Multicloud Fluency: 5 reasons to learn multiple clouds

Updated on: March 15, 2023

So you're proficient in a popular cloud platform like AWS, Azure or GCP. Now what? There are two common pathways: Specialize in a cloud-adjacent field or expand your knowledge of the cloud providers.

Cybersecurity is the number one skills gap and the top concern for organizations, so it's easy to see why a cybersecurity specialization could be beneficial. But what's the benefit to learning multiple clouds?

First, having an awareness of how other cloud services work makes you more effective in your primary cloud platform. There is a general principle in technology: Understanding different paradigms is valuable, even if you’re not working in them directly.  For example, it’s worth learning about the functional programming paradigm even if you spend your time writing in a programming language that isn't purely functional. With this knowledge, you can design parts of your code to take advantage of functional techniques and reap those benefits.

There's a lot of controversy over whether organizations should invest in multicloud infrastructures. But they're designing them anyway. For individual contributors, this opens a world of opportunity. Having multicloud capabilities means you're prepared to support a multicloud environment if (and most likely when) it's time to implement and manage at your current organization or a new one.

Those capable with multiple clouds are rare—and sometimes even referred to as “unicorns” in the hiring market. If you have these skills, you're very desirable to companies leading the charge in cloud computing, which can mean higher pay and more advanced opportunities.

Even if you don't aren't fully proficient in all the main cloud providers, you increase your job prospects when you understand how each works . If you get locked into the mindset that you are, for example, an “Azure specialist” and won’t touch anything AWS, you restrict your career options.

As a leader, knowing the differences between cloud services means you understand the trade off decisions that make one cloud platform a better fit than another within a specific strategy. Then you can make informed decisions about which cloud to use or combine services from multiple clouds (or other individual service vendors).

Having experience with multiple cloud providers also gives you a leg up because you understand the different cloud offerings. A multicloud background allows you to be picky about which companies you take on as a cloud consultant.

Most organizations (more than 80%) operate in multicloud environments. So whether you’re talking to developers, architects, or sysadmins, it helps to speak the language of whatever cloud provider they're using. Being aware of the terms and quirks of these cloud services saves time and prevents misunderstandings when working across multiple teams and platforms.

Discover more about the most common potholes organizations run into when developing a multicloud strategy.

It's not that hard! If you already know one cloud, it’s much easier to pick up another. Many of the services are similar, so the differences stand out. It’s a lot like how learning a second programming language is generally easier than learning the first. There are a lot of shared fundamentals between platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, so you won’t learn everything from scratch.

Speaking cloud doesn’t have to be hard. We analyzed millions of responses to ID the top terms that trip teams up. In this cloud guide, you’ll find succinct definitions of some of the most painful cloud concepts.

If you’re looking to fill the gaps in your cloud knowledge, the best way is to target and achieve a cloud certification. Each cloud provider has a non-technical, entry-level certification you can take to get started.  And when it's time to dive deeper, you can follow that up by taking progressively more advanced ones depending on your needs.

Learn more about the most popular certifications for AWS, Azure, and GCP and how to identify which ones are right for your career path.