If you're considering a career in cloud computing, you've probably spent time researching AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. These cloud service platforms offer customers on-demand access to computing resources, such as servers, storage, networking, and applications, over the internet. Gartner forecasts that the worldwide public cloud services market will reach $1.42 trillion by 2029, driven by artificial intelligence workloads and continued enterprise modernization.
After teaching cloud computing at UMGC for the past six years and working in cybersecurity, I've learned firsthand that many students focus primarily on learning technical skills during their studies. While those skills are essential, they alone are not enough to make someone effective across the diverse roles and responsibilities of cloud administration. In this blog article, I use the term cloud administrator broadly to include professionals who design, implement, secure, manage, or support cloud solutions.
The Three-Skill Framework
More than 70 years ago, leadership scholar Robert Katz proposed that effective professionals develop three kinds of skills: technical, human, and conceptual. Although Katz developed this leadership framework decades before cloud computing emerged, it provides a useful lens for understanding how different types of skills contribute to professional success. Some of the most effective information technology (IT) professionals I’ve worked with are not defined by their technical expertise alone. They also communicate effectively, collaborate across teams, and understand how cloud technology supports broader organizational goals.
I’ve developed all three skill categories throughout my career. As a line manager on a cloud security project, I used them to guide my team, collaborate across disciplines, and connect our work with organizational priorities. Managing people meant understanding their challenges and helping them see how their work contributed to the larger project. Today, I apply these same skills to assess architectural changes, resolve security issues with engineers, and explain risks to project sponsors. These experiences also shape my class lectures and discussions, helping students connect what they learn to situations they may encounter at work.
Technical Skills Get You Started
Technical skills are the foundation of most cloud careers. Whether you're interested in AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, or another provider, you benefit from understanding how cloud environments are designed, deployed, secured, and managed. At UMGC, students develop this foundation by studying cloud service models, deployment models, virtualization, networking, security, automation, and the shared responsibility model. Students can gain these skills by earning a master's degree in cloud computing systems, an undergraduate certificate in computer networking and cybersecurity, or a graduate certificate in cloud computing and networking. Hands-on labs and certification preparation reinforce these concepts by helping students apply classroom knowledge in practical, real-world scenarios.
Certifications remain valuable because they demonstrate technical competence and a commitment to continuous learning. However, certifications alone may not distinguish professionals over the course of a long career. Employers increasingly seek individuals who can apply their technical expertise to solve business problems, communicate effectively with stakeholders, collaborate across teams, build strong working relationships, and adapt as cloud technologies continue to evolve.
Human Skills Help You Stand Out
Cloud computing is rarely a solo effort. Most cloud initiatives require collaboration among engineers, cybersecurity professionals, software developers, project managers, and business leaders. Technical expertise is important, but projects often succeed because people communicate effectively and work well together.
Throughout my career, the cloud professionals who earn greater responsibility are not necessarily those with the strongest technical skills alone. They're often the ones who can explain complex ideas clearly, collaborate across teams, write effective documentation, and build trust with colleagues and customers. Research also suggests that employers place growing importance on interpersonal skills and often value them more than students entering the workforce realize. This highlights the need for higher education and industry to help future professionals develop these essential skills.
Students can begin developing these skills through group projects, classroom discussions, technical writing assignments, internships, and participation in professional organizations. These experiences mirror the collaboration expected in today's technology workplace.
Conceptual Skills Help You Think Like a Leader
As cloud professionals gain experience, they begin making decisions that extend beyond technology. Cloud architecture influences cybersecurity, compliance, budgets, operational resilience, business continuity, and organizational strategy. Every technical decision involves tradeoffs.
For example, designing a highly resilient multi-region architecture may improve availability but increase operational costs. Expanding logging and monitoring strengthens security while also increasing data storage and management requirements. Automating infrastructure improves consistency but requires governance and oversight.
Conceptual skills allow cloud professionals to connect these technical decisions to larger organizational objectives. Rather than asking only, “Can we build this?” They begin asking questions like, “Should we build it this way, and how does it support the organization's mission?”
Building a Cloud Career That Lasts
Cloud technology will continue to evolve. Artificial intelligence, automation, platform engineering, and cloud-native development are already changing how organizations design and manage cloud environments.
The professionals who thrive won't simply be those who master today's cloud platforms. They'll be the ones who continue learning, communicate effectively, solve organizational problems, and connect technology to business outcomes.
Technical skills may launch a cloud career, but human and conceptual skills often determine how far you advance.
Preparing for a Cloud Career at UMGC
Cloud computing offers exciting opportunities across industries, and there has never been a better time to begin developing cloud skills.
At UMGC, students gain hands-on experience with modern cloud technologies while also strengthening the communication, collaboration, and strategic thinking skills employers increasingly value. Whether you're preparing for your first certification or planning a long-term career in cloud computing, remember that certifications may help open the first door—but your ability to communicate, collaborate, and think strategically will often determine how far you go.
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