How to Become a Cloud Engineer

Cloud Engineers are IT professionals responsible for creating and maintaining cloud infrastructure and platforms. They design, implement, and manage computing services including servers, databases, networks, and software on platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. They build the reliable foundation that applications run on, ensuring systems can handle millions of users while maintaining security, performance, and cost-efficiency.

What makes this role unique: While DevOps Engineers focus on automating the entire software delivery pipeline, Cloud Engineers specialize in the cloud environment itself—designing architectures, managing resources, implementing security, and optimizing costs across cloud platforms.

Best suited for: Engineers who enjoy infrastructure design, working with cloud platforms, and building scalable, secure systems. Strong understanding of networking, security, and distributed systems is essential.

With 451,360 professionals employed nationwide and 3% projected growth, this is a strong career choice. Explore Cloud Computing degree programs to get started.

A typical day for a cloud engineer involves diverse responsibilities across different phases of work.

Essential Tools: Cloud Engineers rely heavily on these core technologies:

• AWS: Amazon Web Services—largest cloud provider by market share, dominant in the US
• Azure: Microsoft's cloud platform—strong in enterprise environments using Microsoft products
• Google Cloud Platform: Leading tools for data engineering, ML, and analytics (BigQuery, Vertex AI)
• Terraform: Open-source IaC tool for multi-cloud deployments—the standard for cloud infrastructure
• Kubernetes: Container orchestration platform for managing containerized applications at scale

Also commonly used:

• Docker: Containerization platform for packaging and deploying applications
• CloudFormation: AWS-native Infrastructure as Code service
• Ansible: Configuration management and automation tool
• Prometheus/Grafana: Monitoring and visualization stack for cloud observability
• Jenkins/GitHub Actions: CI/CD pipeline tools for automated deployments

Emerging technologies to watch:

• Pulumi: Modern IaC using general-purpose programming languages
• FinOps Tools: Cloud cost optimization and financial management tools
• AI/ML Cloud Services: AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, Vertex AI for ML infrastructure
• Serverless Frameworks: AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Functions for serverless computing

Certifications can increase your earning potential and demonstrate expertise to employers.

Must-have portfolio projects:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Common technical questions:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Behavioral questions to prepare for:

• See detailed requirements in the sections above

Like any career, cloud engineers face unique challenges in their daily work.

Cloud Engineer vs Dev Ops:

Cloud Engineer vs S R E:

Cloud Engineer vs Solutions Architect:

Research market rates and be prepared to demonstrate your value during salary negotiations.

Cloud computing is projected to grow 15% through 2034. GCP is fastest-growing (12% market share). LinkedIn shows 45,000+ AWS engineer openings vs 24,000 for GCP. The demand will continue for many years as enterprises complete digital transformation.

Hot industries hiring cloud engineers: Fintech - High security requirements, regulatory compliance, Healthcare - HIPAA compliance, data privacy, E-commerce - Scalability for peak traffic periods, SaaS Companies - Multi-tenant architectures at scale, AI/ML Companies - GPU infrastructure, model training platforms

Emerging trends: Multi-cloud and Hybrid Cloud - 87% of enterprises adopting multi-cloud, FinOps - Cloud cost optimization as dedicated discipline, Serverless Architecture - Event-driven computing growing rapidly, AI/ML Infrastructure - MLOps and AI platform engineering