especially in the Public Cloud space. I started out at a Call Centre doing Customer support for HP Laptops/Desktops and now work as a Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer in Wellington, New Zealand.
I had hoped to be promoted to a Cloud Architect position but was turned down saying that I did not have enough experience and there is still time. While I completely understand that I want to be able to bridge the gap while waiting for the next opportunity.
I typically on a daily basis deal with customer requirements, basic design of architecture and process for migration / infrastructure deployment primarily on Amazon Web Services. I also deal with the implementation of infrastructure components and configuration management solutions. I have a background in Windows / Linux System Administration so i also deal with any teething problems on the OS level. I have a short but deep security background around Firewalls/Identity Management/VPN's/Encryption/Threat Protection etc so I happen to work with customers that are skewed towards very secure locked down environments.
I however lack basic development skills. I intend to pick up one language and go slightly deep into it. My current choice has been Python due to the resources available to me and a general understanding that it is very useful in the SysAdmin / Public Cloud line.
From a Business / Shareholder Engagement point of view I have average skills around dealing with customers and doing the pre/post sales cycles. I intend to improve in this area as well. I hope to be able to do more of this while also dealing with the project management of the engagement in general.
Advice/Feedback always welcome!
I hope to use this thread as a placeholder for my journey to Cloud Architect and also for a place for others that may be going down this line.
For anyone that wants to know. I primarily work with Amazon Web Services for a Consulting partner based here. Small company of 10 with 6 Consultants out of which 5 are Cloud Architects (They each have at least 5-10 years more experience than I have in development).
