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Long time no see, Spiceworks!

I am in month seven/eight of my sabbatical after quitting my regular Sys Admin job and have sadly not found any callings yet so I am having a look at the market over here (UK & Spain).
In both, anything that looks worthwhile seems to be cloud-related. Now, I have 0 calling for programming so I don’t think DevOps is a possibility, maybe SysOps or something more system-orientated. While my knowledge of AWS and Azure jobs is tremendously basic, I have noticed that well… No one wants “junior” at all. Everyone seems to want someone with experience and with the certs paid by someone else.
I am perplexed as to how one can start a career there, the certs are too expensive for the most part and everyone wants a couple of years of experience at least (I can’t find anyone that seems remotely open to a regular Sys Admin giving it a go).
So, I wonder if those of you who work with AWS and Azure could share your journey and give some advice. Meanwhile, I might work on a coffee shop or something to stop eating up my savings.
Thanks!

PD: I know Google has its cloud stuff but I can’t see anyone using them.

9 Spice ups
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You’re finding that nobody wants junior level right now because the market is going through a down-turn and is very saturated with talent. It’ll improve with time. Businesses are still hiring like crazy, but it’s a very competitive market.

“Cloud” can mean many things, for most organizations it means infrastructure-as-code, distributed services, automation, and DevOps. Either have to adapt and grow in areas you’re not experienced or just choose something else you might be interested in (such as network engineering, cyber, etc).

To actually get a start, you probably already know the steps if you think about it because it’s like most other things in IT. Start learning online through resources like Udemy, lab stuff up, get some certifications on your resume, and apply for anything you can. With time and effort, you’ll land some kind of entry position where they understand your experience and are willing to have you grow with them in exchange for a lower salary than someone else with lots more experience.

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Could I ask about what your journey is? I can see you are a “Cloud engineer”, if you don’t mind sharing, what are your pre-cloud IT jobs and how did you move from there to working with Azure (and AWS if you have)?

Thanks!

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Use your time to learn how to work in the cloud. There is a lot of free training out there, and you can get an introductory account on most systems with some amount of credits to play with.

Microsoft has a lot at Training | Microsoft Learn , and you will see that there are many paths to head down when it comes to “the cloud”.

AWS has some at Cloud Computing Training & Classes - Training and Certification - AWS

The concepts are similar within each cloud, though the naming conventions are often different. Look at the job postings to see which cloud may be the biggest benefit in your area, though the knowledge is usually easily transferable.

And, while certification can be useful, the cloud technology and interfaces are changing constantly. If you do want certification, something of a more general cloud conceptual focus is probably more useful. For example, the ISC2 CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional)

1 Spice up
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as with much in IT, I suspect you’ll either have to Blag it (ie: creatively re-write your CV, though be careful as this approach leads you open to being kicked out / pretend you know what you are doing as a consultant & then google extensively whilst learning on the job) or (& probably a better solution) get an entry level job with an MSP or similar & get them to teach you the basics (also whilst googling extensively but they may have experienced people to learn from). Your previous sysadmin role could have been a good starting point if you could have persuaded them to move to the Cloud…

The problem of employers wanting loads of experience (or advertising that they do) for something is not new, I’m sure most professional who’ve been around for years have seen adverts which are crazy - I remember one from around 2002 which asked for 10 years of Windows 2000, another about the same time asking for CCNA or CCIE. (I also interviewed someone claiming to have several years more experience in a product than the product had been in existence).

In the mean time, as has been suggested learn what you can for free, find a local organisation to volunteer and do something to keep your brain working.