Cloud Computing Specialists – Job Demand, Top Skills & Salary in Malaysia

Cloud Computing is One of the Hottest Technologies with a High Demand for Qualified Professionals in Malaysia

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Malaysia is facing challenges in building its digital workforce, as reflected in the fast-growing demand for digital talent despite a comparative shortfall in supply. The country needs to focus on creating ‘new collar’ workers, a workforce that is equipped with skills in Cloud, AI and other emerging technologies.

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics and more—over the Internet (“the cloud”). Companies offering these computing services are called cloud providers and typically charge for cloud computing services based on usage, similar to how you are billed for water or electricity at home.

Cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet.

We have to face new types of jobs, environments and technologies. Education has to move together with such advancements therefore students need to choose courses in line with these developments or be left behind by making the wrong choice.

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High Job Demand for Cloud Computing Professionals in Malaysia

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Being in Sabah made it difficult for me to survey the universities in Peninsula. I found EduSpiral online and they provided detailed information & helped me with my application. They even took me around the university for a tour when I went to visit. Xavier Phang, Software Engineering Graduate from Asia Pacific University (APU)

Cloud computing is one of the hottest technologies with a high demand for qualified professionals. The median salary for IT pros currently in a cloud computing career in the U.S. is $124,300. However, it is not the easiest of jobs to acquire because it is a specialty area.

Malaysia, too is seeing growth in its cloud computing sectors. We have seen significant progress in its digital transformation journey, launching the Digital Free Trade Zone, and introducing multiple digital initiatives in its national agenda. Disruptive abilities and technologies such as cloud computing will continue to increase the demand for specialised and skilled employees.

This year has also seen the creation of a new country office by Alibaba – a “one-stop solution centre” for local businesses designed to support Malaysia’s technology innovation through cloud computing services – following soon after the launch of its first electronic world trade platform hub outside of Mainland China, creating the infrastructure to support global trade with services encompassing ecommerce, logistics, cloud computing, mobile payment and talent training.

  • As the vast majority of companies move important systems to the cloud, more and more are choosing a hybrid approach, with multiple vendors. In the coming years, cloud engineers will develop solutions at scale that are a mix of both in-house technology and outside systems — going beyond Amazon engineers working on AWS or Microsoft engineers working on Azure
  • Significant growth is expected in Infrastructure services such as networks, platforms and specialist areas such as cloud and virtualisation; Salaries of IT directors with more than 10 years of experience pegged at RM250k-360k per annum
  • Data Centre Approximately 25% of enterprises in data-intensive industries are expected to adopt formal data centre planning, sourcing, and governance processes to expedite digital transformation (DX) efforts
  • US$550 million in incremental GNI for the data centre industry by 2020
  • 5,000,000 square feet of data centre space by 2020
  • US$180.8 million revenue for cloud and data centre industry in 2017
  • Announcement of the 700-acre Sedenak Iskandar data hub to meet rising demand for data centre space and services

Top Skills Needed for Cloud Computing Professionals

To secure a job in this field, a candidate must have a number of specific skills. Let’s see what they are so you can get your cloud computing career started!

Skill 1: Coding and database management
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EduSpiral gave me useful information & evidence on why I should choose the best university.
Philip Sim, Information Technology (IT) graduate from Asia Pacific University (APU)

Coding skills: Cloud computing unlocks a new dimension in software development. The cloud allows programmers to create, host, and execute applications that can scale up much faster due to the environment’s capacity to handle large volumes.

Some recent additions to the cloud ecosystem are programming languages like Python, Perl, and Ruby. They are open source and becoming more prevalent with each passing year. Other conventional favorites are PHP, Java, and .NET.

Python, a high-level language with simple syntax, is an excellent place to begin as far as programming skills in the cloud are concerned.

Database management: Every day a staggering 2.5 quintillion bytes of fresh data is added to the world. Corporations are in a race to understand and maximize use of this growing wealth of data. Therefore, persons who can set-up, access, and manage databases are in high demand.

Due to its scalability, the cloud platform is the most common space to host databases. Knowledge of a database query language and related database platforms are therefore essential for any professional in this field. The ever-growing pile of data also means that opportunities in this field are not hard to come by.

The most prevalent language in database is SQL. Anyone motivated to add more muscle to his or her skills could learn MySQL, MongoDB, or Hadoop as well. But you don’t have to learn how P.F. Chang’s makes such delicious food, leave that up to them!

Linux: Cloud professionals with Linux skills are in demand now. One reason is that one-fourth of the servers today power Linux-based Azure. This share is bound to increase because of Microsoft’s continued thrust toward the open source market.

Businesses need professionals capable of working on cloud-based Linux servers in areas such as:

  • Setting up architecture
  • Designing
  • Developing
  • Administering
  • Managing

The Linux Foundation Certified Systems Administrator helps professionals acquire skills vital for a career in administering Linux serves. Leaning from them is an industry-accepted practice.

Skill 2: Courses and certifications
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EduSpiral counseled us online & then picked us up from the airport to visit MMU in order to help us choose the right university.
Mak, Ong & Chaw – Diploma in Information Technology (IT) at Multimedia University (MMU)

The IT industry is renowned for its emphasis on industry and vendor certifications. The cloud domain has also joined the fray in this field. All major service providers including Amazon and Microsoft offer training and certifications that could jump-start your cloud computing career. The most popular ones include:

  • AWS Certification
  • Azure Certification
  • Google Cloud Certified

Though certifications add value to the resume, they cannot, by themselves, help a professional grow in his or her career. Certifications complement practical experience. Gaining the necessary hands-on experience is more important, but certification can be a vital first step in the right direction.

Skill 3: Cloud platforms and technologies
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EduSpiral counseled me online on the software engineering courses & then took me & my friends to tour the university.
Boon Ping, Software Engineering at Asia Pacific University (APU)

An IT professional with prior experience can leverage this cognition to forge ahead in a career in cloud computing. Despite this, she or he will need to acquire some additional skills to fit into the new job. For example, become proficient in the most common cloud platforms, namely:

  • Amazon Web Services
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Microsoft Azure

To begin with, a professional can learn one of them but knowing all three can be impressive since there is nothing wrong with being versatile.

Skill 4: Multi-cloud environments and data integration
Diploma in IT (Software Engineering) at Asia Pacific University (APU)
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Jia Chong, Diploma in IT (Software Engineering) at Asia Pacific University (APU)

A complex mix of cloud services and cloud types — public, private, and hybrid — are becoming the norm in modern organizations. This means that cloud professionals need to know how to manage these multi cloud environments.

Organizations use data obtained from:

  • Multiple vendors
  • Diverse platforms
  • Different datacenters

Unifying these databases to make data utilization possible is a mammoth exercise. The complexities compound when cloud systems have to interact with legacy systems.

For professionals specializing in cloud architecture, integration is a must-have skill.

Skill 5: Business management and data manipulation
Vincent Lim, Software Engineering Graduate, Asia Pacific University (APU)
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Vincent Lim, Software Engineering Graduate, Asia Pacific University (APU)

Cloud professionals need business skills in addition to technology skills. Among them are:

  • Managing personnel
  • Communication
  • Negotiation

The additional demands fall under two categories.

  1. Internal — within the organization
  2. External — vendors and other service providers

The professional must fully comprehend cloud security and its implications for online data and applications. He or she must take extra care to ensure the security of all online operations.

Cloud computing makes customization of data for each business possible. Analysts, who can remodel data and tailor it into formats specified by each department in an organization, are a highly prized asset.

Skill 6: Specific roles-related skills
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EduSpiral helped me to understand clearly what software engineering is about & helped me to choose the right university. Vincent Chow, Software Engineering Graduate, Asia Pacific University

Based on the jobs posted on Indeed, the top 10 must-have skills you need to have a successful cloud computing career are:

  1. Amazon Web Services (AWS): The pioneer in affordable cloud services and enjoys the largest market share in the field.
  2. Python: The most rapidly growing language on the cloud.
  3. Java: One of the most popular programming languages in the cloud and its latest cloud-friendly enhancements are bound to increase its usage.
  4. Azure: Usage of Microsoft Azure has grown from 34 percent in 2017 to 45 percent in 2018. It’s gaining on AWS every year.
  5. Agile: Agile project management practices and its adoption in cloud development cycles are growing each year.
  6. Puppet: Employed in DevOps environments to automate AWS, a time-saving option of immense value to most enterprises.
  7. Chef: Another technology deployed in DevOps environments. It offers analytics at the enterprise level through its Automate tool.
  8. Ansible: An open source centralized server management system that makes setting up a cloud-based application cost effective.
  9. Docker: An open source containerization technology that automates the process of setting up and use of software programs
  10. VMware: Software to virtualize cloud environments used for computing. This is also popular in all types of domains.

Begin your cloud computing career

The line that separates the best cloud professionals from the rest is the ability to utilize these high-end skills to maximize value for employers. Being able to identify the right cloud data and transform this raw data into business insight that propels management decisions, holds the key to an outstanding cloud computing career.

Getting the Certifications

AWS and Azure offer very similar services as both support CDN’s, Databases, Auto Scaling, and several other common functions. Google Cloud Platform is currently rising to the leading ranks, while AWS dominates the IaaS global cloud market according to a public survey. Alibaba Cloud mainly supports China users, and has began expanding worldwide.

The cost of each certification is about the same. Even though Amazon provides fewer Solution Architect exams, the high tier is more expensive to account for its longer duration and additional questions. Furthermore, Microsoft has a set price for every exam across the board. Probing into details, if you’re a Visual Studio developer, integrating with Azure instances and the bonus of Azure SQL makes Azure an obvious selection. In addition to that, PHP and Java experts should go for AWS certifications instead to utilize the better support for Linux builds.

Some IaaS Cloud Certifications

Amazon Web Services Cloud Certifications
  • Solutions Architect – Associate
  • Solutions Architect – Professional
  • AWS Certified Developer – Associate
  • SysOps Administrator – Associate
  • DevOps Engineer – Professional
Microsoft Cloud Certifications
  • MCSD: App Builder
  • MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure
  • MCSA: Linux on Azure

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