How to become a Cloud Solution Architect [Step-by-Step] Guide

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information visit our disclosure page

In this article “How to become a Cloud Solution Architect” you will get to know every aspect of a cloud solution architect career path so that you can easily decide; Is a cloud solution architect career path right fit for me …or not? If ‘Yes’ then how can I become a Cloud Solution Architect?

By the end of this article, you will get know how to start? And what to know before following this career path?

So let’s hop right in.

Nowadays cloud solution architect is one of the hottest and most demanded career professions in the IT industries.

If you are an IT guy who wants to learn cloud computing I assure you, by learning this technology you can increase your salary up to threefold.

If you are still studying in college or just passed your college and searching for the technology to learn to get enter into IT then you must know about this overwhelming career path.

Before actually going to know the step-by-step procedure to become a Cloud Solution Architect. Let’s get an overview of what is a cloud solution architect and try to understand what you will be going up to.

What is meant by Cloud Solution Architect? 

Architect (in General terms): Someone who makes plans and designs before actual construction happens by understanding all the requirements of a project referred to as an architect. That means we can’t build anything durable without any prior planning and designing.

Thus we can say that an architect plays a vital role in the foundation to build something stable and efficient.

Architect (Cloud Computing):  A Cloud Solution Architect is a person who is responsible to build an environment/ Infrastructure over to the cloud by planning and designing the available resources.

If you are interested in knowing more about Cloud Technology you can refer to this article; Detailed guide about cloud & cloud computing that a non-technical person could also understand and can easily learn about cloud computing.

The resources used to build a cloud infrastructure could be routers, switches, servers, firewalls, storage device, virtual machines, memory, load balancers, etc.

A Cloud Solution Architect is also called to be a Cloud Architect / Cloud Engineer / Cloud Computing Architect / Solution Architect.

Education required to become a Cloud Solution Architect

Education 1 (Mandatory): High School Diploma

You must have to pass your High school in Maths and Computer in order to become a cloud solution architect.

However, this is not completely true that a person with a science stream is only able to pursue a cloud solution architect path. We will understand later how anybody can make their career in cloud computing.

Education 2 (Mandatory): Bachelor’s Degree

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent. A person who wants to pursue a cloud computing career path must have a technical background.

Like I said earlier, anyone can become a cloud engineer/cloud solution architect even if they have done their graduation with a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts). Although according to the facts, most cloud engineers are from a technical background.

The most important thing needed to become a cloud solution architect is the skillset that you should have (check the Skills set down in this article). And even if you don’t have a technical degree you can also be technical by learning those skills.

If you are from a non-technical background and you are passionate about cloud computing then you should read this article “How a non-technical make a career in Cloud Computing

Education 3 (Optional): Master’s Degree

Lots of candidates go for higher studies after just completing their bachelor’s, however, to become a cloud solution architect bachelor’s degree is more than sufficient.

To get an entry-level job no need to do a master’s but this would be a great help at the time of promotion.

The best option to enroll in the master’s degree program is while doing the job, as the vast majority of IT people preferred.

Top 5 cloud computing Certifications for Cloud Solution Architects

There are many cloud vendors who provide certification in cloud architecture. Certification ensures that you are mastered in particular cloud services and so you are apt to be hired.

IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS are the three services given by cloud service providers to the customers.

So being a cloud solution architect you are going to get mastered IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Therefore your area of expertise will be IaaS.

These are the following certifications, which are in most demand (Descending order)

  1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
  2. Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions
  3. Google Cloud Certified Professional Architect
  4. Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA)
  5. CompTIA Cloud+ Certification

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been securing its position for several years. And so, AWS is the largest shareholder in the cloud industry followed by Microsoft Azure.

To get certified in one of the above-mentioned certifications you can join some online courses. In this article, I will tell you, what are the best online available programs you can consider to get certified?

What will you learn as a Cloud Solution Architect? 

These are the following things you would get to learn throughout your cloud solution architect career path.

  • What is Cloud Computing and how did it come into existence (History of cloud computing)
  • Why cloud technology is being popular. Benefits of using cloud services for an organization.
  • What are the features of the cloud and how to use it?
  • Different cloud providers in the industry and the differences between them.
  • Types of Cloud Services: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas), Platform-as-a-Service (Paas), Software-as-a-Service (Saas)
  • Cloud deployment models: Private Cloud, Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, Community Cloud
  • Cloud services such as compute, networking, storage, and database
  • How to manage cloud environment efficiently
  • Concepts of elasticity and scalability
  • Data Storage and Recovery techniques
  • Cloud Security threats and their countermeasures
  • Cloud Architecture (Front End & Back End)
  • How to Plan and Design cloud services efficiently and effectively

Required Skills set to become a Cloud Solution Architect

These are the skill sets you must have if you want to pursue a cloud solution architect career path. So these are the few most common knowing and necessary skills a cloud solution architect should have…

Operating System: Linux, Windows, Mac

Domains/Services in Cloud Computing: Compute, Networking, Database, Storage & Migration, Management, Scalability, and Security

Know all the important domains and services of AWS

Most popular Microsoft Azure Cloud services you should know

Networking: LAN/WAN technologies, OSI model and TCP/IP suite, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Telnet and Secure Shell (SSH), Load balancer, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Access Control List (ACL), Network Address Translation (NAT), Routing tables, Switches, Router, and Firewalls.

If you want to hone your Networking knowledge and skills consider these two certifications CCNA R&S | CompTIA Network+

Other than the above skills sets, as a cloud solution architect, you must have a clear understanding of these things.

  • Cloud Architecture designing
  • Configuration and deployment of cloud infrastructure
  • Management and maintenance of the cloud services
  • Web servers and application servers
  • Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
  • Computing devices
  • Troubleshooting
  • Hypervisors and virtualization software
  • Virtual Machines (Hardware + Software Virtualization)

What are the Tools used by a Cloud Solution Architect? 

The tools you will be going to use to design and troubleshoot companies’ infrastructure would completely depend upon which cloud service provider you are going to choose to get expertise in cloud solution architecture i.e. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

The prerequisite before using tools

[1] You should have a PC or laptop (the configuration would be fine in the medium range (not too high or not too low))

[2] Internet connection to reach out the cloud services and to get the benefit of resources which you have purchased or rented from a cloud provider.

Suppose you decided to get expertise with AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud services. So the tools which you are going to use as a cloud solution architect would be as follows…

Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) | Elastic Beanstalk | AWS Auto Scaling | Simple Storage Service (S3) | Glacier | Elastic Block Store (EBS) | Storage Gateway | AWS Snowball | Relational Database Service (RDS) | DynamoDB | Redshift | ElastiCache | Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) | CloudFront | Route 53 | Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) | CloudWatch | Simple Notification Service (SNS) | Simple Queue Service (SQS) | Identity Access Management (IAM)

Microsoft Azure also has these types of tools to manage and design cloud infrastructure but with different names. Similar cloud services in AWS and Azure

What are the best online courses to learn Cloud Solution Architect?

To learn all those skills & tools and finally become a certified cloud solution architect you have two options. You can choose either one or choose both of them depending upon your capability.

[1] Learn all the above-mentioned skills and tools by yourself. Yes, you can learn by yourself there are plenty of resources on the internet and in books. The problem with this learning path is it takes time. If you have time then you are good to go with this long way option.

[2] The second option is to search for the best online course and join the same. This is the short way it will consume much less time to learn cloud architecting than the first option.

5 best online courses you can join to learn cloud architecting from the comfort of your home. These courses also help you to get certified in the respective cloud solution architect certification.

  1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
  2. Cloud Computing Specialization – by University of Illinois
  3. AZ- Azure Architecture Technologies Certification Exam
  4. Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure
  5. Mastering OpenStack Certification Training

All above-listed courses have 30 days money back guarantee. If you don’t like the course you can get back your money without any question ask.

Best Cloud Solution Architect Books you can read

  1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam
  2. Azure for Architects
  3. OpenStack for Architects: Design production-ready private cloud infrastructure
  4. Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture (The Prentice Hall Service Technology Series from Thomas Erl)

How to become a Cloud Solution Architect [Step-by-Step] Procedure

[Step 1] to become a Cloud Architect: High School (12th)

Like any others career required similarly to become a cloud architect, you should have a primary education before moving to any career path.

It does not matter what subjects you have in your high school. But if you have a choice to opt for mathematics and computer science or a subject related to IT then definitely you should grab these subjects.

[Step 2] to become a Cloud Architect: Bachelor’s Degree

Anybody can become a cloud solution architect even though not having a technical bachelor’s degree. That is to say, any graduate whether they have done their graduation in the technical related field or just graduated in Arts or from any subjects can pursue this career path.

However, if a person belongs to a non-technical background but he/she wants to be a cloud solution architect then obviously he/she has to struggle hard as compared to a person with a technical background.

How a non-technical person can make their career in Cloud Computing. Get the complete detail of what are the things you have to learn before entering into cloud computing?

[Step 3] to become a Cloud Architect: Concept of Cloud Computing

First and foremost you need to know about the basic concepts of cloud computing and find these general questions answers, which is really needed to be known.

  • What is really meant by cloud computing?
  • Why is cloud technology gaining so much popularity in a short period of time?
  • What are the services offered by cloud providers?
  • Why industries are shifting their whole IT infrastructure toward the cloud?
  • What actually I am going to do as a cloud solution architect in an organization?

You will get all your questions answered in this article; Cloud Computing Career path

[Step 4] to become a Cloud Architect: Practical exposure

Before going for the certifications or enrolling in any short-term courses or diplomas. You must know the tools and software which you are going to use to solve the problem related to cloud infrastructure.

You can get some practical experience with those tools and actually get to know how those tools work in a real-time environment by registering into the respective cloud platforms.

Don’t worry it does not cost you any single penny you just need to complete their signup process. Many of the cloud providers give you free tier offers, such as…

  • AWS (Amazon Web Service):  Click Here to get complete details about the free offer from the AWS
  • Microsoft Azure: Click Here to know about the free usage of Azure
  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Click Here to get the free signup offer.

I am not saying you have to be a guru in all the tools related to Cloud Architect without knowing how to use them appropriately.

You just need to get an overview of the tools provided by these cloud vendors. Those tools would be your buddy in your whole cloud solution architect career path.

It feels good to see the tools and applications of the domain in which you are interested. Now you exactly know this is the platform I am going to use to shape my career.

[Step 5] to become a Cloud Architect: Build required skill sets

If you are in a hurry to learn cloud technology there is no better way than joining a reputed training institute or even better if you go for online courses and learn from industries experts.

They tell you the exact same thing which is written in the books but in a more comprehensive and understandable way.

Not only, but you will also get to learn this technology in a few months, there you can build your networking (connect with other people), which would eventually help you in the future to get a better opportunity.

So these training institutes and short-term online programs will really help you a lot to achieve success in cloud computing industries in a short span of time.

[Step 6] to become a Cloud Architect: Certification

Certification adds great value to your resume and provides lots of job opportunities. However, to get an entry-level job in cloud computing certification is not mandatory. You can go for it in the future while doing the job.

But I would suggest getting the certification first then start looking for jobs. Because after becoming a certified solution architect the salary package you would get at least double as compared to the non-certified cloud engineers.

Must Check >> Best Online Courses for Cloud Solution Architect Which Eventually Help You To Pass Certification Exam

Like I said earlier you have to option to become a cloud solution architect. So if you did not enroll for training then you should be fine after getting certified.

The training institutes and online learning platform provides you with job assistance, which you really don’t need after getting certified.

You can get a job by yourself after passing the cloud solution architect exam.

So if you have full faith in yourself that you can pass the certification exam without taking any training, you can escape step 5 on the way to becoming a cloud solution architect.

These are the six steps that you should have to pass in order to become a cloud solution architect.

If you know how to develop applications and software by using programming languages then you have a better option to go with. Know “How to become a Cloud Developer

Cloud Solution Architect Job Description

As the name implies architect, means to design something. The architect is responsible for designing the whole building infrastructure. The same applies to cloud solution architects, but here the buildings are the cloud (Digital Cloud).

These are the following job duties a cloud solution architect is responsible for…

  • Understand the need for the project and then architect the cloud infrastructure according to the requirement of resources.
  • Design and implement the complete IT infrastructure environment. Also, make sure the cloud environment you made is by concerning other multi-cloud environments (Ex. AWS and Azure).
  • Deploying and maintaining (management & monitoring) the cloud infrastructure.
  • They ensure all the services deploy securely and correctly.
  • Assist with cloud deployment and integrate newly developed and existing applications into private, public, and hybrid cloud environments.
  • Guide the organization on how to use cloud computing technology. Provide the strategies to efficiently use the space in cloud infrastructure.
  • Perform routine maintenance to utilize the cloud space in a viable way. The maintenance task such as clearing and archiving logs, compressing drives, removing outdated firewall rules, and removing other unused resources.
  • Migrate all the application and their databases on the cloud infrastructure using industry-leading tools, utilities, and methodologies.
  • After deployment of applications on the cloud you have to manage it.
  • Analyzing business and technical requirements of the clients and translating them into technical solutions leveraging cloud and virtualization technologies.
  • Helping organizations understand the infrastructure and application architectures.

Cloud Solution Architect Career Scope

As we know cloud computing is a buzzword nowadays. Because of its features and advantages every company wants to migrate its whole infrastructure to the cloud.

So they need someone who can build an efficient and reliable infrastructure according to their requirements, that is, they all need a cloud solution architect.

Cloud computing was first introduced by Amazon (AWS) in 2004, and because it is a new technology not many people are experts in this field. So this industry required many cloud solution architects to connect the company’s infrastructure to the cloud. And after that managing all the cloud infrastructure.

Therefore every organization has a requirement for a cloud solution architect whether they have migrated their infrastructure to the cloud or not.

I don’t think the booming requirements of cloud solution architect is going to slow down anytime soon.

Cloud computing is the technology of the future so if you have decided to go for this career path then definitely without any doubt, you should start following this career path whether you are a fresher or experienced.