IT Skills Evolution in the Cloud

Cloud computing continues to thrive as the demand for competitive IT skills will also grow. IT professionals have to adapt to the evolution changes as they are expected to elevate their skills and standard of practice in a wide genre of technology updates.

System Administrators and IT managers need not worry that the current IT professional demand will have them lose their current jobs. This is as more companies migrate to the cloud. It must be considered that cloud computing does not eliminate IT needs it merely modifies how services are rendered to consumers. The important adjustment IT professionals should do is to upgrade their skills and understand how cloud can leverage the company’s business.

There may be traditional job assignments like hardware configuration and server sizing that are no longer relevant because they are already part of the cloud services. Instead, IT managers need to have the know-how on managing virtual machines (VMs), configuring software stacks and script writing for cloud configuration tools like Puppet and Chef.

IT professionals may have to polish their leadership and managing skills as they are called to direct and control technical support people. They may also do backup and database review on the cloud platform, plus review user log on privileges.

System administrators are also tasked to ensure cloud security management is in place and that the cloud platform operates seamlessly for the business people and the consumers.

The cloud security issues may be different from the traditional framework as the need for physical security and access control will diminish by and large. The trend will be to have logical access controls in place and network security as efficient. Other cloud issues will include security protocols and compliance requirements.

Companies will require the IT services for risk management on the use of cloud platforms like Salesforce.com and Google App Engine. IT professionals with security expertise will be on demand.

Managers will use different metrics in measuring their success as they will now be based on storage and computing infrastructure like that of Rackspace and Amazon, which are now considered cloud commodities.

The opportunities for IT managers continue to grow as the cloud streamlines new skills like projection on the need for additional servers and storage system, data analysis, cost analytics and business management. As cloud solutions drive this model on business success, IT professionals need to adapt to the cloud changes and demands.