The Forces Impacting Cloud Hiring in 2023
We have come a long way from the early days of cloud computing, which initially served to streamline and modernise IT and business processes. Now, organisations rely on the cloud for growth, agility and innovation.
As organisations attain maturity in their approach to cloud, new frontiers have opened up for applications that require massive processing power. Cloud networking plays a prominent part in tech industry predictions for sound reasons! Gartner has forecast an 11.3% rise in cloud application investments globally in 2023, raising total spend to more than US $879 million.
With many of the world’s most cutting-edge technologies operating from the cloud (think AI, and virtual and augmented reality), demand for Cloud Engineers, Architects and other IT professionals is present in every industry.
As part of our tech trends 2023 series, we’ll dive into the current trends shaping demand for cloud professionals.
Continuous Cloud Expansion
Every app, platform and real-world service we depend on today is reliant on cloud infrastructure. The expansion of 5G and WiFi 6E will produce an unprecedented volume of data from Internet of Things devices, video streaming and social media. Cloud-based gaming platforms (such as NVIDIA GeForce Now, Amazon Luna and Playkey) are also booming, adding to demand for bandwidth and storage capabilities.
Cloud-native applications are set to become not just widespread, but the norm for businesses. Gartner predicts that more than 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms by 2025, with non-cloud tech soon to be regarded as ‘legacy’.
The ubiquity of cloud-native apps will require organisations to use a continuous hiring approach for all varieties of cloud-focused tech jobs, including Solutions Architects, DevOps Engineers, Network Engineers, Database Engineers – and Data Scientists.
Security Concerns
The future is certainly looking bright for the expansion of cloud-native applications. But it’s now given tech leaders more to worry about regarding cloud security, compliance and visibility. Accenture research shows security and compliance risks are among the top three barriers to achieving desired cloud outcomes for 41% of IT leaders.
Ongoing stressors for cloud operations, especially data breaches caused by misconfigurations and exposed APIs that leave open doors for attackers, necessitate a proactive approach. As a global study of 2,800 security professionals and executives by Thales shows 45% of companies experienced a data breach or failed an audit involving data and applications residing in the cloud last year, up from 40% in 2021.
Fittingly, security-focused roles are thriving in cloud domains. DevSecOps Specialists, Security Operations Analysts, Identity and Access Management (IAM) Specialists, and Infrastructure Security Engineers are expected to be sought after as threats evolve.
Hybrid Cloud Growth
Machine learning, analytics and a swathe of standard or utility applications are all factors adding to the growing hunger for storage and computing capability. One cloud simply isn’t enough anymore, as noted in our tech trends 2023 highlights.
A study run by IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics shows as much as 99% of organisations in the UK alone have adopted a hybrid or multi-cloud model to stay flexible in the face of changing customer needs. In Australia, GlobalData predicts the total enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure will reach US$14.1 billion by 2025. There is a long way to go towards the refinement of existing cloud frameworks, partly due to ongoing transformation projects.
We expect growth in hybrid cloud operations teams responsible for the day-to-day management of the hybrid cloud environment, including monitoring, troubleshooting and maintenance. Jobs necessary to make these environments work include Operations Managers, Systems Administrators, Monitoring Engineers, Backup and Recovery Engineers and always-indispensable Security Engineers.
Infrastructure as Code and Automation
The growth of hybrid and multi-cloud has posed new efficiency and security challenges. How can organisations simplify the management of multiple data centres and potentially thousands of devices? For a growing number of businesses, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the answer.
Instead of relying on manual processes to manage cloud resources, code can do all the work by automating tasks making them repeatable and consistent. The ability to automatically spin up and configure virtual machines, load balancers and databases as needed enables companies to easily scale their cloud infrastructure.
The secret DevOps weapons of IaC are Developers and Engineers with a solid grounding in a few programming languages (Python, Ruby, Yaml, JavaScript), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud), along with configuration management tools. Terraform, Ansible, Puppet and Chef are some examples of IaC tools in use. For Devs and Engineers, the more familiarity they have with several tools, the better.
Summary
A convergence of market trends and technical developments has created a golden era in cloud computing. As cloud tech matures and automation increases, we can expect to see a new crop of tech jobs appear while demand for traditional cloud engineering specialists also rises. Finding new ways to attract the best cloud talent will enable businesses to realise the potential of these burgeoning technologies.
Maximising the vast potential for business and career growth in 2023 is possible by partnering with a top-notch tech recruitment agency. Hawksworth can assist you in transforming your talent strategy into a reality or growing your career. Contact our expert team to reach your 2023 goals.