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With the rise of digital transformation and new cloud-based technologies, businesses everywhere need cloud engineers to move forward with their initiatives.
As demand increases, finding scalable and budget-right cloud talent has become a major challenge. 95% of businesses report that the cloud engineer skills shortage has negatively impacted their projects.
Here we’ll break down what to look for to effectively hire cloud engineers and evaluate their skills. Plus, we’ll discuss why many companies are turning to nearshore talent to fill these critical roles faster and more cost-effectively.
Why Cloud Engineers Are in High Demand Worldwide
The rapid growth of cloud adoption has driven an unprecedented demand for specialized cloud engineers. Today 94% of businesses are utilizing cloud computing and the average user logs into 36 cloud-based services every day.
At the same time, cloud architecture is becoming more complex, with businesses requiring modernized backends and multi-cloud set-ups.
Not to mention that new technologies – such as AI, big data and IoT – depend on strong cloud solutions. Businesses looking to ramp up these types of solutions often have to update their infrastructure and migrate applications to cloud platforms like AWS, Azure and GCP.
The Global Cloud Engineering Job Market
For these reasons, the job market for cloud engineers is booming with an annual growth rate of 12%. Overall, these engineers tackle key cloud-native development tasks including:
- Cloud migration
- Infrastructure as code (IaC)
- DevOps automation
- Multi-cloud management
- … and more!
Get the full scoop on the cloud engineering hiring market from Market Research Future.
Key Skills to Hire Cloud Engineers (LatAm and Beyond)
Due to this urgent demand, companies are clamoring to hire remote cloud engineers worldwide, especially AWS and Azure engineers. Here are the most in-demand cloud engineer skills that they’re seeking in fresh talent.
Technical Skills
- Cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP proficiency
- Programming: Java, Python, Ruby
- DevOps tools: Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes
- Security and cost management: Best practices for scalability and compliance
- Automation: CI/CD pipelines, scripting, monitoring tools
- Other skills: Migration, containerization, microservices, compliance regulations (HIPAA/GDPR)
Soft Skills
Distributed cloud engineering teams thrive when all members are well-synced. Soft skills such as remote work experience, agile collaboration and strong English communication ensure cloud projects go smoothly.
Business POV
Aligning cloud architecture with company KPIs is a must. Cloud engineers should have the business perspective to ensure their solutions are scalable, secure, multi-cloud and cost-efficient.
Learn about even more essential cloud computing skills for AWS engineers.
How to Evaluate and Interview LatAm Cloud Engineers
Narrowing down your cloud engineer candidates requires thoughtful evaluation of technical, soft and business skills. It’s critical that your cloud engineer has the practical proficiency and the big-picture thinking to implement a business-aligned solution.
1. Check Out Candidate Portfolios for Real-World Cloud Implementation
Ask your IT professional candidates to describe a past cloud project or solution. Often you can glean deep knowledge of the engineer’s thought process and practical skills by learning how they implemented previous solutions.
2. Use Tech Assessments That Simulate Business-Aligned Cloud Tasks
Create a technical challenge that fits with your current business goals. Whether an IaC project or a multi-cloud set-up, it’s worth getting a sense of how the cloud engineer would handle the task.
If you don’t have the in-house technical talent to make your own assessment, try working with a talent partner like Tecla. Often they can tailor technical tests according to your team’s specific needs.
3. Ask Behavioral Questions About Scaling Decisions, Security and Cost Optimization
Having a business mindset is crucial to align cloud solutions with your KPIs. Discuss related matters, including scalability, security and cost optimization to ensure your candidate has working knowledge of how to conceptualize cloud solutions for your business requirements.
4. Include Code or Architecture Reviews as Part of the Process
Reviewing and debugging code is a major part of optimizing cloud solutions. For instance, you might give a cloud migration expert an example architecture to check for vulnerabilities and identify opportunities for improvement.
5. Go Beyond Cloud Engineering Degrees
Finally, don’t box yourself into a specific engineering profile. Some of the very brightest cloud engineers have untraditional resumes. Instead of requiring a CS degree, look for certifications, portfolios and references that get to the heart of their skill set.
After all, Stack Overflow reports that the most popular methods to learn how to code are technological documentation and online resources.
In this same vein, be open to cloud engineer candidates in other regions of the world. Nearshore cloud experts have top-rated skills, time zone proximity and affordable salaries for effective cloud solution collaboration and implementation.
Incorporate top interview questions for DevOps and cloud engineers as recommended by DataCamp.
Common Challenges When Hiring Cloud Engineers in the U.S. and Beyond
Talent shortages, evolving technologies, high salaries… At times, building a cloud engineering team can feel like an uphill battle.
Your business needs a game plan that addresses these common challenges to hire cloud engineers and set up a strong technical group.
High Salaries and Talent Competition in the U.S.
The average cloud engineering salary in the U.S. ranges from $119,000-$192,000, which can be a large budget commitment for businesses looking to scale up their cloud engineering teams.
What’s more, the shortage of cloud talent means that it can be hard to capture and retain the best engineers in the long term.
Rapidly Evolving Cloud Technologies
Cloud technologies are constantly advancing, making it paramount for engineers to stay on top of new trends. Assessing new cloud engineer skills is important to ensure candidates know the latest practices, especially areas such as edge computing, containerization and more.
Limited Internal Recruitment Capacity
61% of HR professionals say recruiting engineers is their #1 challenge. Discovering top cloud engineer talent can be tricky without in-house expertise. It’s worth collaborating with a talent partner if your internal recruitment capacity is limited.
Retention Challenges for Remote Teams
Engineering has one of the highest industry turnover rates. For remote teams, keeping on excellent talent can be even tougher, as companies worldwide compete for the most skilled experts.
At the end of the day, hiring nearshore cloud engineers helps mitigate these challenges. By working with a talent partner like Tecla, you can access vetted senior-level cloud talent within similar time zones and at cost-effective rates.
Get all the latest top talent hiring trends from SHRM.
Why Nearshore Cloud Engineers Are the Smart Choice
"Tecla provided excellent communication and quality candidates who met or exceeded the role requirements." – Clutch review
32% of companies have missed financial targets due to the cloud engineer skills gap. That’s why it’s vital to step up recruitment efforts to hire cloud engineers and complete business-critical projects at scale.
Hiring nearshore AWS, DevOps or other specialized engineers is a first-rate option if you’re looking to balance cost with caliber. Nearshore cloud engineers offer:
- Lower cost without compromising quality: LatAm engineers have top-ranked skills and a diverse range of cloud specializations. At the same time, regionally competitive salaries here are up 40-50% less compared to the U.S.
- Proven expertise in modern cloud and DevOps stacks: Nearshore cloud engineers are knowledgeable about latest technologies and specialize in key areas such as multi-cloud and DevOps.
- Similar work hours and culture alignment: Nearshoring talent is well-aligned with U.S companies, as they share time zones, cultural proximity and superb English skills.
- Scalable talent for fluctuating teams: Opting for nearshore hiring is also ideal for scaling up and enabling engagement flexibility in your cloud infrastructure hiring decisions.
Delve into nearshore IT outsourcing with our expert-backed guide here.
Lean on Tecla to Hire Nearshore Cloud Engineers
Hiring great cloud engineers in today’s competitive market takes more than technical assessments. It requires a holistic approach that incorporates your long-term goals and involves talent partners who can evolve with your infrastructure vision.
As you assemble a winning cloud engineering team, reach out to us. At Tecla, we help global companies scale faster by connecting them with vetted nearshore cloud engineers who bring deep expertise in AWS, Azure and GCP. Get in touch with us to hire outstanding, pre-vetted cloud engineers.
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