Would you like to know if you have what it takes to become a cloud architect?
If so, this video's for you.
Hi, my name is Michael Gibbs, and I'm the founder and CEO of Go Cloud Architects.
And we're an organization dedicated towards building high-performance cloud computing
and networking careers. Personally, I've been working in technology for well over 25 years,
and I've been coaching or mentoring others to get their first tech job or get promoted in tech for
more than two decades, and it's my favorite thing in the world. Every day, someone asks, "Mike,
can I become a cloud architect? Can I become a solutions architect? Can I become a cloud
solutions architect?" And I ask them the following question. The first question I ask someone always
surprises them. They expect me to ask about their background, and I do ask about their background
because it's important, but the first question I ask is, "Do you want to become a cloud architect?"
And if the answer is yes, I say good. You can.
Now they say, "But what about my background?" I say, "Well, I have to ask you the next two
questions first." The next question I ask is, how bad do you want this? If someone says so much,
it's all I can think about, I know they will be a successful cloud architect. When someone says, I'm
not sure, then I say figure it out because this is a big journey, and if you want to be a cloud
architect and you can become a cloud architect, you're going to have to focus your mind,
all your efforts, and all your time on a single thing. So it's important to
know how bad you want to do this. So I say, if you're not sure, come back to me when you are.
The people that say, "I'm sure," I ask one more question. I say, "How hard are you willing to
work to become a cloud architect?" And those that say, whatever it takes, I say, I can work
with you. You will become a cloud architect. And I know in my heart, you'll be highly successful.
If the person says how much work are we talking about? I get really concerned
because unless that person has an extraordinarily good background and a lot of years of experience,
that person will most likely not be successful. See, I know the secret.
In martial arts, we say that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't try, but it's real
life. If you're willing to work hard enough, you can achieve it. But I want to take a step back.
Do you think anyone's born a doctor? Do you believe anybody's born a lawyer?
Of course not. And no one's born a cloud architect either. We all start somewhere.
As humans, we have zero instincts whatsoever. A kitten left on their own in the wild will survive.
A human will not. We have no instincts. Everything that we do, everything that we're good at,
we learn. So the amazing thing is we've got these great brains and they can adapt and they
can learn and they can learn new things. So if you want to be a cloud architect, you can. Now,
what does it take? How do you become a great cloud architect? What are the requirements to be a cloud
architect? Well, first, mental toughness. In fact, for every career, mental toughness or grit
is one of the best predictors of your long term success. When you want to take on a big career,
and big careers pay a lot, and why do big careers pay a lot? Because there's so much to learn
and you can impact people's lives. So when you want to take on a big career like medicine or law
or cloud architecture, be prepared to work. If you do the work, you will be highly successful.
A great attitude, energy, enthusiasm, and passion, and a never quit until the job is done mindset. So
if failure's not an option, and you pour every
ounce of success, effort, passion, love, and a laser-like focus manner towards the one goal,
you will achieve that goal every time you or win. So it's just like becoming a doctor,
just like becoming a lawyer, prepare to work hard, but you can and will be successful. So what goes
into this? Well, architects need great technical skills. Now, these are not engineering skills.
These are not like we're going to be building things. This is more about how do things work.
See, as architects we design, but we can't design what we don't understand. So what must we become
experts on? The network and the data center is the cloud. In fact, the cloud is just a hosted,
virtualized network and data center. So you must know the network and data center.
I must know the services on the cloud, that map to traditional network and data services.
Why? Here's what we do as architects. We basically take things from the network and the data center
and we move them to the cloud, which is a hosted network and data center. So
we have to know what we're moving, and we can't do that if we don't have knowledge of the network
in the data center to move it to the cloud, which is just another network and a data center.
Now, these positions are 40 to 50% technical, but the rest of it is
business. This is only a 50% technical career. So 50% here, 50% on the business side, half and half.
So let's talk about these skills. You must have exceptional communication skills,
exceptional. Why? You're going to have to communicate your ideas. You're going to have
to ask the right questions about a business. Remember, as an architect, you're solving
business problems with technology. You must have excellent communication skills in every way.
You must have a good degree of business acumen. As an architect, you're a business executive mixed
with the technology professional. You're going to start with the executives from the customer.
They're going to tell you about their business challenges, about their business goals,
about their legal and regulatory requirement. These are business
issues. You're going to have to translate that business into technology. So you must
have good business acumen. And again, this is something that's trained. Communication
skills can be trained. Granted, we all are born with different abilities, but it can be trained.
Executive presence or gravitas. How to look in charge? Again, this is trained. I had an
executive coach that taught me executive presence. I took training for it. This is
something that can be learned. We're not born with these skills. We're not born with any skills. So,
so far, we're working on communication skills, business, acumen, executive presence. What else?
We have to learn how to communicate to the CEO, the CFO, the CIO, the CTO,
CXO relevancy. Again, we're not born with these skills, but we can learn it. No big deal. Then
guess what else we need to know? Sales skills for the following reasons, you're going to be
building teams of people that don't work for you. So you're going to have to convince people to work
for you. That requires sales. Oh, wait, we as architects, design systems for the customer.
The customer won't buy something if it doesn't solve their problems. And we have to convince the
customer that the solution we design with our team will solve their problem. So strong sales skills.
And of course, it takes a village to design an architecture and go build it. It could be
hundreds of people to deploy a design that you've built. So guess what? You've got good leadership
skills and you must have them to do this. So what does it take to become a cloud architect?
Hard work and dedication. What does it take to become a physician? Hard work and dedication.
What does it take to be a pro athlete? Hard work and dedication? What does it take to
be an elite special operation warrior? Hard work and dedication. What does it take to be anything
great? Hard work and dedication. So it's not your background that's the key determination of
your success. It's how hard you're willing to learn, how focused you can be, and if you can
put your time, your effort, and your love all in a singular focus, you will be successful.
So it comes down to this, if you want to be a cloud architect, be a cloud architect. If you
want to be a solutions architect, be a solutions architect. You want to be an enterprise architect,
be an enterprise architect. The cloud solutions architect, go be a cloud solutions architect.
Put your heart, your mind and your body all focused on one thing and go conquer
your dreams. You'll be glad you did. This is Michael Gibbs from Go Cloud Architects.
It's been so nice to speak with you today. And I look forward to speaking to you in another video.
It was so nice having you join us for this video today.
Let me tell you about some free services we do for the cloud community. Twice per week,
we have a free how to get your first cloud architect job webinar, where we tell you
all the things you need to do and no to get your first cloud architect job. In addition to that,
once per week, we actually have a free question and answer session on live on YouTube, where you
can come and ask us any questions you want about building your career related to cloud computing
or networking. And we'll answer them in real time for you because we want to get you to your goals.
Several more times per week, we have guests from industry, industry experts that I have
known for decades that are movers and shakers that have changed the world that can give you
information so you can build the best career. I invite them periodically. They are on my show.
If there's a chance to do some free chaining on our channel, we'll do it live because we want
you to all to have the best skills for the best career. So please subscribe and hit the bell.
I look forward to seeing you and I look forward to assisting you in your technology career.
Thank you so much. This is Michael Gibbs from Go Cloud Architects.