Want an IT Job? Add 'Cloud' To Your Buzzword List

jfruhlinger writes "There was a predicted uptick in IT hiring for late this year, but it's mid-November and it hasn't happened yet. Kevin Fogarty does see growth in one area, though: cloud and virtualization experts are being fought over, lured away from in-house jobs to cloud consultancies popping up everywhere."

Comments

Today's word..."Cloud"

[grasshoppa]

I think it's important to define the word "Cloud" as no one else seems to, yet the definition itself lends great insight to the concept.

The "Cloud", as referenced here, is nothing more than the delegation of responsibilities...specifically those of infrastructure. That's it. It's not some mystical cure all. In fact, it's nothing more than a glorified way to outsource applications.

Now there are specific technologies which lend themselves to this concept ( those of virtualization, certainly ), but the overall goal is the same; the business doesn't want to worry about the infrastructure behind their app. They simply want it to work.

Which is why internal "clouds" have always amused me to no end...

Re:Today's word..."Cloud"

[Belial6]

I can define the cloud for you. Cloud (noun) : The symbol used to indicate parts of the network that you have no knowledge of. Frequently used by people to describe external computer resources as a new concept when their knowledge of computers only extends back to 1998.

Yes, it is a very bad thing

[syousef]

Is that a bad thing not to want to worry about the infrastructure?

Yes, it's a VERY VERY bad thing if your business and it's reputation relies on said infrastructure.

Re:Yes, it is a very bad thing

[Brian Quinlan]

Is that a bad thing not to want to worry about the infrastructure?

Yes, it's a VERY VERY bad thing if your business and it's reputation relies on said infrastructure.

I agree. Which is why I would assume that your company manages the following infrastructure internally:

• Power
• Connectivity (data and voice both mobile and wired)
• Transportation (you'd hate for your employees not to be able to get to work because the public roads are super-congested or otherwise unavailable)
• Water (without working toilets your business is going to be in the crapper pretty quickly)
• ...

Re:Yes, it is a very bad thing

[ArsenneLupin]

All larger companies do have a "facilities management" department, which does at least some of these:

• Power: they manage their own on-site power wiring. And UPS and (for some) even an onsite generating station (we have, and we even sell excess power to the grid)
• Communication: they manage their office network and their PABX (to which both desk phones and company-issued DECT phones are connected. And many companies run a blackberry server)
• Transportation: During winter, on-campus roads are gritted by the company, not by the commune. For foot travel between buildings, our company offers complimentary umbrellas :-) Within buildings there are elevators. And guess who built the parking lots, and the speed bumps on the access roads, and even the access roads themselves?
• Water: On site water distribution is organized by the company. Some even have their own wells or storage ponds (think steel mills or others who need non-trivial quantities of water for cooling purpose)

Re:Yes, it is a very bad thing

[musicalmicah]

And by the same token, smaller companies don't provide that infrastructure. This is exactly why "cloud computing" services are commonly targeted towards smaller companies. When you have three people in your office and a total budget of $500,000/year, buying and managing any infrastructure--for computing, power, communication, transportation, or water--can be daunting. Outsourcing management of these functions allows you and your employees to focus on your strengths.

And despite what the business weeklies may pretend, a massive part of our economy flows through small businesses rather than megacorps with on-campus roads and storage ponds.

The demand is there, like it or not

[joh]

One very simple example: Do you have ever set up Google Apps for a domain, with email, contacts, calendar, Google sites and so on? Yeah, it's all in the cloud and all you have to do is clicking on buttons and filling out forms. Now go and look at some user trying to set this up. More likely than not he will get as far as configuring the MX-records and then he will cry for help.

All this cloud stuff seems to be so simple, but it very much isn't. And yes, this actually is nothing a real pro would like to bother with (you'll be fighting more with the UIs than anything else) but there is high demand for this, people think they can finally get away without someone who knows what he does, but they can't.

Most of this is in no way interesting or satisfying work but just fighting half-wit user interfaces. It's sometimes insulting, actually. Instead of really setting up things and controlling things you're hanging off someone else's setup and try to beat some sense out of it. It's often frustrating, you often will have to come to the conclusion that things you would like to do just can't be done because they're not offered and you can't do anything about that. But hey, it's just work.

Me? I'd rather setup a full server park from scratch with old PCs and Linux than fighting the "cloud", but guess what's in demand more. And yes, there's a whole army of trained monkeys out there, knowing every cloud service under the sun and with superhuman point-and-click abilities, but if you really know your job and also know about problems and limitations you can still easily make some money with this. Fun is this not, though. Fun is making things, not using things.

Re:no I won't

[cayenne8]

"Great ads and they work better than the truth of: Have no bloody clue what a probability is."

I know, I know.

I heard it put once that the best definition of the lottery was: " A voluntary tax for those that can't do math".

But when I buy $5 worth every once in awhile....it buys me about 2 days or so of daydreaming of what I'd do if I won all that money....