To say cloud is the future would be going back 20 years. The cloud is already here. Newer companies make sure that they don’t set up their own data centres and use one of the cloud providers like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. There are some niche players too like Databricks, DigitalOcean and so on. Most older companies will eventually have to move to cloud platforms one way or the other. Some will operate using a hybrid (cloud + on-prem) model. What I mean to say is that the work of a data person will depend on their level of comfort with the cloud.
Now, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of courses that would teach you about these cloud technologies. Having done a lot of such courses myself and having used cloud platforms for about seven years now, I can testify to what are some of the things one should do to get started with their journey to the clouds.
1. Get To Know The Providers
First of all, get to know the major cloud providers, the major services they provide and their strong areas and markets. As per my understanding, there are three clear contenders — AWS, Azure and Google, as mentioned in the beginning. All these cloud providers have certification programs. Although getting certified is no guarantee that you’ll be an expert in that platform, it does mean that you’d have to go through the basics of the platform — which is more than enough to get started.
These three certification and related documentation is, as I said, more than enough to get you started with the cloud. This is in no way suggesting that you have to take this path to learn about the cloud. Certifications are overrated. I didn’t do them all just until recently. Nassim Nicholas Taleb has this great quote —
For real people, if something works in theory, but not in practice, it doesn’t work. For academics, if something works in practice, but not in theory, it doesn’t exist.
Practice always trumps theory. So, choose your own path. But this can be a good start.
#azure #data #aws #data analysis
