Return to Main Article – Transferable Skills Guide Overview Sourcing tech professionals with certain emerging or hard-to-find skills can be a challenge - even for the most seasoned recruiter. In the third installment of our seven-part "Transferable Skills Guide" series, we look at the Cloud Engineering role and skill-sets in other disciplines that translate to success in cloud positions. Use these tips to better evaluate tech candidates and build a bigger pipeline of talent. 
Cloud Engineer You have heard of cloud computing, which may at first sound like something lightweight, fluffy, and full of rainbows. But in fact, cloud computing is actually a very deep technical role that requires a candidate versed in the cutting edge of technology. Even though cloud computing has been around for a while; it can actually be quite hard to find people with more than a few years of experience in the field. Thankfully, the skills that make a great cloud engineer can be found in great candidates from other disciplines and the cloud-specific details can be learned on the job. A MIX OF OPERATIONS, SOFTWARE, AND ARCHITECTURE Designing and operating applications in a new environment A cloud engineer is a like a regular engineer except that they need to understand the ins and outs of building and running software in the cloud. This role typically requires programming and scripting experience, but the specific language requirements tend to be a bit more relaxed than in traditional engineering roles. What to look for:
View Transferable Skills Guides for other tech positions below:
Cloud Engineer You have heard of cloud computing, which may at first sound like something lightweight, fluffy, and full of rainbows. But in fact, cloud computing is actually a very deep technical role that requires a candidate versed in the cutting edge of technology. Even though cloud computing has been around for a while; it can actually be quite hard to find people with more than a few years of experience in the field. Thankfully, the skills that make a great cloud engineer can be found in great candidates from other disciplines and the cloud-specific details can be learned on the job. A MIX OF OPERATIONS, SOFTWARE, AND ARCHITECTURE Designing and operating applications in a new environment A cloud engineer is a like a regular engineer except that they need to understand the ins and outs of building and running software in the cloud. This role typically requires programming and scripting experience, but the specific language requirements tend to be a bit more relaxed than in traditional engineering roles. What to look for:
- AWS, Azure, OpenStack. These are the main cloud stacks, and candidates should have familiarity with at least one of them. Once someone is well versed in one stack, that knowledge will translate fairly easily to designing software for the other stacks (though, of course, that will involve a bit of learning on the job to do it well).
- Web Services, API, REST, RPC. The underlying foundation of cloud architecture is based on APIs and Web Services. Many candidates will have experience with these types of service patterns and protocols from working on websites, and that knowledge will give them a head start on mastering cloud fundamentals.
- Virtualization, storage, networking. These domains used to be the core of the data center engineer role. In the new world of cloud computing, however, these skills can be very useful for designing and operating applications in the cloud. In addition, the candidate should have a strong general programming background, because without it the learning curve may be a bit too steep.
- Disaster recovery, high availability, fail over, and redundancy. These are methodologies that are central to operating software in the cloud. They are also core principles of systems and operations and can be found on a lot of resumes from candidates with operational experience.
View Transferable Skills Guides for other tech positions below: