Are you building an application that will run on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Amazon Web Services (AWS)? Or are you migrating an existing application to the cloud? In short, if you plan to use GCP or AWS over the long term or on an ongoing basis, it is highly recommended that you hire a reliable software engineer. Without a competent professional, your AWS implementation will not be successful.
So, what should you do? How do you identify the ideal candidate? What you need is not just a software engineer, but a cloud engineer. To help you make the right decision, we from the Indonesian Cloud team would like to share some tips on how to choose a reliable cloud engineer.
What Is a Cloud Engineer?
What is a cloud engineer? A cloud engineer is a software engineer who also knows how to use cloud services effectively. A cloud engineer understands how to build applications using cloud infrastructure, as well as the services and tools available in the cloud.
As a cloud engineer, they certainly understand the pros and cons of the cloud services they use to build software. When they know how to use these tools, they also fully understand how to apply them properly. Cloud engineers are skilled at designing and writing code to interact with cloud components.
For example, a good cloud engineer knows when and how to use DynamoDB versus S3 for specific problems, or when implementing certain services using AWS Lambda. They know how to design and build applications that work well with Auto Scaling. They understand how to use Identity and Access Management (IAM) features securely.
Criteria of a Good Cloud Engineer
- A good cloud engineer is a skilled software engineer
Software is still software. You still want someone strong in problem-solving, analytical skills, programming languages, data structures, system design, and all the other qualities you look for in a software engineer.
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Has an API-centric mindset
They understand that systems must interact with one another through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and know how to implement APIs effectively. They know APIs must be consistent within the system, understand how to use authentication and permissions effectively, and know how to make life easier for client applications that interact with APIs. They also know how to use existing tools and frameworks that simplify API development, such as AWS API Gateway.
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A pioneer who is ready to adapt to new technologies
New features and cloud products are released at a very rapid pace. For example, in 2015 AWS released 452 products. You need people who are comfortable working with technologies that have never been used before. They will be the first to use them, discover bugs, and find ways to solve emerging problems. Your ideal candidate will not be afraid of these challenges, but instead will be curious and excited to use the latest cloud products.
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Focus, Understanding, Automation, and Performance
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Highly focused
Being a pioneer means having good judgment in decision-making. After AWS announces a new product or feature, they know how—and whether—it should be used. They are curious, yet remain focused on your company and customer goals. In other words, they have strong focus and can use new technologies with clear objectives.
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Understands the cloud industry
We all know that keeping up with the latest cloud updates is not easy, but that is the nature of cloud computing. A good engineer has a strong interest and at least a general understanding of what is currently happening and what is coming next in AWS.
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Automates everything possible
Using cloud services without automating processes is an inexcusable waste. A good cloud engineer understands this and dislikes manual or repetitive tasks. They should be able to initiate automation. Whenever there is human intervention, they identify and implement ways to eliminate manual processes. Of course, they must also understand how to balance automation with the company’s main ongoing projects.
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Cares about performance
Running fast applications on AWS starts with good architectural design and solid software implementation, delivered using the right AWS components. If these steps are not designed for high performance, your customers will be frustrated by slow applications. A good cloud engineer understands these factors and has experience building high-performance applications on AWS.
Individual Responsibility and Awareness
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Cares about availability
A cloud engineer designs for failure. What does that mean? It means they know what will happen if a component goes down. They consider this at every stage of application design and implementation. They will find ways to reduce or eliminate the impact on customers when failures occur. Additionally, cloud engineers must be able to use Availability Zones, perform EBS snapshots, implement cross-region replication for certain services, and use Auto Scaling.
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Cares about company budgeting
Today, software engineers have direct access to infrastructure. In the past, they would simply receive whatever servers were available, often large ones by default. Now, a cloud engineer can easily manage 10 m4.2xlarge EC2 instances and store files of any size in S3. Poor choices like these can result in costs of tens of millions of rupiah per year if not managed wisely.
In other words, a good cloud engineer understands all the factors that affect AWS costs, such as EC2 instance types, storage sizes for EBS, S3, and Glacier, EBS storage types, S3 storage classes, compute time on EC2 and Lambda, data transfer, data processing for ELB, and regional pricing differences across AWS services.
Conclusion
If you are struggling to find the right cloud engineer for your company, Indonesian Cloud has a team of Managed IT Services experts based in Jakarta to help eliminate your frustration with these challenges.
The experienced IT team at Indonesian Cloud is capable of analyzing the unique needs of each company and responding with management solutions, consulting services, the latest technologies, and IT services in Jakarta and surrounding areas.
That is our explanation. If you would like to read more articles about technology or need further information about Indonesian Cloud products, you can visit our website at Indonesiancloud.com, as well as our VPS website cloudhostingaja.com. See you in our next article.