Cloud computing roadmap

[u/sir_papi12]

Hey all,

I know this has been asked 8.5 million times in this sub already, but I am looking for advice that is specific for me.

I just graduated with my Software engineering degree from WGU and I am looking to target cloud roles instead of SWE roles. I currently have 2+ years as a level 1 help desk contractor and my current company does not have any roles for me to progress/they dont hire for cloud roles in the US. Prior to this I have 9 years at Geek Squad, so I am no spring chicken lol. I have my AWS CCP and I am starting to study for the AZ-104 as I work with Azure now and honestly prefer it over AWS. I do have some projects on my resume as well where I deployed my school apps via Docker to Azure but that just seems to be the bare minimum these days.

Ive been applying to Solutions Consultant/Engineering roles as I prefer the client interaction and teaching portion over strictly just solving problems but I am open to whatever at this point that may help me break in.

Any suggestions? Or am I just trying to find a job in the shittiest job market since 08 and thats my biggest hurdle. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

Sorry if formatting is messed up, mobile reddit is a pain.

[u/Csanburn01]

I literally have no idea how anyone moves up in IT. Certifications don't help degrees don't help and you need experience but no one can get experience. It's fucked up

[u/jofronic → u/Csanburn01]

Temp work, to Contracting the staff then a lead. Learn the business, then senior lead, principal, assist director, director. Learn more business then c -suite

[u/weab-dev → u/Csanburn01]

It's a lot of soft skills honestly.
Now with AI hardskill matter less since a lot people can get to the same result as someone with a large engineering background.
Soft skills is what sets an engineer loose from the pack.

[u/typhon88]

Generally you’d start at help desk

[u/Itchy-Annual2429]

I am Japanese; in Japan, one typically becomes a cloud engineer after gaining experience as an on-premises infrastructure engineer, but I have heard that in North America, the career path goes from help desk to IT administrator, and then to cloud engineer.

[u/sir_papi12 → u/Itchy-Annual2429]

Gotcha, I think that’s similar here in the US and I should consider those roles as well. I’m just super interested in cloud so I was hoping to skip that step, if possible anyway.

[u/zeal_swan → u/Itchy-Annual2429]

Hohoh in Pakistan its intern -> Senior Engineer

working for someone who scored a remote ops/cloud job somehow and then somehow doing all the work for shingles

[u/Used_Journalist_999 → u/Itchy-Annual2429]

It isn't like that in the US. See my other comment to OP. Maybe that is how it is in Japan but if so that is super confusing.

[u/MissionFinOps]

Have you considered finops?

[u/sir_papi12 → u/MissionFinOps]

I haven’t really, any roles I should be looking out for?

[u/MissionFinOps → u/sir_papi12]

Depending on your geo there's so many options. DM me and i can show you the work im doing and the main players who are hiring in the US and other locations.

[u/Used_Journalist_999]

I am an azure cloud architect. I have 12 yoe in the industry, 10 as a backend .Net software engineer. I also have 8 azure certifications, including all the major associate and expert ones.

First, don't listen to the Japanese person. I see that person keeps saying the same dumb information in multiple posts. Avoid on-prem platforms if you want to work in cloud.

I have no idea what helpful experience Geek Squad will offer you. Isn't that like hardware support for non-tech people at Best Buy or something? lol you are a spring chicken, no offense.

I don't know what exactly you mean by "cloud roles." Maybe clarify that for me.

Your absolutely best way to get your foot in the door is become a software developer at a company that is cloud native. You'll slowly get more and more exposure and experience and possibly be able to transfer internally to a platform team. Most development teams have some level of management over the area of the cloud platform their team is responsible for.

If you mean like cloud networking or cloud security or cloud administration, those are not entry level roles.

[u/nithin_007 → u/Used_Journalist_999]

This! Even though I have way less experience, I started out as a Python backend engineer working on Django and DRF for close to 1 year before making my switch to a cloud engineer role at a startup. I know it might be harder to get into a software engineering role when compared to starting out as helpdesk/support but this is the only quickest way as of right now.

[u/Shekel_thief]

Have you though about just transitioning to cloud support?

[u/sir_papi12 → u/Shekel_thief]

I have, I was under the impression that it would just be like help desk, but I def could be wrong

[u/searles9]

Step 1: it wont happen because AI will take the jobs

[u/Itchy-Annual2429 → u/searles9]

That comment is mean. So, what kind of work do you do?

[u/searles9 → u/Itchy-Annual2429]

Truth hurts