How to Become a Cloud Engineer: Top Skills to Learn

Statista estimates that global data creation will possibly surpass 394 zettabytes daily by 2028. The need for cloud services will always be high, especially given the immense amount of data generated daily. Both businesses and individuals rely on cloud-based solutions to manage and store their data. To meet such high demands, cloud computing firms need competent cloud engineers; so, if you are interested in this growing domain and would like to know how to become a cloud engineer, then head to our article!

What is a Cloud Engineer?

Cloud engineers are IT professionals who design and implement cloud computing systems for companies. They ensure cloud systems work efficiently and securely, facilitating smooth operations. The cloud engineer monitors and troubleshoots issues in the cloud environment. They work with the IT team to ensure that cloud applications and services are well integrated with the company's other technology infrastructure.

What is the Role of a Cloud Engineer?

The job role of a cloud engineer includes.

• Maintaining and supporting cloud systems and services

• Managing, planning, designing and developing applications or infrastructure on the cloud

• Focusing on data security

• Managing resources, networking, and storage in the cloud

• Understanding and leveraging organisational assets such as data structures and algorithms, and cloud architecture

• Identifying metrics, monitoring and tracking performance, and optimising costs
• Automating cloud operations

How to Become a Cloud Engineer

Below is a clear and precise roadmap for you to become a cloud engineer:

Learn Computer Science Fundamentals

Learning the fundamentals of computer science and related topics is necessary. Before learning cloud, learn.

• Basic networking concepts such as IP, DNS, HTTP & VPN
• Operating systems like Linux, Unix, and Windows
• Databases, including SQL, PostgreSQL, and NoSQL
• Computer and network security
• Programming languages such as Java, C++, and Python
• Tools and platforms such as SQL, Kubernetes, Spark, Hadoop, Scala, Kafka, and Redshift

Pursue a bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related stream. In addition, you can take online cloud computing courses or specialised short-term certifications.

Specialise in A Cloud Platform

Learn Infrastructure As Code

IaC helps in automating deployments. Learn about the tools that enable you to write code and automatically build cloud resources. Some of the well-known ones include:

• AWS CloudFormation
• Pulumi
• Configuration management tools such as Puppet, Chef, Salt or Ansible
• Terraform

Master Automation and CI/CD Tools

Learn to work with popular tools such as:

• Jenkins
• GitHub Actions
• Docker
• Kubernetes (for container orchestration)

These skills will prepare you to work in DevOps environments.

Get Certified

Certifications are critical to demonstrate your skills. Some popularly accepted certifications are:

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
• Google Associate Cloud Engineer
• Cloud+ (CompTIA)

Work on Real Projects

While learning the concepts is basically the fundamental requirement to becoming a cloud engineer, how these concepts really work is best learned by applying your learning to hands-on cloud computing projects. Here is how:

• Try to build a simple web app and deploy it on the cloud
• Automate server and database creation
• Upload your code to GitHub and document your processes

• Learn how to implement storage and database services, VPN, load balancing and scaling, cloud monitoring and application migration.

Cloud Engineer Salary in India

The average salary of a cloud engineer in India is Rs. 8 LPA, with the available salary range of Rs. 3 - 15 LPA.

Explore the salaries of cloud engineers across different cities in India.