Laying Out a Road Map to Close the Cloud Skills Gap

Even with the best intentions to transform, organizations that lack in-house cloud knowledge may struggle to compete. Learn why cloud skills are becoming a necessity in the IT industries, and how best to train up your workforce to best utilize cloud technology.

Building up cloud skills within an enterprise remains an essential part of transformation, according to experts such as Cloudtamer.io, a cloud solutions developer, and A Cloud Guru, a cloud training provider. Old school, legacy technical skills will need to be updated for organizations to compete going forward, but the shortage of cloud talent can be mitigated.

AWS, Microsoft, IBM, and Google all offer training to build up cloud fluency and pursue certification. There are also independent resources such as CloudSkills, Cloud Academy, and Coursera available to help elevate cloud skills.

Cloud migration and adoption requires a committed approach by organizations, says Joe Spurrier, CTO and cofounder of Cloudtamer.io, with engineers and developers taking advantage of APIs, automation, and other tools available from cloud providers to make the transition. “You need that high-level vision from leadership of where you’re trying to get to,” he says.

The multitude of services available from cloud providers, Spurrier says, can potentially make it easier to get team members the skills they need to work in the cloud compared with on-prem. “If you were trying to get someone up to date on technology that requires hands-on access in a data center, you have to buy the equipment, get it all set up,” he says, “whereas cloud -- you can do it from anywhere.” The online nature of cloud obviously makes it possible for training to be conducted wherever the team member might be.

Not every industry needs the full power of the cloud, Spurrier says, however organizations that rely on software and technology risk losing a competitive edge if they do not close the gap on cloud skills. “Their innovation is stifled because of long procurement cycles when trying to build out their own data centers,” he says. “They can see their competitors bypass them pretty quickly.”

Wait, there’s more. Learn the latest statistics about businesses and cloud capabilities by clicking through to the full InformationWeek article here.