3 Reasons Why You Should Develop Your Google Cloud Skills
Keeping up with trends and in demand skills helps organizations understand the trajectory of talent and salary expectations.
Cloud service providers are a rapidly evolving space and is one where Google has placed significant emphasis lately.
There are tens of thousands of job openings that require Google Cloud experience making it a highly desired skill set. Since they are in demand, Google certifications rank as some of the best paying IT certifications.
A significant number of corporations use Google Cloud services. This means developing specialized expertise is an effective way to increase your marketability and provides a path to both promotion and increased compensation.
As a developer/technical manager who started a recruiting firm, I read many job posts and speak regularly with other technical professionals about trends both in technology and the job market. It is clear that Google Cloud skills are well worth your time to learn or improve in 2022.
Tens of Thousands of Job Openings Require Google Cloud Skills
A search of job boards yields a plethora of job openings that require Google Cloud skills. With tens of thousands of openings, for candidates, this provides many options and opportunities to those who have these skills.
On the flip side, for companies, it also means that people have options and can therefore be selective when choosing their next job opportunity. This puts a premium on the total package being offered to job candidates including company, hybrid/remote/onsite options and compensation. The bottom line is that all of these have to be attractive.
Cloud Experience Can Be Transferable
Technical experience is frequently directly transferable from one cloud service provider to another. So if you are in the market, remember that many of the positions do not require a specific Google certification. You can leverage your AWS or Azure knowledge when applying for a new opportunity.
Also, employers looking for Google certifications can also be flexible and review candidates with experience utilizing other major cloud service providers.
Key positions that utilize Google Cloud skills include: Cloud Architect, AI/ML Architect, Data Engineer, Senior Data Scientist, Tech Lead, Cloud Manager, Director Cloud Software Engineering, and Program Manager.
Key Responsibilities and Additional Skills
While each company has its own set of job specific requirements and responsibilities, the following examples provide some perspective on key responsibilities and additional skills for the those in demand positions:
Cloud Architect
Key responsibilities - design, assemble, and deploy reusable solutions; infrastructure automation, continuous integration/deployment; SQL/NoSQL/NewSQL; networking; cloud-based delivery models
Additional Skills - Go, Java, Python, or C++; experience with Google Multi-Cloud Strategy like Anthos; experience with Machine Learning or Big Data
Data Engineer
Key responsibilities - develop and deploy batch and streaming data pipelines in GCP cloud ecosystem; proficient with GCP cloud data implementation suite such as Big Query, Pub Sub, Data Flow/Apache Beam, Data Studio, Cloud Storage
Additional Skills - data science toolkits, such as R, Jupyter, & Python; experience with open-source ingestion tools such as Sqoop, Flume, Spark streaming, Kafka, Nifi
Google Cloud Program Manager
Key responsibilities - develop strategy and roadmap; execute end-to-end management of projects; map business needs to available Google Cloud Services such as DataProc, DataFlow, Cloud Logging, and Cloud AI
Additional Skills - experience with scalable architectures using GCP App Service, API management, serverless technologies; planning and strategic thinking; risk management; communication and reporting
Google Cloud Certifications Top List of Best Paying IT Certifications
Certifications are always a hot topic. Many professionals do not value them while others feel they provide a way to assess if someone has a baseline of knowledge. Certifications do confirm some knowledge that can be tested in a few hours. However, that doesn’t automatically make the holder capable without also having the real-world experience to back up that certification.
Certifications Provide a Framework for Learning
I wouldn’t recommend getting certifications just to have them, but they can be used as a great structure to learn new skills. They can also be used as a syllabus to study various product capabilities and use of the available hands-on labs give you exposure to the product in a safe environment.
With that being said, are you planning on taking any certification exams this year? If so, you might want to consider Google Cloud certifications.
Top Paying Certifications
According to a survey in 2021 by Global Knowledge, Google Certified Professional Data Engineer and Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect are the two top paying certifications. This is ahead of AWS, CISSP, CISA and other IT certifications.
In addition, the Google Cloud certification impact report showed that 78% of Google Cloud certificate holders felt more confident in their professional future and 17% received a raise in their existing job.
Both of these certifications are 2 hours in length, multiple choice and the fee is $200 per exam. There are numerous resources to help you prepare for the exam including courses, study guides, videos etc. There are also Foundational and Associate level certifications available if you are new to Google Cloud and want to start with easier exams as you build up your knowledge.
Top Companies Use Google Cloud
Google Cloud is not the largest cloud service provider but it is one that is growing, is continually introducing new services, and has some unique features including a focus on open source as well as Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.
Significant Breadth and Depth of Services
There are over 100 Google Cloud products from virtual machines to storage to databases, developer tools, security & identity, IoT.
This growth in scale as well as number of new services means that people with Google Cloud experience are marketable and are correspondingly paid very well.
Eight out of ten leading telecommunications, media, retail and software & internet companies use Google Cloud. If you are interested in working for companies such as PayPal or Twitter or Toyota, becoming knowledgeable of Google Cloud would be very beneficial.
It’s always nice to have employment options and know that you have skills that can contribute to challenging and innovative products!
In Summary
As we start 2022, it is a great time to update your cloud skills. Whether you are upskilling to be more effective in your current role or looking to enhance your responsibilities at your current workplace or a new one, there are numerous training options to help you achieve your goals from formal courses, YouTube videos, developer resources etc.
If you have any questions or need additional info, please contact me.
Christine has 15+ years in the technical industry developing software, leading teams along with extensive experience as a hiring manager. She found that she really enjoyed the process of building teams and interacting with candidates and business customers. As a result, Christine decided to make the hiring process her focus and started Vector Recruiting.