The skills gap has been a thorn in cloud computing’s side for longer than many in the industry would care to remember. Cloud Academy hopes to create a change in mindset with its latest release.
The training company has announced the launch of Cloud Roster and Cloud Catalog, two products which aim to provide a fuller picture of the cloud jobs and skills landscape.
Cloud Roster is a job roles matrix which analyses tens of thousands of public job postings per week to give a basis for the top trending technology skills as they develop. Cloud Catalog, meanwhile, focuses on the technologies themselves, providing a stack ranking of technologies by popularity and geography based on data from various developer community platforms.
The company cited figures from IDC, who predicted cloud investment to grow at a 22% computing growth rate until 2021. As a result the importance of closing the skills gap – or at least ensuring it does get any wider – is key.
“We talk a lot about the cloud skills gap with our customers, and the fact that there’s a need for technical talent is well documented,” wrote Alex Brower, Cloud Academy VP marketing in a blog post announcing the news. “We wanted to dive a layer deeper and use data to qualify and quantify the nature of the technical skills gap in a way that’s meaningful and objective.”
In a blog post from the start of this year, Cloud Academy noted the importance of partnerships and patience in putting a successful cloud migration plan together. “Do not be excessively aggressive,” the company wrote. “While you may be tempted to go for the quick win, realise that cutting corners will almost certainly guarantee failure for your cloud migration project. Baby steps, logical steps, are very important.”
According to a study from IT provider Softchoice earlier this month, organisations are still hitting roadblocks with their cloud implementations despite extensive preparation. More than two in five (43%) of the 250 respondents admitted they had difficulty in knowing how to create an effective cloud management strategy.