Cloud Engineer

What Is a Cloud Engineer?

A cloud engineer is an IT professional who builds and maintains cloud infrastructure. Cloud engineers can have more specific roles that include cloud architecting (designing cloud solutions for organisations), development (coding for the cloud), and administration (working with cloud networks).

Cloud technology has become ubiquitous in recent years, with this technology being used when you’re watching TV, listening to music on streaming services, or using an email platform. For a company, it means data can be stored and backed up more easily, software updates can be rolled out on-demand, and customers may be able to access their information from different devices. You’ll work behind the scenes as a cloud engineer to keep it all running.

Cloud engineer salary and job growth

A cloud engineer makes an average salary of ₹6,00,000 in India as of April 2023, according to Glassdoor [1].

The cloud computing field is also expected to grow in the next decade as companies continue to adopt cloud technology. IDC India suggests cloud adoption will accelerate "driven by the need for agility, flexibility, and faster access to digital technologies." The consultants predict the Indian public cloud services market will be greater than $13 billion by 2026 as it grows at a CAGR of 24 per cent over the coming years [2].

What does a cloud engineer do every day?

A cloud engineer's role can look fairly different depending on the company they work for. "My role as a Strategic Cloud Engineer at Google is to help Google Cloud customers to architect and build systems on the Google Cloud Platform," Ben Miller says of his role. "I offer systems design, product guidance, and education regarding best practices in GCP. I also work with Google Cloud product teams to improve GCP and our customers' experiences."

A cloud engineer's day-to-day tasks might include:

Helping organisations migrate their computer systems to the cloud

Configuring cloud infrastructure components like networking and security services

Creating the applications and databases that perform on the cloud

Monitoring cloud management and data storage services

How to become a cloud engineer

You can set yourself up to be competitive for cloud engineering jobs by getting the right skills, experience, and perhaps a certification.

1. Develop relevant skills.

IT jobs that may have cloud-related roles include systems engineer, network engineer, and database administrator. If you’re already in an IT role, look for opportunities to grow in these areas.

Cloud platforms: It’s generally recommended that you learn one cloud platform well instead of having minimal knowledge of several. By market share, the largest cloud infrastructure providers globally are Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud. Fortunately, with slight variations, much of what you learn in one cloud platform may be transferable to another.

Data storage and security: Knowing how to access, store, and protect data are each an important part of a cloud worker.

Networking: Having knowledge of networking basics and virtual networks will be useful in integrating networks with cloud services.

Programming: Common languages used in cloud computing include Python, Java, Golang, or Ruby.

Operating systems: You should have a strong understanding of operating systems such as Windows and Linux.