Learn about the key skills, common qualifications, and daily job duties of a cloud engineer. Discover statistics on industry growth, salary potential, and main areas of employment in the field.
Overview
Demand for cloud computing continues to skyrocket, with 42% of Australian businesses now paying for its services. With a rapidly-growing industry, the skills to build and maintain these structures are now on a sky-high demand.
Cloud engineers fill this need with their expertise in planning, designing, and maintaining cloud-based systems. Such professionals assess a company’s current IT infrastructure and ways to safely migrate their data to the cloud. Their profession can be broken down into three roles: a solutions architect (designing cloud-based programs and infrastructure), a cloud developer (developing cloud-based applications), and SysOps engineer (managing developed applications).
Typical job tasks may include developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications; monitoring cloud systems; and working with other IT experts to integrate/migrate existing, on-premise structures to a cloud-based environment.
With the cloud computing field set to expand, cloud engineers can expect 73,000 additional jobs in Australia between 2019-2023.
Key Skills
Familiarity with multiple cloud provider environments; including SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platforms, IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) platforms, and PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) platforms
Extensive knowledge of programming languages, including Python, Java, and Ruby
Experience with APIs, DevOps, automation, and databases
Skills in network design and management
Experience or knowledge of virtualisation and related services
Strong cybersecurity skills for ensuring safe, reliable cloud computing environments
Quick Facts
As a subset of computer network professionals, cloud engineers can find work in most regions of Australia, with New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland currently holding the largest share of workers. Weekly salary potential is currently higher ($2,021) than the all job average ($1,460) with plenty of opportunity for full-time work.
Salary Range
$55,000 - $207,000 (Average: $119,572)*
*Source: Indeed
Average Weekly Hours
42 hours (vs. all jobs average of 44 hours)*
*Source: Job Outlook
Main Industries
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services; Information Media and Telecommunications; and Education and Training
Most Common Qualification Level
37.8% hold a Bachelor’s Degree
STUDY PATHWAYS
Getting the skills you need is simple by studying one of our information technology courses below.
*Sources: payscale.com.au and joboutlook.gov.au – All information is to be used as a guide only, and are accurate at the time of publication.
