My Recent Writing Affirms Cloud Technology Is Where IT Is At

In thinking over my professional activities in the past year, I can't help but notice that most of my writing touches more or less directly on cloud platforms, tools, technologies and related add-ons and appurtanences. I write regularly for the Wiley team on their [Fill in the Blank] For Dummies custom publications. Ditto for ActualTechMedia and their Gorilla Guides.

To verify to you that my sense of being caught up to the cloud isn't just idle fantasy, here's a list of what I've done for each of those publishers in the past 12 months:

As you can see from these various efforts, lots of companies want to provide prospective customers (and the IT pros who support them) with accessible, user-friendly information to explain how their platforms and tools work. Along the way, of course, they'd like to persuade those with the power of the purse strings to pony up enough cash to partake of such offerings.

Often, that's the income streams from subscriptions that usually play into the use-what-you-need, pay-as-you-go world of the cloud. There's no doubt that this kind of thing brings benefits that are financial-, technical-, and innovation-oriented. Nothing less could drive the massive paradigm shift that's been underway for a decade and more.

For IT Pros, the Cloud Is Everywhere You Want to Be

If my own experience isn't enough of a guide, then look at top-paying and most popular IT certifications nowadays. Somewhere between one-third and one-half of them focus on the cloud. And nearly all the rest of them must touch on the cloud in some form or fashion. There's simply no getting away from it anymore.

If you're not already on one or more cloud certification tracks, then you should be thinking about which one to start with — I recommend AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, and Oracle as great starting points. Also be thinking about what comes after that.

These days, if you want to stay meaningfully and gainfully employed in IT, then you really do need your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds. 'Nuff said.