Top Skills A Cloud Architect Needs To Be Successful
In today’s cutthroat business environment, every enterprise leveraging cloud technologies has to emphasize on cloud expertise in order to achieve its predefined objectives. However, the biggest hurdle before them is the lack of qualified resources to support their vision. It is worthwhile to note here that as much as 90 percent of IT decision-makers reported a shortage of cloud skills in their workforce. No wonder, professionals with expertise in cloud architecture when it comes to planning, designing, developing, implementing, and operating applications in the cloud are in high demand.
Now comes the big question – what are the top skills required to be a successful cloud architect? Read on to learn the key skills that employers look for and what a professional can build for capitalizing on the business potential and momentum of the cloud today.
But first.. what exactly does a Cloud Architect do?
Cloud architects are responsible for managing the cloud computing architecture of an enterprise. These professionals have in-depth and deep knowledge of the architectural services and principles that are used for developing technical cloud strategies, reviewing workload architectures, assisting with cloud migration efforts, and offering guidance on how to effortlessly address high-risk issues.
To perform these and many other activities, cloud architects require a blend of technical, people, and business skills, as well as a rich understanding of the ever-evolving technical training that may benefit their team.
Important Skills For Cloud Architects
Aptitude
The aptitude of an individual is their natural or inherent ability to perform well in a specific field of study, work, or task. It is basically all about the analytical and problem solving skills and how an individual would think and react in complex situations. To be a good cloud architect, you need to develop your prediction and observation power, common sense, presence of mind, memory, calculations, concentration, and self-confidence.
When you have the right aptitude, innovation and brilliance happen easily. This attribute helps cloud architects improve business processes by differentiating their organization from the competition with their innate ability to transform ideas into reality.
Time management
Time management skills are an absolute must for cloud architecture professionals. Each and every day of the cloud architect that gets spent at the workplace is different. It could include customer meetings for discussing requirements and problems, as well as designing architectural frameworks for those problems and requirements. There is no typical day: cloud architects could be writing scripts, traveling to onsite meetings with a customer, troubleshooting, working on migrations, or staying relevant with new features via online training. As such, cloud architects prioritize their time on tasks, find out ways to maximize small pockets of time, and stay mindful to plan their days.
Eagerness to learn and flexibility
Cloud Architects must be able to work in a wide range of scenarios and open to learn and unlearn according to the unique requirements of each project. There is no denying the fact that no two customers or projects will be the same. Therefore, it does make sense to consistently emphasize on a willingness to experiment and continuous learning. This is an attribute that proves handy for both beginners and seasoned cloud architects. With a curious mindset and the desire to learn, cloud architects can equip themselves better with new and creative approaches to problem solving.
Many times, the cloud architects will be the individuals who stakeholders turn to for assistance and guidance when things go wrong or everyone is clueless on the next step. The ability to provide a clear, firm perspective with confidence provides reassurance to customers that their project is in good hands. This attribute of cloud architects also reassure customers that the cloud solutions recommended by you are resilient, secure, cost-efficient, and managed with the highest standards of operational excellence.
It is important to note here that decisiveness does not necessarily mean overriding or being dominant. Successful cloud architects are professionals who can provide guidance from a leading, calm place of domain authority.
A cloud architect must possess the required technical skills that will serve as the foundation for planning and management in the context of cloud architecture. This would include continuous integration, continuous deployment (CICD), basic programming, software development, modern application architecture skills, database, networking and security skills, and more.
Additionally, cloud architects should always focus on learning innovative things and acquiring new industry-recognized certifications that validate their ability to design and deploy state-of-the-art and out-of-the-box architectural solutions to meet customer requirements.
We hope that this information on the top skills a cloud architect needs to be successful was useful to you in more than just a way. Need help with cloud computing architecture, reach out to us at Cloud Analogy now!
Nitish Bhardwaj
Salesforce Principal Consultant | Chief Information Officer
An experienced Salesforce.com professional with 5+ years of experience in consulting on and delivering Salesforce projects for mid size, large and very large customers.Hire the best Salesforce Implementation Partner. Choose certified Salesforce Implementation Experts from Cloud Analogy now.
