As the global pandemic drove millions of businesses to run their teams and operations virtually, cloud adoption has seen a sharp rise. In the first quarter of 2020 alone, the global cloud spending rose to $29 billion — a whopping 37% jump from last year.
Cloud initiatives are firing off at top speed, and companies are on a hiring overdrive to support those efforts. With more and more companies adopting cloud services, there’s a massive uptick in demand for cloud skills, which Indeed.com recognized as one of the top trends in the current tech skills market.
Related Learning: What Is AWS (Amazon Web Services)
Read more: Highest Paying Cloud Certifications for 2023
If you wish to carve a successful career in IT or take your existing IT career in flourishing new directions, now is the opportunity to gain cloud architecture expertise and become an invaluable asset for companies that are looking to build, migrate, and operate in the cloud.
AWS cloud practitioner is a great place to start this journey. And here’s why.
First of all, it is one of the most popular and fundamental certifications required to operate the AWS cloud and also one of the most universal in terms of application.
AWS commands a lead with a 32% market share among the major cloud services today. Some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Facebook, Netflix, Adobe, and BBC, rely on it to fuel their top projects. Therefore, having an AWS certification on your resume can help you get a step closer to landing a dream job in the best of organizations.
Even if you’re working in a technical role that uses other cloud platforms like Azure, Google Cloud Platform, or IBM Watson, learning AWS could broaden your job prospects. And this is the ideal certification for this purpose.
Secondly, an AWS cloud practitioner certificate not only strengthens your knowledge of AWS specific products but also of cloud computing and the cloud market on the whole.
In fact, this Cloud Computing certification is meant to help even non-tech people gain a clear understanding of cloud computing concepts, which makes it a perfect starting point for beginners.
What Does an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Do?
Now that you have an idea of why an AWS cloud practitioner certificate can be your first step towards becoming a cloud architect let’s explore what this job role is all about.
Read more: AWS Solutions Architect Roles and Responsibilities
Cloud architects, as the name suggests, are tasked with managing an organization’s cloud computing architecture. Their role entails being involved in cloud migration initiatives, reviewing workload architectures, and guiding their company teams to address high-risk issues.
They also act as a bridge between the technical and the business sides of cloud adoption in an organization. Therefore, it’s a part of their responsibility to oversee that technical decisions the developers make are closely aligned with business objectives.
Skills Required to Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
To fulfill this role, a cloud architect must possess a mix of business, technical, and people skills.
On the business front, they must:
- Understand how software and hardware systems bring business visions to life
- Get an insight into end-users’ problems and their work processes, and turn them into solutions that increase efficiency
- Have a grasp on the technical aspects of a project so they can build a convincing case for a buy-in
- Resolve scalability issues
- Handle integration challenges with third-party programs
In terms of technical skills, AWS cloud practitioner essentials include:
- Supervising the architecting and deployment of applications within AWS platforms
- Developing plans for the adoption of cloud solutions
- Management and monitoring of cloud platforms
- Designing and building applications on the cloud
- Knowledge of C++, Java, Python, and JavaScript, including BASH scripting
- Understanding of data security and compliance laws
- Networking and security skills
- Familiarity with Linux OS, wherein you should know how to execute Unix commands and perform containerization with Docker
- Working knowledge of tools used in the AWS environment, such as Ansible, Chef, Docker, Jenkins, among other tools necessary for application building and deployment.
- Handling complex project management using tools like Jira.
An AWS cloud practitioner course can help you build the skills mentioned above.
Besides, a cloud architect must also possess:
- Curiosity and a learning mindset
- Strong time management skills
- The ability to fluently communicate with nontechnical coworkers and cloud experts
- The ability to make clear decisions
Salary of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Becoming an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner comes with some hefty rewards in terms of salary and perks. It not only positions you for a lucrative role in cloud adopting organizations but also opens the gateway for you to advance to more challenging technical roles that come with a bigger pay package.
The Global Knowledge’s 2020 Top-Paying IT Certifications report identifies the AWS Cloud Practitioner salary as one of the top ten best-paid IT certifications in the United States.
In the U.S., the average salary for this AWS Cloud practitioner is $160,000 per year, according to PayScale.
In India, the AWS cloud practitioner salary ranges between ₹1,297K - ₹1,416K.
Take Your Career on Cloud Nine With AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification!
Earning an AWS cloud practitioner certification puts a stamp on your ability to design and deploy well-architected solutions on AWS. It gives hiring companies more confidence in your skills and thus, enhances your employment opportunities.
Simplilearn’s AWS Cloud Architect enables you to master the core skills needed to design and deploy dynamically scalable, highly available, fault-tolerant, and reliable applications on AWS. With every expert-led, industry-leading learning module of this course, you will:
- Grasp the fundamentals of the AWS cloud platform
- Gain expertise in AWS terminologies, concepts, benefits, and deployment options to meet business requirements
- Gain an understanding of AWS DMS (Database Migration Service)
- Learn how the AWS Schema Conversion tool works, and the various types of AWS DMS;
- Build, implement, and manage scalable and robust systems on AWS
- Recognize the appropriate AWS service based on data, compute, database, and security requirements
With the successful completion of this Cloud Computing course, you’ll be ready to take advantage of the current momentum and business potential of the cloud to future-proof your career for years to come.
Check out the video below that will guide you on how to become AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.
