2023 has arrived and with it, new opportunities to pursue a career in the cloud. Whether you’re currently studying to pursue this path, or you’re an intermediate, with a few years experience under your belt, there’s no better time to give your opportunities a well needed boost!
Today, we’ll be looking at some of our top tips to help you either secure your first role in the cloud, or move into a more suitable role that stretches your professional talents.
Where to begin
Spend a little to make a lot. Investing in yourself and your skillset will always remain a top priority. All the networking, CV sharing and job applications in the world cannot succeed without a firm base of knowledge across the cloud. We recommend kicking things off by expanding your Amazon Web Services (AWS) certifications. There are currently 12 certifications: a foundational certification, three associate-level certifications, two professional certifications and six speciality certifications. Whilst there are costs associated with taking the exams, not to mention a significant amount of time studying and being hands-on with services, there are many benefits to taking on new certifications. Did you know, 56% of AWS professionals reported salary increases averaging 25% after passing particular certifications. Be sure to visit our recent article where we look at certifications programs across AWS, Azure and GCP.
Take all opportunities
Now this boost is more aimed towards individuals completely new to the cloud than people currently within a role. What we’d recommend is to take on some free work if your lacking references or professional networks within cloud enabled roles. This could mean contacting a non-profit or charitable organisation to see if you could support them with a project. This is a fantastic way to meet new professionals, gain some hands-on experience, build your portfolio and gain those valuable references once you’ve done a good job.
Networking
Leading on from the previous point is to network as much as possible within your field of interest. We’ve recently posted heavily on this topic and stand by our top tips in this article. To summarise, building a networking base of professionals significantly increases exposure to your own posts, projects and professional learnings. being active within a specialised community shows others your passion and drive as well as helps to open up new working opportunities. The more comfortable you are with video posts, screen recordings etc, the more likely your posts will resonate with a growing following.
Stay sharp
Cloud providers are constantly advancing, evolving and modernising their services. Staying on top of what’s happening within your area of expertise will ensure you’re able to answer and react intelligently within job interviews. It also shows commitment to being better, something that is valuable for employers when looking to recruit new talent to their companies.
Build your portfolio
From all the points above, you’ll need somewhere to document and list your working achievements. Having an online public space is crucial to support job applications and showcase your certifications, previous projects and method for working. Pull together everything you’ve worked on, redact any details that should remain confidential and share your cloud journey online. There’s no end to the level of detail you can add, with each step ensuring any viewer has an open door into how you approach problems and how you solve them.
Final thoughts
There’s certainly no easy or ‘quick fix’ when it comes to jump-starting your cloud career. It’s unlikely that a dream role will simply land at your feet, your going to have to work for it and go beyond your comfort zone to highlight your talents. As always, Fetcha is in the perfect position to help secure you a perfect role. We have a wide network of contacts within the employer space, and we work diligently to match the right candidates with the best roles on the market. Reach out today if you’d like to get started.