10 Startling Perspectives From the Experts on How Cloud Influences IT Jobs
Is the rise of cloud is generally having a positive effect on IT employment?
Thousands of companies looking to hire developers with cloud computing skills.
Are we seeing a fundamental change to traditional infrastructure management roles, making many defunct? Does the adoption of cloud computing mean IT systems will run with fewer people? Some are saying that cloud technology doesn't necessarily mean the individuals who carried out traditional IT roles will find themselves out of the job.
Here are 10 perspectives from experts at Gartner, IDC, TechRepublic, TechTarget, and more sharing their insights into how the cloud will impact IT jobs.
1. Expect to see new categories of jobs arising from cloud computing.
More than three out of five companies report they are adding new types of skillsets to their IT departments to keep up with growing cloud requirements. Skills now in demand include private cloud developers and administrators, departmental liaisons, integration specialists, cloud architects, and compliance specialists, the report states. Expertise in these areas is also being sought from IT vendors and consultants, the CompTIA study finds.
By Joe McKendrick, Author & researcher, Forbes
Majority of Companies Expanding Cloud Computing Skills: Survey
2. Not everyone is convinced that cloud computing will have such a profound effect on the IT jobs landscape.
Gartner predicts that the market for cloud compute services will grow 48.7 per cent in 2012 to $5bn, up from $3.4 billion in 2011 - spend on cloud services is still only a fraction of global IT spend. However, by 2020 the majority of organisations will rely on the cloud for more than half of their IT services, according to Gartner's 2011 CIO Agenda Survey.
By Nick Heath, Chief reporter for TechRepublic UK
Cloud computing: What does it really mean for IT jobs?
3. The small pool of experienced cloud talent will pose a challenge to employers and opportunity to IT pros
A recent survey by Wanted Analytics shows that more than 2,400 companies in a 90-day period were seeking candidates with cloud computing skills. Moreover, hiring demand increased by 61 percent year over year for cloud-savvy IT people. Tech-heavy San Francisco and San Jose topped the search for cloud experts; New York and my home of Washington, D.C., display healthy cloud job growth as well.
By David Linthicum, CTO/CEO and founder of Blue Mountain Labs
Demand For Cloud Jobs Is Now Stratospheric
4. The stable IT employment upends a common assumption about the adoption of enterprise cloud computing.
In its Third Annual Trends in Cloud Computing survey, CompTIA found "reductions in IT headcount" to be one of the least popular reasons for cloud solution adoption (ranked No. 10 of 11 reasons). What's more, the survey showed more than 32% of the 500 IT and business professionals surveyed had restructured IT organizations during a cloud transition. Half of those companies created new roles based on cloud computing.
By Karen Goulart, Features writer at TechTarget
A Pulse Check on Enterprise Cloud Computing's Net Effect on IT Jobs
5. There's a cloud with a silver lining for those willing to dig into data.
While the unemployment rate hovers around 8.2% and sectors like manufacturing struggle, the information technology industry has mostly flourished. Among the fastest growing areas is cloud computing and storage. The cloud is expected to generate as much as $1.1 trillion a year in revenue by 2015, money that will be used for expansion and with it, some 14 million new jobs, according to an IDC study.
By Matt Butter, Initiatives Marketing Project Manager, NetApp writing for Forbes
Nearly 14 Million New Jobs by 2015: The Cloud Has a Silver Lining in a Stormy Economy
6. The creation or reduction of jobs connected with the boom in cloud computing has raised industry speculation and debate.
Twenty percent of enterprises reported a reduction in IT headcount from a transition to the cloud. Of the 32 percent of respondents that restructured their IT departments along with cloud implementations, 46 percent built new roles, like cloud architect or integration specialist, and 28 percent hired on new IT staff. Countering the stance that smaller organizations would be more likely to reduce IT staff with cloud adoption, 29 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees hired on staff related to a cloud deployment, with just slightly more larger enterprises (35 percent) taking on IT officers to handle new cloud initiatives.
By Justin Kern, Senior editor at Information-Management.com
Cloud Hanging Over IT Staffing?
7. When I think of the cloud's benefit, I often wonder about jobs lost. After all, what of all the IT folks needed to maintain those servers?
The big proportion in fast-developing countries can be attributed to the size of their workforces, and to many Chinese and Indian companies not being bound by legacy system investments, Microsoft said in its press release. "We tend to think of China and India as emerging markets, but they're actually early adopters of the cloud," says John Gantz, senior vice president at IDC and author of the white paper. "They're not bound to existing systems. They've skipped that step, so there's less holding them back.
By Mike Barton, Editor, Wired.com's Cloudline
Cloud to Deliver 14M New Jobs (Half in China, India)
8. Number of job postings in the cloud computing industry is growing so rapidly that there aren't enough qualified workers available.
The number of job postings in the cloud computing industry is growing so rapidly that there aren't enough qualified workers available to fill the positions, according to an analysis of hiring trends by Wanted Analytics. There were 5,000 jobs posted online related to cloud technology, a 92 percent increase from the same month last year and a more than four times increase compared to 2010.
By Brandon Butler, Staff Writer at Network World
Talent Pool Not Big Enough To Meet Skyrocketing Cloud Computing Job Demand
9. Businesses that embrace the cloud will save big.
In 2010 alone, 11 different cloud computing outfits created 80,000 U.S.-based jobs; cloud-related jobs at these firms grew at a rate that was five times that of the overall tech sector, and they could create a total of 472,000 jobs in the U.S. and overseas by 2017.
By Arik Hesseldahl, Senior Editor and Enterprise Dude, AllThingsD
Does the Cloud Really Make It Rain? Jobs, That Is.
10. Cloud specialists, up 67% from last summer.
Cloud specialists, which are up 67% from last summer. Dice.com lists 3,794 positions that require cloud-related software, engineering and architecture skills including openings at Best Buy, Hitachi Data Systems, Ingram Micro, Sybase and Bloomberg.
By Carolyn Duffy Marsan, Senior Editor, Enterprise Applications, Network World
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