CLOUD COMPUTING-Training and certification for a cloud native world, by Keri Allan

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CLOUD COMPUTING

Training and certification for a cloud native world

Posted by Keri Allan on January 13 2019

Cloud native is changing the way the world works. So says Todd Moore, Vice President, Open Technology at IBM and Chairman of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) governing board. With Kubernetes now considered the de facto standard for container orchestration and many of the world's largest technology firms providing large contributions towards cloud native projects, it's now impossible to ignore this technology and the benefits it can bring to businesses.

As more and more companies are focusing on digital transformation, cloud native skill sets are growing in demand. It's still early days, but it's important for many IT professionals - and companies - to begin looking into training so as not to get left behind.

Moore says that he's seeing an increasing thirst for cloud native knowledge and a growing number of people are stepping up to get trained. He estimates that around 20% of organisations have already really started to make a move into cloud native, but that means 80% have not yet made the leap. Therefore individuals with the right knowledge under their belt are likely to become highly sought after, while companies with staff trained in cloud native will gain a business advantage over their competitors.

Moore highlights that certification will become equally as important "because it's not just about training people, it's knowing that they understand the technology and can do the job correctly," he says. "Therefore we're going to see certification become more important to people's careers as certified individuals are likely to earn more money."

Don't keep your head in the sand

Dan Kohn, CNCF Executive Director, agrees that cloud native training and certification is a great opportunity for those looking to advance their career, but that some developers and sysadmins have been avoiding it.

"I think there are a lot of people who are scared by this stuff and have put their head in the sand regarding cloud native training," he says. "Our message is that all of your existing system admin skills actually do port over and give you a huge head start in the cloud native world."

Moore says that the developers are the new kingmakers in this world, and as those making the technical choices, are the ones that need to undertake thorough, regular technical training.

"The onus is on the individuals. In our company we tell individuals you need to keep up your skills. Keep learning, moving forward - the code you write in open source is your résumé, so do a good job with it and keep your skills up."

Realistically each company only needs a small group of employees that are experts in cloud native, but Moore notes that it's still important that those working in management should also have a basic understanding of cloud native.

"The management team need to understand the new techniques and the way they need to change as well, so there's also a level of training they need, especially CIOs. It's not the old days where it was top down ‘you'll use this package'," he says.

"There's a very basic understanding of cloud native needed at that level," adds Liz Rice, Technology Evangelist at Aqua Security. "They don't need a huge level of technical knowledge, we just need to get the terminology and awareness into the boardroom," she notes.

Which skills?

But with so much going on within the cloud native community, what skills should people be looking to focus on? Even the CNCF experts say there are a variety of things to consider.

"There are so many different areas to this. It's certainly important to understand orchestration, Kubernetes, container technologies and how to apply containers correctly," says Moore. "Skills on performance are always very good. Twelve factor application skills, understanding continuous integration, continuous delivery, DevOps - because those are the ways you'll transform your business."

Types of training

As different people learn in different ways, it's great to see the variety of ways they can learn more about the technology.

For example, many people learn informally through the technical documents each CNCF cloud native project shares on its website. Others turn to podcasts. There's a variety on offer to download or stream, including a Kubernetes podcast from Google and PodCTL from Red Hat. Another common option is to view technical webinars, such as those run weekly by the CNCF.

Of course, offerings by the CNCF are very popular. More than 50,000 people have now taken its free Kubernetes Massively Open Online Course (MOOC), developed in partnership with edX, with many going on to take its paid courses and achieve certification.

"An individual wanting to upgrade their skills might go through this process: take the free course, then do the training and certification, which combined costs $500. They walk away certified, with this credibility, that I think dramatically improves their chance of getting hired," says Kohn.

He goes on to highlight that supporting staff in attaining certification can also help businesses. "When a company has three certified members of staff they can become a Kubernetes Certified Service Provider, so there's a positive corporate aspect to supporting certification," he adds.

"I think focusing on training and certification is one of the biggest opportunities out there and there are a lot of really great resources out there for people looking to learn about cloud native and for companies looking to adopt it. Helping individuals to upskill and gain certification is very important to us as it's a huge aspect of building the cloud native ecosystem," he concludes.



Source:https://www.idgconnect.com/analysis-review/1501003/training-certification-cloud-native-world?connect_token=cHJlbWl1bV9hcnRpY2xlMTU1MTYyNDIyMQ==