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Debra Donston-Miller, November 26, 2013

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10 Skills IT Pros Need for Cloud Computing

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IT professionals have to work constantly to ensure that their skills are up to date. Today, IT pros must guarantee that their cloud-focused skills are resume-ready. And just what are those skills? According to a Forbes.com blog post by contributor Joe McKendrick, there are eight key skills. To those, I add two more. 1. Business and financial skills The intersection of business and technology is always an overarching concern, but it is especially so when it comes to cloud-based computing. 2. Technical skills With the cloud, organizations can streamline their IT resources, offloading much of day-to-day systems and application management. But that doesnt mean IT abdicates all responsibility. Theres a need for language skills to build applications that can run quickly on the Internet. 3. Enterprise architecture and business needs analysis Cloud computing requires that IT pros cross disciplines, especially where service-oriented architecture comes into play. 4. Project management skills Organizations must not let the flexibility of the cloud lead to missed deadlines or amorphous goals. That could negate the cloud cost advantage. 5. Contract and vendor negotiation skills To deal with service-level agreementsand the problems involved when those SLAs are breachedIT pros need experience with contract and vendor
Video: Your IT Journey to the Cloud Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure enables your organization to move from traditional to cloud enabled workload models, and to IT... Whitepaper: Cloud infrastructure for the Real World Cloud adoption is an evolutionary process that has been leading to hybrid cloudspecifically, open hybrid clouds that... Whitepaper: OpenStack and Red Hat: IDC White paper OpenStack is an open source cloud system software project that has broad participation from the IT Industry. In this IDC... Enterprise Grade Management for Open Stack In this technical detail, we describe how CloudForms offers you a unified management framework with advanced life cycle...

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Openstack: The Platform of Choice This infographic is the outcome of an IDG Connect survey of 200 US enterprise decision makers that includes adoption plans...

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negotiations.

Top Discussions on Community 6. Security and compliance

Why the 2013 Holiday Season Is One IaaS' Biggest Challenges IT professionals dealing with the cloud mustof have a firm grasp of security Yet protocols and the regulatory mandates related to their industries, both within and
... without the United States.
68 comments 0 seconds ago

7. Data integration and analysis skills Is the Hybrid Cloud Getting Ready for the Enterprise?
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Cloud Computing: Spend More, Use More, Save More 25 comments 6 hours ago Want to contribute to OpenStack? Heres how. Top Commenters 10 comments 17 hours ago Question of the Month for February petebart 27 comments 9 hours ago comments A CIOs Top232 Three Tips for a Cloud Computing Strategy 16 comments bethbacheldor 2 days ago It Takes a Community: OpenStack Sentries and 205 comments Developers Work Hard to Build a Secure OpenStack 14 comments 1 day ago disqus_xdrq9EaNKo 201 comments

IT pros may not be data scientists, but to take advantage of big data, they do ... need to help data scientists hook up big data, internal ERP, data warehouse and other data systems, and work with the business side to make effective use of big A Closer Look at the Internet of Things data.
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POLL

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8. Mobile app development and management Organizations need to think what kind mobile experience are Rogue Employees and about Cloud Apps: Is of Your Security Up tothey Snuff? 34 comments 0 seconds ago offering to customers via the cloud and how they would like to improve that down the line. ... As enterprise cloud computing evolves, it is important to add two more skills to Question of the Month for February the list:
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...

comments Do you187 expect hybrid clouds to be the core of your organization's joelshore cloud strategy? 183 comments dwightbdavis Yes No 167 comments Not for at least 5 years Not Sure Submit

9. Knowledge of open hybrid clouds

bethbacheldor Yep, that's what I'm expecting to see Pete.

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IT is not homogeneous, and neither should your cloud computing model be. IT pros need to understand how to build and extend their companies cloud computing infrastructure in a way that is open.

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In order to build the kind of flexible, secure, interoperable cloud infrastructure mentioned above, IT pros must have a strong understanding of the technology required to make it so. OpenStack is a key component. OpenStack, a collaboration of developers and cloud computing technologists, comprises a series of projects delivering various components for a cloud infrastructure solution. What other skills do IT professionals need to have in order to enable their organizations to successfully tap into the benefits of cloud computing? Are there any IT skills that the cloud is making obsolete? We welcome your insight in the comments section.
Debra Donston-Miller View all contributions by Debra Donston-Miller
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29 Comments

Balaji Avatar This is Stupid article !

Pete Bartolik Avatar IT pros need to think about whether they want to ride the leading edge, constantly shifting to the next adventure, or focus on a more stable, long-term outlook. The former relies on constant absorption of the latest technologies -some of which may not pan out -- while the latter needs continual refresh and awareness of what is happening with core competencies.

Evan Schuman Avatar Why choose? Wouldn't the ideal IT operation try and embrace both, applying whichever one makes the most sense for each situation?

Pete Bartolik Avatar Sure, the IT organization should try and attract both types. But for the individual to encompass both roles - not realistic

Frank Cutitta Avatar So Pete, you're saying that an innovative agility and focus on the core are mutually exclusive in the IT suite ?

Pete Bartolik Avatar Yes i think you end up with "jack of all trades, master of none" as the saying goes

Frank Cutitta Avatar So that implies two separate groups in the IT organization. One for KTLO and the other for agility and innovation.

Pete Bartolik Avatar Not necessarily. The starting point for this discussion was what individuals need to do. An organization can and should employ individuals with different strengths to create a complementary team. Whether they want to integrate these skills into one single unit or separate them really depends on the needs and culture of each organization.

Fawn Fitter

Well said, Pete. It's not about hitting some arbitrary mark; it's about what your organization needs.

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