Cloud Computing or Artificial Intelligence — Which career is better?
Which is the best career option for newcomers?
If you are newly entering the job market in 2023, then I do not blame you for being nervous
“Tech Layoffs are happening”
“Jobs are scarce”
“Doom and gloom everywhere”
Same old blah blah
Let us look at the advantages you have
If you are a newcomer to the industry, then you have an enormous advantage over older and more experienced people like me in that your primary goal is to nab that all-important experience
Salary and other perks while important are all secondary
Junior-level positions are also much easier to get compared to senior-level positions that have much more competition.
A common question I get asked by newcomers is which field to choose ?
I made a video a few months back on Artificial Intelligence vs Cybersecurity and it is by far the most popular video on my Youtube channel
After that people started asking me what about Cloud Computing or Artificial Intelligence ?
Which field should you choose if you are a newcomer ?
Cloud Computing vs A.I. as a career
If you are caught between deciding which field to take then the good news is that both are amazing fields with excellent growth prospects
Believe me when I say shortage of jobs or lack of demand will not a problem if you are good in either of these fields
So which is better for you ?
That really depends on your individual skills and what topic you are passionate about but I have tried to make the decision easy for you
Below is the criteria I used:
❓ Market Demand — What are the long term / short term prospects ?
⚙️ Skills needed — What skills do you need to start this career ?
🚪 Entry Barrier — How difficult is it to get into this field
💵 Salaries — How well does this career pay ?
☁ ️Cloud computing
Cloud Computing is the future of IT .. like it or hate it .. slowly but surely most companies will move towards this model. Whether it is IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a service) or SaaS (Software as a Service), this vast field can accommodate all types of skills
❓ Market Demand
Cloud Computing is a very hot field with job openings for nearly every type of skill be it DevSecOps, Cloud Architects, Cloud Security Engineers etc. With giants like AWS, Microsoft and Google all investing billions into their cloud infrastructures, there is no chance of this industry going way anytime soon. Despite cuts in tech spending, CIOs do not want the hassle of maintaining data centers and the costs that come with it
The private and public cloud market in the financial services industry is poised to grow by $90175.21 mn during 2023–2027
⚙️ Skills needed
The Cloud is a massive field and an accommodate pretty much any IT skill with roles like Cloud Developer, DevSecOps engineer, Sysops engineer, DevOps engineer, Data engineer etc. all available. However the smart move is to get hands on with one of the major platforms like AWS, Azure or Google Cloud for which there are multiple free trainings available.
I have written before on how to get hands on experience even if you do not have a job right now. It was written for cloud security but can be applied even to Cloud Computing as a whole.
🚪 Entry Barrier ( LOW )
The entry barrier for Cloud computing is quite low provided you are able to develop the core skills for a cloud provider. There are simply too many cloud jobs and not enough cloud professionals but you have to be able to show you “get” the cloud before landing that job.
If the recruiter is talking about the Shared Responsibility Model and you are sitting there with a blank face then you will have problems ! Get certified and hands on with the cloud before you start applying for those jobs.
There are numerous ways of boosting your profile and getting Cloud Experience which I written about before so do check those articles out.
💵 Salaries ( Medium to High )
Cloud Professionals can command some of the highest salaries in the IT industry right now despite the cuts in tech spending. This is even more true if you are able to validate your experience with certifications like the AWS Solutions Architect professional or the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect which are some of the hardest to get in the industry. Without those specialized certs, you still might be able to get a good salary and then work towards a higher pay scale once you have a few years of experience under your belt.
🧠 Artificial Intelligence?
A.I. is the science and field of making intelligent machines i.e. making machines “learn” and make decisions the way humans can. This is done via machine learning algorithms that use data to build a model on which decision to make. A.I. has pretty much become commonplace now from Alexa to Deepfakes to even our Netflix recommendations list.
❓ Market Demand
A.I. is being used in every industry right now from military, education, finance, hospitality .. you name it !
Just do a simple job search and you will see job postings for Robotics programmers, Machine Learning engineers, ML researchers, A.I. technical writers etc. .. There is no shortage with people with A.I. and Machine Learning skills
Just to put things in perspective here is an excerpt from a recent report
AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined
⚙️ Skills needed
While A.I. is a vast field, programming and Data Science skills are some of the essentials skills you need to have a successful career. As an AI or Machine learning engineer you will be dealing with analytical models and working with datasets so if interacting with huge amounts of data is not your cup of tea then AI is definitely not the field for you.
You will also need to be proficient in languages like R, Python , Java, Perl etc. and have a good foundational knowledge of probability and statistics.
As the industry matures, more types of job openings will come up such as A.I. security or A.I. governance but currently they are far and few between.
🚪 Entry Barrier ( MEDIUM TO HIGH)
The entry barrier for A.I. is a bit higher than Cloud Computing due to the more specialized skills required. It is not easy to break into AI if you don’t have a specific set of skills ( Taken reference ! ). If you are already have good data and programing skills then you might find it easier than most and can build up the other skills over time if AI is a career you are passionate about.
There are numerous programs available over the internet such as Google AI. I would recommend going with a proper A.I. degree program as there is a higher learning curve that cloud computing . These are built for professionals and focus on real world problems to build up your knowledge. Not going to recommend any specific one but you can easily find them.
💵 Salaries ( HIGH)
A.I. jobs are typically some of the highest paying jobs year in and year out as can be seen by pretty much any salary report. While the entry barrier is high, the pay is definitely worth it !
There is a lot of turnover within A.I. professionals as they are easily able to secure better paying jobs within their industry.
Final Takeaway
I hope this gave you a good idea of both industries and helps you decide which career path you want to take. Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing both are booming industries which offer long term career growth and success. Make a decision about which suits your interests and passions then invest in your long term success fully.
One last point I may mention is that you can even combine the two as most A.I. platforms are hosted on Cloud providers. AWS , Microsoft and Google all offer managed services for A.I. and Machine Learning which you can learn and get the best of both worlds !
I wish you all the best in your career !