The Forecast for Cloud Computing Careers

As with any disruptive technology, one indicator of the technology’s longevity is job prospects related to the area in question.  This of course includes the disruptive technology, cloud computing.  What is the career outlook for the cloud-computing field and what does this say about cloud technology in general? Read on to find out.

In a recent article for Computer World UK, Christine Burns takes a look at jobs in the field of cloud computing.  Ms. Burns took a look at some data from a popular job search engine that focuses on technology, Dice.com.  She found that a search for cloud computing jobs returned over 3,800 hits.  Her article was written just under a month ago and already the same search will return over 4,000 hits today.  Careerbuilder.com returns just under 3,000 cloud related job postings and if you search the keyword “cloud” on another extremely popular job finding website, Monster.com, you will find over 1,000 hits. Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com, estimates that the number of job postings for cloud computing related jobs has grown over 72% since last year.  To quote Christine Burns herself, “Basically, cloud is a segment of the jobs market that is going gangbusters.”

With Cloud Architect being the number one most desired position by employers, other cloud related job titles in the top ten include: Cloud Software Engineer, Cloud Sales Executive, Cloud Engineer, Cloud Developer, Cloud Systems Administrator, Cloud Consultant, Cloud Systems Engineer, Cloud Network Engineer, and Cloud Product Manager.  It is worthwhile to note that job descriptions for these cloud related positions have a large amount of variance.  Cloud computing itself is still relatively new to the technology job market, so organizations and employers are continuing to revise and reevaluate job positions and job descriptions as the technology itself evolves. 

And as with most jobs in the IT field, employers needs vary widely as well.  Where one employer may be seeking out a Cloud Architect who has experience with Java and C++, another employer may be looking for a Cloud Architect who is knowledgeable in Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies and has some type of scripting language capabilities.  Essentially, the job descriptions can be as unique and varied as the organizations writing them.  Many job analysts refer to these mixed bag types of job descriptions as “hybrid positions”.  Again, this is nothing new to the IT field, but something for individuals seeking cloud-computing jobs to keep in mind.

So what does the explosion of jobs in cloud computing field indicate about the technology itself?  It is safe to assume that if employers are creating jobs around cloud technology, they expect their organization to have long-term involvement with cloud computing.  The growth rate in cloud related positions indicates that an increasing number of businesses and organizations are embracing cloud computing as an important piece of their business operations.  Considering the impressive growth rate of the cloud technology job market, cloud computing is not a technology that is to be expected to blow over any time soon.