Future of IT jobs as we shift into the "cloud"

Cloud computing seems to be here to stay. After going through some 2012 server labs with system center, and Hyper V the whole "send us your vmdk or vhdx to host" or build your own automated cloud internally to save costs seems to be the future. I work in a large infrastructure with a mainframe, Sparc Servers, HP-UX, AIX, and of course the traditional Microsoft setup with exchange/AD. We are doing consolidation which is going to take years. So I know I have a lot of work years ahead of me but those will go by fast. I find myself wondering what is going to go down in this career path I love as Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and others keep improving efficiencies and lowering costs to host parts if not all of your systems in one of their datacenters.

I don't plan on sitting around like the guys who worked at automobile plants and mills in the rustbelt as their jobs fade away. I think about this often, and have tried to keep my skills up to date and branch off into programming as the infrastructure roles vanish. In a large organization we have dedicated teams for programming, servers, and networking so I don't get I was mainly posting this to see if you guys wonder about this kind of stuff, and what your plans are if it becomes apparent that our jobs become automated within a cloud providers. Maybe just maybe the jobs won't vanish and people will just need to manage servers now hosted in another datacenter. Thoughts would be appreciated

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

TomkoTech

There will not be fewer system admin roles. Someone has to maintain the "cloud" servers. The cloud does not run itself. Yes the individual businesses won't need the system admins or help desk personnel. However the company providing those servers and and services will.

pinkydapimp

TomkoTech wrote: »

There will not be fewer system admin roles. Someone has to maintain the "cloud" servers. The cloud does not run itself. Yes the individual businesses won't need the system admins or help desk personnel. However the company providing those servers and and services will.

But the company hosting infrastructure for 200 companies isnt going to hire 200 sysadmins. More and more you can do more with less. And that means getting to a point where they might need only 1 true sysadmin with others doing maintenance depending on setups and high availability or how dependent they are on vendors and such.

TomkoTech

By your logic as MSPs and outsourcing as a whole became prevalent their should have been fewer jobs, and yet here we are in year 30 of continuous job growth. Larger companies are going to virtualize and use cloud options internally. Smaller companies who didn't have a need for a systems admin are going to starting using cloud service providers which in turn will have CSPs looking to hire more system admins. As the costs to host these services decreases more companies that couldn't afford it before will start using them.

You have to consider how many business out there still don't have proper IT systems in place due to cost constraints. As these services continue to get cheaper more and more are going to jump on the bandwagon. Currently you can have an enterprise level infrastructure for minimal cost. You just need someone to find these businesses and show them the cost is no longer prohibitive and how investing in IT with increase production and net growth.

The job growth according to the BLS through 2022 for computer support is 17% (higher than average), systems analysts is 25% (higher than average), and network/sys admins is 12% (about average).

It doesn't take a crystal ball to know that Security is probably the safest bet for long term growth. However building your resume through systems administration and transitioning to security is at least imo always be the best route.

pinkydapimp

TomkoTech wrote: »

By your logic as MSPs and outsourcing as a whole became prevalent their should have been fewer jobs, and yet here we are in year 30 of continuous job growth. Larger companies are going to virtualize and use cloud options internally. Smaller companies who didn't have a need for a systems admin are going to starting using cloud service providers which in turn will have CSPs looking to hire more system admins. As the costs to host these services decreases more companies that couldn't afford it before will start using them.

You have to consider how many business out there still don't have proper IT systems in place due to cost constraints. As these services continue to get cheaper more and more are going to jump on the bandwagon. Currently you can have an enterprise level infrastructure for minimal cost. You just need someone to find these businesses and show them the cost is no longer prohibitive and how investing in IT with increase production and net growth.

The job growth according to the BLS through 2022 for computer support is 17% (higher than average), systems analysts is 25% (higher than average), and network/sys admins is 12% (about average).

It doesn't take a crystal ball to know that Security is probably the safest bet for long term growth. However building your resume through systems administration and transitioning to security is at least imo always be the best route.

i think we agree in a way. i dont think the jobs go away. i do think that the roles "as we know them today" will transition into other types of roles or sysadmin roles might be lower paying or require less experience. Which isnt a bad thing as i do agree its still good way to build a career. Just not an endpoint as many people treat it.

bridgestone

TomkoTech wrote: »

There will not be fewer system admin roles. Someone has to maintain the "cloud" servers. The cloud does not run itself. Yes the individual businesses won't need the system admins or help desk personnel. However the company providing those servers and and services will.

Admin is different from maintenance.

Admin will continue, of course. Patch management, no more underlying hardware etc. All those nitty gritty tasks that didn't really add any value but just "had to be done" can now all be done or eliminated by the cloud provider.

Companies that had 10 sysadmins before going to the cloud will only need maybe 4 after.