Tech Skills Gap

Though moving to the cloud might result in a reduction in IT staffing requirements, there is still a range of tech skills that remain important to any business. Managing cloud environments requires a particular set of abilities and the operators involved should be able to ensure these networks are safe, secure and functioning optimally. In many cases, organizations will implement a host of different cloud environments, and ensuring they’re nicely blended can mean the difference between an infrastructure that works and an infrastructure that promotes excellence. And so it should come as no surprise that one of three major CIO concerns for 2017 is a technical skills shortage, specifically those around cloud, software development, analytics, and cybersecurity.

The Cloud Skill Demand

Developers boasting cloud computing skills are currently in high demand, and NovelAspect set out to find the applications most in demand by examining job listings on Indeed from 50 of the highest-populated US cities. Assessing over 200 business software platforms, they came up with a list of tech skills most in demand, and for developers the cloud dominated. Unsurprisingly, Amazon eclipses all others on this list, taking the top eight places when highest average salaries are considered. Developers proficient with Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Elastic MapReduce, Amazon CloudFormation, and Amazon ElastiCache are in demand, along with Apache Kafka, OpenStack, and a whole crowd of other Amazon application skills.

In a separate study conducted by LinkedIn, skills in cloud and distributed computing made the top of a list of the ten top skills of 2016; it’s suggested that these are the most sought after skills in the US and globally and could be key to landing a rewarding job in 2017.

Google’s Plan to Address Skills Shortage

Not a company content to leave first place to another, Google has acquired hands-on learning platform Qwiklabs to help familiarize the market with cloud environment operations and the writing of applications which run on them. Though Qwiklabs has previously focused on teaching skills for Amazon’s AWS platform, Google has stated it will be using the Qwiklab’s platform as a means of “offering the most comprehensive, efficient, and fun way to train and onboard people across all our products on Google Cloud, including Google Cloud Platform and G Suite.”

Microsoft’s Strategy

And, of course, Microsoft isn’t all about submissively allowing competitors to steal the limelight either; instead, they’ve announced their own training collaboration with Simplilearn, a global professional training company that’s been provided with the task of training 100,000 IT professionals on Azure by 2020. Implementing Simplilearn’s agile online instructor-led training and e-learning, Microsoft will be driving the certification courses of Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure, Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions, and Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions.

Getting the Right Training

Right now, the cloud development market is wide open with the top platforms finding new ways to pull clients to their products – not least of all boasting a strong talent pool able to service the needs of businesses. But aside from the available certifications covering a range of platforms including EMC Cloud, CompTIA Cloud, and various Amazon Web Service applications, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, many companies are moving their training in-house, choosing to educate employees to meet their needs instead of looking externally for the required skills. Those hoping to train or brush up their cloud skills have a number of options available, both paid and free, and need only narrow the field to the cloud skills most suitable to themselves; for the time being, those with cloud competencies have their pick of the job market. Advancing cloud computing techniques, be it your own or that of your employees, is undoubtedly a worthwhile investment.

By Jennifer Klostermann