What does the perfect Cloud developer look like?

The cloud is taking its place of prominence in facilitating how we work, and the industry is booming with an array of customisable cloud solutions putting skilled cloud developers in high demand. But how do you align the unique cloud needs of your organisation with a tailored recruitment strategy to ensure you hire the right cloud experts?

Understanding the current skills needed to facilitate cloud implementations and maintenance systems will help you identify what particular skills your organisation would benefit from, from there you can shape a recruitment strategy or partner with a specialist recruitment agency to source the right talent to match your needs.

The top cloud skills in demand:

1. Platform expertise

Top cloud candidates will be familiar with a wide range of cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, as well as Oracle, Alibaba, Dell, IBM, Cisco, Open Stack...and there are many more! The idea behind finding a professional with multiple cloud platform expertise is that they will be able to understand the pros and cons of each and assess them in platforms they are unfamiliar with and put forward an informed recommendation. Verifying this skill and expertise can be tricky, but great cloud candidates will be qualified with certifications and accreditations, like:

• GCP Certification Training
• Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification
• Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification
• Microsoft AZ - 301, 302 & 303
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Expert
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

2. Containerisation

Candidates who can demonstrate knowledge of containers and container-based applications are in high demand. Great cloud professionals will be familiar with a wide range of containerisation tools such as:

• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS)
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

Truly valuable candidates will have certifications in them too, such as 'Certified Kubernetes Application Developer' or 'Certified Kubernetes Administrator'.
 

3. Modern programming languages

Whilst there are many many programming languages to contend with in the current market, finding cloud professionals with a great grounding in some of the most common and popular ones who can write code to build, deploy and manage applications are defining attributes of top cloud architects, engineers and administrators. Some of the top languages to look out for are:

• Python
• Java 8/11/15 patch or newer
• GoLang
• Scala

4. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is a cloud computing service that is a pay-as-you-go model for on-demand essential computing, storage and networking resources. Finding candidates with experience in IaaS is a good idea because using an IaaS model reduces an organisation’s need to maintain on-premises data centres, saves money on technology costs and even produces better real-time insights. Top technologies to look for experience in include:

• Terraform
• CDK
• Lamda

5. Develop apps in cloud settings or environments

Developing apps should be high on hiring managers list of cloud skills to look out for, these should ideally be flexible and scalable, able to be managed by a single team to suit the organisation’s changing needs. Whilst there are many ways you could develop apps in cloud settings, some of the best platforms or capabilities to look for knowledge in are Microservices Architecture, and an understanding of the benefits of creating a collection of small, autonomous services within it, and serverless architecture. Serverless architecture is a cost-effective way of migrating all infrastructure processes of app development to the cloud, allowing engineers and architects to focus on the strategy and logical technicalities of their app development process.


In short, the perfect cloud developer is modern, forward-thinking, has demonstrable practical experience with in-demand technologies. But how do you attract, assess, and recruit the perfect cloud professional(s)?

The current atmosphere is definitely geared towards the candidates' favour. So what are some ways you can make your role(s) stand out and attract top cloud talent in the current market?

• Offer remote working

Candidates are increasingly concerned with the ability to work outside of the office environment and with work-life balance. Offering hybrid or fully-remote positions will make you more attractive to the best candidates.

• Hire to train

Offering upskilling and training opportunities to candidates who have significant IT skills, and who are a good fit for your company culture, but who lack specific cloud knowledge is potentially a more profitable route when hiring.

• Utilise current employees

You can look to your current team for internal candidates who have already proven to be a good fit and who have potential with training opportunities.

Your current employees also have significant networks that can be leveraged to find passive candidates and are your best cheerleaders when it comes to demonstrating your attractiveness to potential new hires.

Questions to ask cloud engineers to draw out hard and soft skills: 

"What skills do you think are most important in a cloud engineer?"

This broad question can be revealing. Some candidates may focus purely on technical abilities and hard skills, others on problem solving, communication and adaptability. The best candidates will offer a balanced response taking into account both technical and soft skills.

"How do you handle tight deadlines?"

The response here will help you understand the candidate’s ability to manage their time well and how they maintain efficiency and accuracy whilst under pressure. Follow up questions might include how they have dealt with missed deadlines in the past. Working well under pressure is important but so is the response to missing a goal.

"How do you keep your tech skills current?"

Personal professional development and understanding of trends in tech is vital in such a fast-moving field. This question will also help you understand the candidate’s perception of their role over time, how motivated they are and their engagement in the wider tech community. Follow up with how they think future advances in technology will affect their role.

"How would you explain cloud computing/your role to a non-tech colleague?"

This question will help you analyse the candidate’s communication skills and their own depth of knowledge. Do they avoid jargon and acronyms? How well can they break down the processes involved? You can also judge key interpersonal skills by asking a few informal, conversational follow up questions.

EnergizeCloud is a specialized talent provider supporting businesses journey, transition, and scale to the Cloud via the provision of Infrastructure and Development professionals. We're partnered with some of the world’s foremost end-user enterprises and consultancies to support their digital transformation projects. EnergizeCloud undergo platform-specific training to enable our Consultants specialize; studying AWS and Azure Fundamentals certifications to acquire a deeper appreciation of business needs of operating in the Cloud. We use this practical knowledge of cloud concepts, services, workloads, security, and privacy to empower our customers as they access our exclusive network of ‘off-market’ talent for Migration and Cloud Native operations.

For expert guidance on Cloud and DevOps hiring strategies, contact Energize Group today.