We spend a lot of time talking about the hybrid cloud these days: how it operates, how to implement and manage it, who should use it and for what applications—the list of potential discussion topics goes on and on. But the truth is that we can talk about all of these things until we are blue in the face and if enterprises don’t have the in-house IT professionals who know how to work with it, then it won’t really matter. Without a properly trained staff, those enterprises run the risk of not being able to fully leverage and collaborate with hybrid cloud technologies. It also makes implementing a hybrid cloud solution much more difficult and in the worst case scenario, can lead to outright project failure.
And don’t kid yourself, it’s not just today’s IT professionals who need to be expanding their skills to include hybrid cloud technologies. System administrators and executives should also consider doing the same, if for no other reason than in today’s rapidly evolving technical world, job roles are continually changing. One of the best things you can do to insulate yourself against these changes is to take advantage of any opportunity to advance your skill sets. By making yourself cloud-friendly, you become more attractive to future employers.
As new cloud technologies emerge, enterprises are struggling to find employees who can keep up with the changes and deliver the skills they need. Some of the new skill sets those employees will need training in include open source knowledge, particularly around OpenStack, and container expertise. They’ll also need vendor specific skills tailored around the cloud solutions those vendors offer.
Where can you get cloud-specific certification and training? To begin with, Tom’s IT Pro has an excellent article on the 5 best cloud IT certifications in 2016 and how to go about getting them. Another great resource are vendors themselves, many of whom offer self-paced instructional classes either online or on-site, as well as certification. The Microsoft Virtual Academy, for example, is an excellent repository of hybrid cloud-related classes for IT professionals and developers, including ones on hybrid cloud best practices, how to move to the hybrid cloud and hybrid cloud storage and backup. You can also keep yourself “in the know” by joining one of the 31 LinkedIn groups on hybrid clouds or related forums like Reddit, DZone and those found here. And, of course, continue to check back here on the IT Innovators site for future blogs on the hybrid cloud.
Without a doubt, certification and training will be critical for IT professionals and others wanting to be successful in using and implementing emerging cloud technologies. Enterprises will certainly need trained staff before they can begin implementing hybrid cloud solutions. If you plan to be a part of this process, do yourself a favor and check out some of the resources mentioned above without delay.
This blog is sponsored by Microsoft.
Cheryl J. Ajluni is a freelance writer and editor based in California. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Wireless Systems Design and served as the EDA/Advanced Technology editor for Electronic Design for over 10 years. She is also a published book author and patented engineer. Her work regularly appears in print and online publications. Contact her at [email protected] with your comments or story ideas.
