At A Cloud Guru we have students studying with us from all walks of life. Some are seeking their first full time job and want to build a future in IT and some have 20 years in the industry and are wanting to expand their skill sets.
A common question is what sort of job can they get after completing some specific course.
The question is an entirely fair and rational question. Before investing time and money into anything you should consider what benefit you will actually gain. While the question is straight forward. the answer is not necessarily as clear.
In general the question is asked with one of two intentions in mind.
- How should I market myself to best advantage once I have completed this.
- Will I be able to get an well paying job once I have completed this
How to market myself?
I recommend viewing each course or certificate as a supplement to your existing skills. The more experience you get in the field the more you can feature it. For example, if you have a job in Desktop Administration, your CV will talk about that, and you can add a sentence or bullet point
- Training and certification to Azure AZ-300, applied Architect Technologies on the Azure platform.
Or if you have completed the AWS Dev Associate and the DynamoDB deep dive.
- Training and certification in AWS Developer associate with special focus on DynamoDB design and management.
This tells a prospective employer that you are training and keeping up with the industry, plus that you have a solid understanding in this area. If you have some applied experience that should also be included.
Without applied experience it is hard to break into a new area. Wherever possible attempt to transition into the Cloud environment using a combination of your current experience and the new training.
If you are completely new to IT you will need to create the experience by doing a number of courses and taking the initiative and building your own project to practice the skills, and to have something to show prospective employers. Our Hands On Labs (opens in new tab) series is a good place to start to get experience and to get inspiration for unique and personal projects that you can show & talk about in interviews.
Finally, although it seems obvious, apply for jobs that suit your personality. IT is a huge field with a vast range of roles that need filling. You will be happier and more successful in jobs that suit you well.
Will this get me a profitable job?
Work opportunities, and how difficult it is to get started in IT, varies depending on local demand. However in general, a single certificate with no other experience or other related qualification is not going to be enough to get more than a small shop apprenticeship, or unpaid intern position.
Well paid jobs, in IT in particular, are not based on a single technical skill. Your value in IT is very much linked to the breadth & depth of skills, and your ability to combine knowledge and experience to find solutions. Your knowledge, experience, and the ability to combine them effectively is developed by training and practice over time. Entry level jobs require less skill and experience, but there is still a requirement of a certain breadth of knowledge to be able to contribute to the work environment.
Vendor certification and our cert courses focus on narrow sets of skills. One single Associate or general level Cloud course is a step in the right direction, however without any other skills or experience it will not be adequate to develop a career. What you need to do is to combine the certificate with other skills and some applied experience.
The good news is that the A Cloud Guru site offers a range of courses to build out broader skill in Linux, Python, Kubernetes, etc. plus plenty of fun courses and labs to build the applied experience you need to present yourself as a credible candidate for an entry level job. Once you have that entry position there are courses and resources to develop and accelerate your career.
Cloud engineering jobs generally fall into three areas:
- Consultants and Vendors are hiring certified engineers/developers in large numbers in order to secure a rating in the 'Partner programs' and compete with cloud work among large customers.
- Mid size businesses and all levels of government are hiring cloud trained staff to build up capabilities so that they can take advantage of the benefits, or because they need someone in-house to keep the consultants honest.
- Startups and small businesses are hiring cloud trained, or at least cloud aware, staff as they build cloud-1st solutions to create a commercial opportunity for themselves.
Next Steps
- Read some of the Help Center articles on Careers, Study plans and Where to start.
- Pick some courses to go with your certificate which will give you the broader skills needed for the workplace such as Linux (opens in new tab) or Programming (opens in new tab).
- Study (opens in new tab) and practice applying skills in your own projects. Focus on being competent and knowledgeable in the work. When that is true the exams, certificates, and job interview will start to happen easily.
If you need help, please contact Pluralsight Support.