Cloud Jobs

I was discussing cloud with a couple of peers at a meet up. I am thinking about pursuing the network specialty certification in 2019. The discussion was about if the role of a "cloud network engineer" actually exists and/or if there are cloud career options other than for developers. The general consensus seemed to be that well paying (6 figure +) cloud careers are for developers only.

I don't know enough about it to have an opinion but I would be interested in "specializing" in cloud/cloud networking. I'm not a developer type though.

However, it would have to make sense. I'm at the point of my career where I don't want to get certifications just to get it.

I wanted to post it here to continue the discussion with other knowledgeable people

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Comments

JDMurray

There are a lot of non-programming jobs available in organizations that are moving away from maintaining their own, on-premises hardware and to Managed Service Providers that provide all the hardware, and many of the services, needed by organizations (i.e. "The Cloud").

If you look at the AWS certs as a model, besides programming certs they also have architecture and system operator certs. Specialty cert include security, networking, and Big Data. Regardless of how non-programming of a specialist you are, you will need to lean about DevOps, as this is how the Cloud is grown.

A "Cloud network engineer" is someone who understands provisioning and configuration networking in a specific Cloud environment (e.g., AWS, Google, Microsoft, IBM Oracle, etc.) They do not necessarily work in the actual Cloud vendor's data centers, but usually work on the customer-side helping to architect and maintain the customer's network and applications--both on-prem and in-Cloud.

Try searching for "Cloud network engineer" in Google, LinkedIn, or your favorite tech job site. Also consider that most cloud-related job positions will not have the word "cloud" in the job title.

MitM

thanks JD

Clm

I work Cloud security and there is definitely money to be made 6 FIGURES+ honestly I would say a solid 60% of the jobs I have seen are over that. Most positions have a place in the cloud. But learning to code would help automate/ speed up work.

cochi78

I'm consulting on cloud adoption and have two observations with regard to your statement:

1. A "cloud network engineer" would in most cases do work on a hybrid project, mostly busy with setting up the on-prem interconnectivity. At least the AWS side of network design is not furiously complex, but any connection to existing networks can be a good amount of work. Usually, that's done by "normal" network specialists though, so a "cloud network engineer" in my experience would only make sense if you're from an external contractor. Basically doing PoC, enabling the customer etc

2. The AWS Advanced Network Specialty doesn't interest anyone (so far). It's an exotic certification and does not even have a custom course for it (materials are buried in the Adv. Architecture course), so most don't even know it exists. For me, it holds mostly some value for collectors like me. If you have some vendor network certification (read CCNA/CCNP and the likes), your chances would be better.

MitM

Thanks @Clm and @cochi78, appreciate the replies.

I do have a couple of network certs (CCNP R&S, CCNA Sec, CCNA Data Center), I was thinking the Adv Networking AWS cert would fit nicely with that

I'm a little torn right now on whether I want to specialize in SDN/Network Virtualization/Design or Cloud.

JDMurray

Do you want to work inside of a data center (SDN, virtualization, etc.) or outside of a data center (Cloud)?

MitM

JDMurray said:

Do you want to work inside of a data center (SDN, virtualization, etc.) or outside of a data center (Cloud)?

I wouldn't mind a mix of both, but not sure that's realistic

JDMurray

Actually, that type of job is more possible than it seems. Very large enterprises with legacy, on-prem applications hosted in data centers will never be 100% Cloud for a variety of reasons. Instead, they will use a hybrid, public/private Cloud model to support their custom apps that can't be ported to the Cloud, usually because of the lack of necessary technology (e.g., mainframe) in the Cloud.

However, very large organizations love to silo their people into specialist teams. The Cloud people and data center people will not be on the same team, although you could work on one team for a few years and then transfer to the other.

MitM

Very good point, JD. From a learning perspective, doesn't hurt to learn both