What exactly is the role of a cloud architect?
A cloud architect is an information technology expert who is accountable for supervising the cloud computing strategy of an organization. This includes making strategies to adopt the cloud, designing cloud applications, managing and monitoring cloud resources, and so on. Cloud architects are responsible for overseeing the application architecture and deployment processes within cloud environments, such as public clouds, private clouds, and hybrid clouds. In addition to this, they serve as consultants for their company, which requires them to remain up to date on all of the most recent topics and developments. Businesses that employ cloud architects either now make use of cloud services or have future migration to the cloud in mind. Enrolling in a cloud architect course is the perfect way for anyone in the IT domain to get endowed with the appropriate cloud architect credentials and skills.
The typical roles and responsibilities of a cloud architect include:
- Develop a cloud plan that is carefully thought out, and then manage the process of adaptation.
- Maintain a regular evaluation schedule for the software, hardware, and cloud applications.
- Build and organize cloud computing infrastructure.
- Maintain tight collaboration with the IT security team to keep track of the company’s cloud privacy.
- In a timely and competent manner, respond to any technical concerns that may arise.
- Provide direction on the many methods of moving infrastructure, such as transferring applications in bulk into the cloud.
- Determine the most effective cloud architecture solutions that will enable the organization to successfully achieve its strategic needs.
Now, let us briefly touch upon the roles and responsibilities of a solution architect.
A capable solutions architect investigates the current setting, assesses the capabilities of the accessible technologies, and determines which software products need to be designed in order to deliver the optimal answer to the issue that needs to be addressed. From there, the solutions architect will establish an overarching strategic and technical vision, much like an architect would do when designing a blueprint for a structure. They construct a financial plan for the production of a software product based on that idea.
After all of the stakeholders have decided to move forward with the project, it is the responsibility of the solutions architect to monitor the process and ensure that all of the stakeholders are kept up to date and informed on the progression. The majority of the time, the project involves both technical and non-technical stakeholders, and the solutions architect is responsible for ensuring that the needs of each party are taken into consideration and included into the scope of the project.
Your day-to-day responsibilities as a solutions architect can involve the following, depending on the firm you work for and the specifics of the project you’re working on:
- Providing suggestions and potential routes forward for potential solutions
- Performing design and debugging on solutions, as well as performance analysis
- The process of documenting and disseminating knowledge regarding best practices for new solutions
- advocating for the optimization of processes and contributing to the development of solutions
- Keeping partners, clients, and other stakeholders updated on a regular basis with newly added features and benefits
- Providing a team with technical leadership throughout the entirety of a project’s lifecycle.
- Developing so-called proof-of-concept initiatives in order to verify your suggested solutions
- examining and confirming the viability of solution designs produced by other members of the team
It is to be noted that the definition of a solutions architect definition shifts depending on the firm, but generally speaking, it refers to an architect that works directly with customers and offers them with a design for a technological answer to a problem.
The difference between someone who is a cloud architect and a “solutions architect” is murky and can occasionally fully overlap with one another. As we have understood from the above, the definitions are much similar and it all comes to the kind of responsibilities that are taken upon.
Simply put, the cloud prefix indicates that the architect specializes in developing solutions based on cloud services.
Let us try to analyse in detail, both Systems and Cloud Architect.
System Architecture as a Solution
The term “solution architecture,” or SA for short, refers to an architectural depiction of a certain solution. Solution architecture brings together multiple perspectives on enterprise architecture (such as business, data, and technical), and enterprise solution architecture brings these perspectives together (ESA).
Calculating an organization’s business requirements and determining how information technology (IT) may meet those objectives by utilizing software, hardware, or infrastructure are both crucial tasks that require the assistance of a solutions architect. The process of aligning the IT method with business goals has improved, and a solutions architect can assist in regulating, developing, and putting into action technological solutions in support of business objectives.
In addition to this, a solutions architect facilitates communication between IT and business services. This architect is coordinated in the process of creating and implementing technical solutions for business issues. The method that must be followed involves making consistent observations and modifications, as well as coming up with creative answers to problems, so that prospective solutions can be designed and implemented effectively.
A document is used to outline the solution architecture. This document also establishes a particular level of vision for all current and future processes, apps, and solutions that the organization will have. The design and development of solutions and software must then adhere to the guidelines that are outlined in the document that describes the solution architecture. This is done to ensure that the solutions and software comply with the established standards that make it simpler to integrate and connect them, as well as to keep track of problems and inconsistencies that may occur between different solutions.
Cloud Computing Architecture
A Cloud Computing service cannot function without its corresponding Cloud Architecture, which is a collection of components. A cloud computing architecture is comprised of a number of components, including a front-end platform, a back-end platform or servers, a network or internet service, and a cloud-based delivery service. The monitoring of these systems peripherals, networks, and other utilities usually fall in the ambit of the roles and responsibilities of a cloud architect
Cloud computing is responsible for allocating the file system that grows across several hard disks and machines. Information is never saved in just one location, and in the event that one of the storage units fails, the other one will take over immediately. On the distributed file system, the user disk space is given permission to be used, and another significant component is an algorithm for resource allocation. The term “cloud computing” refers to a powerful distributed system that is heavily dependent upon a powerful algorithm.
As we have learnt, these two terms are mostly similar in terms of responsibilities but on the whole a solutions architect is much more overreaching and touches upon the purview of all aspects of a system, including its infrastructure, networking, security, compliance obligations, system services, cost, and reliability, among other things, although its scope is not exclusive to these aspects, while a cloud architect looks cloud based technologies as the domain of specialization. What does a cloud architect do?
A cloud architect is an IT professional responsible for overseeing an organization’s cloud computing strategy. This includes designing cloud applications, managing and monitoring cloud resources, and so on. Cloud architects are accountable for overseeing the application architecture and deployment processes within cloud environments, including public clouds, private clouds, and hybrid clouds. In addition, they serve as consultants for their company, which requires them to keep abreast of all current issues and developments. Employers of cloud architects either already utilize cloud services or have cloud migration in mind for the future.
A good way to pick up the key skills needed to become a cloud architect is to enroll in a Cloud Architect Certification Master’s course. The Cloud Architect Certification program is designednwith the intention of training you as a cloud application and architecture expert. It will teach you the core skills required to develop and deploy dynamically scalable, highly available, fault-tolerant, and dependable applications on three of the most popular Cloud platform providers:
1.Amazon Web Services (AWS)
2. Microsoft Azure
3. Google Cloud Platform.
The program will familiarize you with everything you need to know about cloud services like AWS Cloud Formation, Azure Resource Manager, EC2, S3, Route53, VPC, Azure App Services, GCP, and more. You’ll gain the skills and knowledge needed to pass cloud architect certification exams like AWS Architect and Azure Architect.
Duties of a cloud architect
One of the primary duties of a Cloud Architect is to convert the technical specifications of a project into the design and architecture that will guide the development of the final product. Cloud architects are frequently tasked with bridging the gap between complex business problems and the corresponding cloud-based solutions. Other members of a technology team, such as DevOps engineers and developers, collaborate with the Cloud Architect to ensure the development of the appropriate technology or technologies.
It is possible for cloud architects to be involved in the legal aspects of cloud computing, including contract negotiation and close collaboration with legal and procurement departments. Architects are also responsible to ensure key service-level agreement (SLA) requirements are met.
What are the fundamental skills needed to become a Cloud Architect?
If you are interested in working in the cloud computing industry or another technically related field and wish to become a cloud architect, you should ideally have a solid background in one of these fields. If you feel that you have a firm grasp on the majority of the concepts presented here, or at least a few of them, then you are likely headed in the right direction.
Before assuming the role of Cloud Architect, you should conduct preliminary research or work in these areas if this is not the case.
- The following languages are employed in computer programming: You must have at least a fundamental understanding of a programming or scripting language. This is likely not required, but doing so will be extremely helpful.
- Solid understanding of networking concepts including TCP/IP, IP addresses, HTTP, and DNS. Before pursuing a career as a cloud architect, it would be advantageous to be familiar with the aforementioned concepts.
- Outstanding aptitude in at least one of the following operating systems: Solaris, Linux, Ubuntu, or Windows. Prior experience as an architect or administrator in any of the more popular operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, or Linux, is advantageous, but my preference is any Linux-based operating system (like Ubuntu or Red Hat, for example).
- Due to the significance of security in the cloud, a Cloud Architect must have a comprehensive understanding of several key security concepts. Therefore, it is necessary to have a fundamental understanding of fundamental security concepts, such as firewalls.
What are the skills needed to become an Cloud Architect
Cloud architects must possess both soft skills, also known as non-technical skills, and technical skills in order to be successful.
The following are examples of soft skills that cloud architects must possess:
- Management of the program They should be able to organize and plan programs based on an organization’s cloud infrastructure usage.
- Communication. Cloud architects should be able to convey even the most complex technical concepts to team members.
- Collaboration. They should be able to effectively collaborate with other architecture team members and delegate responsibilities to others.
- Thought-based leadership Architects of the cloud are expected to act as agents of change within their organizations, proposing ways to advance the program.
- Change management. They should be adaptable and capable of anticipating and implementing any program modifications.
The following are examples of the technical skills that a cloud architect must possess:
- Architecture of application software Within the cloud environment, cloud architects must be able to integrate a variety of applications in a unified manner.
- Orchestration. They should automate the maintenance of specific components of the cloud infrastructure.
- Governance. When implementing key management points in cloud operations, cloud architects must be able to manage both the associated benefits and risks as well as set boundaries with competing organizational interests.
- Virtualization. It is essential for architects to have a thorough understanding of how to effectively provision virtual machines and integrate them with cloud technologies.
- Security. They must be able to design infrastructure with enterprise data security and identity and access management in mind. This will ensure that applications can only be accessed by authorized users or through the use of authorized code.
- Operating system (OS) knowledge is necessary. Architects must be conversant with the extensive variety of operating systems (OSes) utilized in the complex enterprise cloud ecosystem. The operating systems Windows, Solaris, Linux, and Ubuntu are some examples.
- Networking. Cloud architects must comprehend the domain name system, TCP/IP, and HTTP. In addition, they must comprehend the infrastructure of the leading cloud service providers, such as Azure, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services.
- Programming languages. A significant proportion of cloud architects have prior experience in the field of software development, where they frequently utilized programming languages such as Java, Python, and C#.
- Finance. Architects must be able to strike a balance between the costs associated with the various services and implementations they design.
- Big data. They must understand the architecture and design principles of big data systems.
So far, we have looked at the skills needed to become a Cloud Architect.
Now let us examine the PayScale, remuneration and employment opportunities for cloud architects.
Payscale reports that the average annual salary for a cloud architect is approximately 124,923 dollars. According to ZipRecruiter, however, the average annual salary for a Cloud Architect is approximately $149,000. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment will increase by nine percent between 2014 and 2014.
There is a possibility that, as more businesses adopt cloud computing, there will be a rise in the number of job opportunities for Cloud Architects, leading to an increase in their average salary. It is then prudent to skill up and take up the many opportunities that come your way.