Cloud Solution Architect's Career Master Plan E-Book

Rick Weyenberg

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 237

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

In the fast-paced tech world where businesses rely ever more on cloud infrastructure, the role of a cloud solution architect serves as the backbone of operations. The Solution Architects Career Masterplan isn’t just informative; it’s an actionable roadmap to thriving in this role, providing the knowledge and strategies necessary to build a successful career in cloud computing.
You’ll dive headfirst into mastering the role's core principles, strategically charting your career trajectory, and expanding your network within the cloud community. As you advance to the practical aspects, you’ll explore tailored education options, gain hands-on experience, and prepare to seize strategic opportunities. Finally, you’ll prepare for success by arming yourself with interview strategies, staying updated with evolving cloud technologies, and actively contributing to the cloud community.
By the end of this book, you'll be on your path to a rewarding career in cloud architecture with this trusted companion.

Leseprobe

Cloud Solution Architect's Career Master Plan

Proven techniques and effective tips to help you become 
a successful solution architect

Rick Weyenberg

Kyle Burns

Cloud Solution Architect's Career Master Plan

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Contributors

About the authors

Rick Weyenberg, with over 25 years of professional development, design, and architecture experience, is an Azure principal cloud solution architect at Microsoft, where he leverages his expertise in cloud-based solution design and development to help companies harness the full power of the Azure cloud platform.

His current mission is to help create smarter, safer cars and reliable autonomous vehicles by leading technical architecture discussions with senior customer executives, enterprise architects, IT management, and engineers, and working with a wide variety of Azure services and platforms, ranging from Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) to serverless and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings.

To my awesome family, thanks for the encouragement and support throughout the process. Also, thanks for always letting me nerd out.

Kyle Burns is an application developer, architect, and technical leader with over 25 years of experience delivering business and technical capabilities to enhance customer and user experience and building and directing impactful software engineering teams. He effectively utilizes platforms and established methodologies to ensure that engineered solutions meet the requirements for security, scale, reuse, and high availability and collaborates across business units, with peers and leadership, to ensure objectives, goals, and standards are aligned. Kyle is recognized as an agile thought leader who articulates and communicates technical vision and translates that vision into business acumen and is currently a principal cloud solution architect in the Microsoft Customer Success organization.

I would like to thank my amazing wife, Lisa, for her support in all of the experiences leading to the writing of this book.

About the reviewers

Thiago Born is a seasoned cloud computing professional with a rich 20+ year career, bringing expertise in cloud architecture, big data, stream analytics, and cloud-based solutions. Having worked with industry giants such as AWS and Microsoft, Thiago has delivered transformative cloud solutions to financial institutions, research organizations, and leading retail brands. His passion lies in helping businesses leverage the power of cloud computing to optimize operations, enhance scalability, and gain a competitive edge.

Matt Lunzer is married to his beautiful wife, Sara, and together they have three wonderful children, Amelia, Joseph, and Sophia. In his professional life, Matt is a seasoned cloud architect focused on the areas of hybrid and cloud-native infrastructure and cyber security (CISSP) while actively learning about artificial intelligence. Matt is currently employed as a technology specialist at Microsoft Corporation, assisting software companies and independent software vendors with growing and transforming their products and services on the Azure cloud platform. Matt has also contributed to a cloud-focused YouTube series, contributed to Azure architecture documentation, written blogs, and published code artifacts on GitHub.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Introduction to the Cloud Solution Architect Role

1

Understanding the Responsibilities of a Cloud Solution Architect

Technical requirements

The evolution of cloud computing

Common cloud concepts

Cloud service models

Cloud deployment models

Cloud security

Cloud costs

Cloud frameworks

Introducing the CSA

Upsides and downsides of being a CSA

Role-specific cloud technology domains to consider as a career path

Recommended productivity tools for CSAs

Summary

2

Types of Cloud Solution Architect Roles

All CSAs

Infrastructure CSA

Application CSA

Data CSA

AI/ ML CSA

Security CSA

Summary

Part 2: Pursuing the Role

3

Education Paths to the Cloud Solution Architect Role

Technical requirements

Picking a cloud provider or provider agnostic

College degrees to land a role as a CSA

Online degree options for aspiring CSAs

CSA certifications

Microsoft Azure certifications

Amazon AWS certifications

GCP certifications

Other certification examples

Self-paced learning

Summary

Further reading

4

Getting Real Experience

Completing side projects

Contributing to open source

Open source progression path

Participating and volunteering in hackathons

Volunteer events

Hack-themed learning events

Traditional internships

Attending user groups

Summary

5

Closing In on Opportunities

Finding an industry that suits you

Construction

Education and health services

Financial activities

Information

Leisure and hospitality

Manufacturing

Natural resources and mining

Professional and business services

Trade, transportation, and utilities

Other services (except public administration)

Small start-up versus large enterprise

Small start-up

Large enterprise

Working in an IT organization versus a business unit

Research resources – finding the opportunities

Career section of company websites

Conferences

Networking and online job boards

Summary

Part 3: Prepare for and After the Offer

6

Time to Pursue the Job

Deciding to pursue a junior, senior, or principal CSA role?

Junior CSA

Senior CSA

Principal CSA

Understanding the market and your worth

Making your resume stand out

Summary section

Skills section

Achievements section

Relevancy section

LinkedIn

Twitter

GitHub

Medium

Preparing interview questions

Summary

Additional resources

7

Interviewing – Trust the Process

Interview success strategies

Common questions and scenarios worth preparing for

What experience do you have with designing and implementing cloud-based solutions?

Describe a time when you had to fix an issue with a cloud-based workload

How familiar are you with the different types of cloud computing services?

What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of cloud computing?

How do you design a scalable and resilient cloud architecture?

What are some best practices for optimizing cloud costs?

Explain your understanding of the security considerations for cloud-based systems

Explain some tools or methods used to monitor and optimize performance

Summary

8

Don’t Forget to Give Back

The importance of giving back

Giving back to technical communities

Sharing knowledge

Mentoring

Contributing to open source projects

Participating in forums and discussions

Giving back to society

Leveraging personal skills and passions

Teaching and mentoring

Financial contributions

Volunteering

The role of companies in giving back

CSR

Employee volunteering and donation matching

Encouraging employee contributions to technical communities

Partnerships with non-profit organizations

Overcoming challenges in giving back

Time management

Navigating open source contributions

Understanding societal issues

Dealing with setbacks

Balancing personal fulfillment and impact

The future of giving back

Leveraging emerging technologies

Fostering a global community

Addressing societal challenges

Promoting inclusivity in tech

Summary

Index

Preface

Welcome to Cloud Solution Architect's Career Master Plan! This book is the go-to resource for any individual looking to start or continue a career as a solution architect designing workloads targeting cloud computing platforms. The content is based on years of experience designing cloud solutions on different platforms and under various requirements. While not all cloud platform providers are specifically mentioned, the career paths laid forth are applicable to the other providers not mentioned.

Who this book is for

If you are a self-motivated IT professional and would like to pursue a career as a solution architect, then this book is for you. You should have a solid base of traditional software architecture understanding, but not in-depth cloud concepts and design considerations.

This book will also be valuable for anyone who is considering a solution architect role as a potential career field but doesn’t know where to get started. No experience in the cloud architect role is needed to get started.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Understanding the Responsibilities of a Cloud Solution Architect, explains the genesis of the role of the Cloud Solution Architect (CSA), core concepts every CSA should understand, and the pros and cons of being a CSA. Specific technology domains to master are also explored, as well as common software products used to design workloads targeting a cloud provider platform.

Chapter 2, Types of Cloud Solution Architect Roles, explores the primary technology domains to master of the many potential areas of specialization for a CSA. Also explored are common concepts relevant to all CSAs when creating solutions for the cloud.

Chapter 3, Education Paths to the Cloud Solution Architect Role, addresses the fact that, for the aspiring CSA, education can come in many different forms – both formal and informal. This chapter provides various educational options to gain knowledge of cloud computing and various design considerations.

Chapter 4, Getting Real Experience, discusses the importance of getting experience to build upon your education and looks at various ways that a new or aspiring cloud solution architect can build experience.

Chapter 5, Closing In on Opportunities, provides guidance around focusing on specific industries, deciding the optimal size and maturity of a company and whether traditional IT is a good fit, and resources to find opportunities worth pursuing.

Chapter 6, Time to Pursue the Job, looks at knowing what experience level to pursue, reasonable compensation goals, how to optimize your online presence, and preparing for the process – all steps in preparation for the interview process. Each of these topics is covered in this chapter.

Chapter 7, Interviewing – Trust the Process, explores strategies for successfully navigating the CSA job interview, including common questions and scenarios – provided in this chapter as a way to prepare for a successful outcome.

Chapter 8, Don’t Forget to Give Back, talks about having a lasting impact on the tech community and society in general.

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This book focuses on the general requirements and demands of a cloud solution architect. As such, the tools needed to complement the content are a computing device and access to the internet via a browser to follow recommended websites for more information.

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Part 1: Introduction to the Cloud Solution Architect Role

This part of the book will be an introduction to the role of cloud solution architect. We’ll look at where we are today, how we got here, and what it really means to be a cloud solution architect. Also, we’ll discuss the options we have when pursuing a cloud solution architect role and tradeoffs to consider between those options.

This part has the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Understanding the Responsibilities of a Cloud Solution ArchitectChapter 2, Types of Cloud Solution Architect Roles

1

Understanding the Responsibilities of a Cloud Solution Architect

Cloud computing has its roots in foundational capabilities, available as early as the 1950s. Because of these enabling technologies as well as more recent advancements, the need for an architect to design workload solutions optimized for the cloud is a highly demanded skill set today. This architect’s role started as a solution architect (SA), but as time evolved and cloud computing continued to mature, a new type of architect was needed to address the new paradigm of cloud computing. The last 10-15 years have created an opportunity for architects to specialize in cloud-native (cloud only) and hybrid cloud architecture. This role became known as a cloud SA (CSA).

To understand the current role of a CSA and what it takes to become one, we need to do some level-setting. In this chapter, we will learn what a CSA does by first providing a brief history of cloud computing and its relationship to the increasing demand for CSAs. Next, we will examine the foundational requirements for a successful CSA. The third section will address the reality of the CSA role and some of the trade-offs when working with an ever-changing, evolving ecosystem. At this point, we will discuss potential areas of specialty that a CSA can explore and what responsibilities to expect. Finally, we will explore the tools that CSAs use in their daily lives to design, deploy, and support workloads in the cloud. By the end of this chapter, you will have a deep understanding of the role of CSA and will be able to decide on an area of expertise that fits with your desired career path.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

The evolution of cloud computingCommon cloud conceptsIntroducing the CSAUpsides and downsides of being a CSARole-specific cloud technology domains to consider as a career pathRecommended productivity tools for CSAs

Technical requirements

Later in this chapter, productivity tools are discussed as a part of the role of CSA. To get access to the various tools and platforms mentioned, here is a list of locations where cloud provider platforms and tools can be accessed:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) account: Navigate via the browser to https://aws.amazon.com/ and click on the image that reads Create an AWS Account in the upper-right corner of the pageMicrosoft Azure subscription: Navigate via the browser to https://azure.microsoft.com/ and click on the image that reads Free account in the upper-right corner of the pageGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) account: Navigate via the browser to https://cloud.google.com/ and click on the image that reads Start free in the upper-right corner of the pageLucidchart: Navigate via the browser to https://www.lucidchart.com/ and click on the image that reads Sign up free in the upper-right corner of the pageVisio: Navigate via the browser to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/flowchart-software/ and click on the image that reads See plans and pricing on the left side of the pageMicrosoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code): Navigate via the browser to https://code.visualstudio.com/download and click on the image with text that represents your operating system (Windows, Linux, or Mac) in the middle of the page

The evolution of cloud computing

To appreciate and understand the role of CSA better, we should begin with a timeline of cloud computing to see how/why the industry needed this role. Cloud computing democratically offers computing capabilities and services via the internet. It has evolved generationally from the ideation of several foundational concepts and principles over roughly the last 60-70 years to current and emerging technologies. Artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing (QC) are currently at the center of shaping the ongoing evolution of cloud computing:

1950s – History tends to repeat itself, and cloud computing is no exception. One of the cloud’s attractive characteristics is the fact that the consumer of cloud services only pays for what they use. This harkens back to the 1950s when gigantic mainframes were shared by leasing time through the terminals connected to them. Fast-forward to the present, and this aligns with the responsibility of the CSA role, which is cost optimization by provisioning and deprovisioning cloud services as demand dictates.

1960s – A networking technology was created by the U.S. Department of Defense called Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) that later went on to become the basis for the modern internet. Understanding private and public network constructs is critical for a CSA as this is the foundational layer of separation for a cloud computing workload.1970s – Another critical capability leveraged by cloud computing came along in the 1970s, called virtual machines (VMs). IBM created a technology that allowed multiple virtual operating systems to be run on the same physical system. This eventually enabled the hypervisor software, which made a cluster of physical nodes look like a single physical node that hosted these connected VMs. On cloud computing platforms, compute cycles, storage, and other services are exposed by cloud providers at the hypervisor level. A CSA needs to be aware of restrictions placed on the guest operating systems they provision.1980s – This was a quiet time, except for personal computers beginning to show up in people’s homes. As technology advanced, form factors shrank, and costs went down. At the time, they were used mostly for word processing and playing games. For a CSA, a PC/laptop enables the use of various tools to design, code, and test solutions, many of which we will describe in a later section.1990s – The internet (a successor to ARPANET mentioned previously) became widely available and popular from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Companies such as Amazon, Google, and Salesforce started to offer web-based services and applications that customers could access without installing any software on their devices. The internet is the last introduction and adoption of technology needed to enable cloud computing. CSAs understand that the internet enables access to their workload privately or publicly, as well as other people or systems. Because of this enablement, understanding security needs is a critical skill for a CSA.

Figure 1.1 shows a sample cloud architecture from the late 2000s on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform:

Figure 1.1 – Late 2000s cloud architecture example

2000s – By the mid-2000s, cloud computing began to surface as a platform. In 2006, Amazon launched its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3) services, which let users rent virtual servers and storage space on demand. Google followed suit with its App Engine service in 2008, which enabled developers to build and host web applications on Google’s infrastructure. Microsoft also joined the cloud market with its Azure platform in 2013. Since then, cloud computing has grown rapidly and diversified into various deployment models that serve diverse needs and preferences of users. Figure 1.2 shows a sample cloud architecture from the present on Amazon’s AWS cloud platform:

Figure 1.2 – 2023 cloud architecture example

CSAs now exist because of this era of computing technology. Cloud providers provide network, compute, storage, and other services used by CSAs to enable hyperscale workloads that are resilient, secure, and performant.

The current era is unfolding in front of us, bringing innovation and disruptive technologies for the future while enhancing existing services and products. Some of these include containers, serverless computing, edge computing, multi-cloud environments, AI, blockchain, QC, and so on. These technologies improve the performance, scalability, security, efficiency, and functionality of cloud services for various use cases and domains.

This continual evolution of cloud computing is the reason CSAs continue to learn, adapt, and apply new concepts and understanding of cloud computing capabilities. CSAs are trained to be learn-it-all instead of know-it-all. Being a know-it-all is almost impossible, with today’s cloud providers offering hundreds of services each.

Even though there are potentially hundreds of services available to a CSA via a specific cloud provider, there are some concepts that are universal. Now, we will explore those concepts.

Common cloud concepts

In this section, we need to cover common cloud concepts and some misconceptions that still exist today. There is a base level of understanding regarding cloud computing and cloud providers that a CSA needs to provide workloads that are optimized for cost, availability, supportability, performance, and security. The following topics will be discussed to achieve a base level of understanding for a CSA.

Today, there are many cloud computing providers globally. As identified previously, AWS (https://aws.amazon.com), Microsoft Azure (https://www.azure.com), and GCP (https://cloud.google.com) are the three top providers by market share. There are other providers in the cloud computing space, such as IBM, Oracle, Salesforce, and Alibaba, but this book will focus on the top three since the skills are completely transferrable from one cloud provider to another unless otherwise mentioned.

Cloud service models

Within cloud computing, three common cloud service models exist to enable different levels of abstraction to the underlying infrastructure. This allows customers to satisfy potential requirements to have control of each layer of the provided infrastructure. There are three main types of service models, which are explained next:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the first service type and has existed the longest out of all the models. With IaaS, the cloud user has access to the guest operating system and anything installed with that VM. Cloud users do not have access to the hypervisor and below in most cases.Platform as a Service (PaaS) is the next level of abstraction from the cloud provider’s platform. With PaaS, the cloud user is no longer accessing the guest operating system. This creates less operational overhead for the cloud user than with IaaS, but it also restricts the configuration and control of the guest operating system.Software as a Service (SaaS) is the top level of abstraction. In this model, software and all the supporting infrastructure are delivered to the cloud user, usually over the internet. With the SaaS model, the cloud user can customize the solution only at the application level, in most cases by configuration. It is also common for a SaaS provider to deliver integration APIs for the ingress and egress of information within the application.

To understand the differences between the aforementioned models, Figure 1.3 depicts which components of the cloud provider infrastructures the cloud user is responsible for and what the cloud provider manages. This is known as the shared responsibility model (SRM):

Figure 1.3 – SRM

As mentioned previously, responsibility or control needed over an infrastructure layer in the three aforementioned models will determine which model a customer selects. In addition to software or operating system requirements determining the selected service model, the overall solution architecture deployment model may drive the decision as well. Some cloud customers elect to keep some products or services running on-premises, while others may spread a solution across multiple cloud platforms. The physical location of services or products and the nature of interaction will likely drive the service model selected. Let’s now explore the various deployment models.

Cloud deployment models

A cloud deployment model is recognized by where components of the solution architecture are deployed. The first model is the cloud-native model and is likely the most flexible for service model selection. This model is represented when all components of a solution architecture are provisioned within a cloud platform. In most situations, a cloud-native deployment model does not require a specific service model to be adopted. IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS can all be viable candidates.

Next, a more complex model is called the hybrid cloud model. This model is represented by deploying some components running on-premises and some running on a cloud provider’s platform. For the components to interact with each other, a secure connection between locations is recommended. This level of connection typically requires an IaaS or a PaaS service model, given the need to control logical network access and security between locations.

The multi-cloud model is almost identical to the hybrid cloud one, except components will run on multiple cloud platforms instead of on-premises. Given the similar requirements for secure connectivity as a hybrid cloud model, IaaS and PaaS service models are leading candidates.

Hybrid cloud and multi-cloud deployment models add the most complexity to the task of designing solutions for a CSA due to the responsibility and ownership of the infrastructure layers. A CSA will need to understand all infrastructure locations, what type of connectivity exists between them, and what security rules need to be enforced to create a successful contract within deployments.

Regardless of the service model or deployment model selected, cloud security is another universal topic across all cloud providers. While security is not specifically shown as a layer in the SRM, it should be assumed that any layer the CSA has access to requires secure configuration, access, and management. Let’s explore cloud security concepts in the next section.

Cloud security

Because security in the cloud is so important, most cloud providers have security baselines for each service offered. These baselines are based on industry and regulatory best practices and should not be ignored. When considering security requirements, the following should be a requirement for every solution a CSA designs:

Just-in-Time (JIT) access – Only allow access to cloud resources when they are needed. Standing access should not be allowed.Least-privilege access – Provide just enough authority so that a job can be done. Do not provide the keys to the castle.Assumed breach – Always assume the system has been compromised. Then, figure out how to limit the blast radius.Zero Trust – Assume a user is being impersonated and do not trust them. This requires enforcement of authentication, authorization, and entitlements.

In addition to the aforementioned considerations, periodic security scans of the cloud should be performed to ensure that the solution is security-compliant. Some cloud providers come with services to help with scans, and they should be used wherever possible.

While cloud security is extremely important, a close second is cost control. CSAs need to ensure that any solution architectures follow a reasonable cost model. Let’s discuss cloud costs next.

Cloud costs

On the surface, cost