AZ303: Azure Architect Technologies — Protect Your Career in an Uncertain World
With recent events in the world, more and more people are concerned about an impending recession — which leads to the next question of ‘is my job safe?’.
We can’t predict the future, but when answering questions such as this we can certainly learn a lot from recent trends, and even current activities.
For example, during the current crisis, millions of people all over the world have been put on furlough or even let go simply because the distancing restrictions mean it’s impossible to do your work.
Those who can remotely work however have been left untouched, in fact in my own role as an Azure Architect my workload has INCREASED. In fact, According to Microsoft and IDC, 38% of IT positions will be cloud-related by 2021.
The reason for this is that businesses still need to function as best they can, and the ability to work from home and the best way to achieve that is through technology in general, and especially through cloud computing.
PayScale, a provider of salary, benefits, and compensation data, recently identified five jobs in five industries it thinks could withstand the inevitable job cuts that come with a recession, and Cloud Computing topped the lot with a median pay in the US of $126,000, and Senior Architects demanding up to $138k a year!
Increasing investment in the cloud had been happening anyway over the past few years, with organizations across the globe splashing out a record $107 billion on cloud-computing infrastructure services in 2019 — up 37% from the previous year, according to analyst firm Canalys. Gartner predicts worldwide spending on public cloud services will grow 17% in 2020 to total $266.4 billion, up from $227.8 billion in 2019.
Cloud, with its ability to provide greater mobility, remote working, and working from home, has accelerated this move and proven its use, therefore this trend can only continue — in fact, many are expecting it to increase at a FASTER rate.
To support this growth 66% of enterprises already have a central cloud team or cloud center of excellence, and core to these centers are individuals who are certified in the cloud.
According to Microsoft, when earning a certification, 23% of Microsoft certified technologists reported receiving up to a 20% salary increase, and certified new hires reach full productivity sooner, and end up having more opportunities for advancement. On average, certified employees earn 15% more than those without certification and are nearly 20% more productive.
The most sought after accreditation is the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert — for which you need to pass TWO exams — the first of which is AZ303 Azure Architect Technologies — this has recently been updated from AZ300 to include a slightly different focus.
To help get you started on your journey to Microsoft accreditation check out this book by Packt Publishing Authored by Brett Hargreaves, Sjoukje Zaal! https://packt.live/3t9J50D
