Coding skills are not necessary for anyone who wants to use or work in cloud computing. It is more of managing than coding. Sometimes you will need to configure software that runs on the cloud, but not necessarily to code.
Cloud automation is also an important topic today and it includes CAPS tools used to automate system deployment, upgrading, and maintaining systems. However, it will become clear that programming skills are needed.
Cloud computing allows us to host, provision, and deliver services over the Internet. In this case, the user only requires a computer to interact with cloud infrastructure or interconnected computers and devices. The user can do so from any place around the world. For the cloud to work, the hardware and software are on the cloud.
What is moved is data.
Since most applications are hosted on the cloud, there is little requirement for coding especially for managing cloud tasks. Most applications are provided on an application-as-a-service basis where the user scales their applications as needed.
Why You Can Use the Cloud without Coding
Learning cloud does not require coding skills
You do not require any coding skills to learn the cloud. And in any case, you can gain mastery in programming skills at the same time when learning cloud. For instance, one of the popular cloud platforms is AWS. You do not require any coding to start.
Learning is easy, especially because most tutorials discuss matters in the user interface and not in code. Hence it is easy for people without programming skills to follow. You can learn how to create cloud infrastructure on platforms such as AWS and even complete all the set-ups. This means the infrastructure is created manually.
Many people have the notion that programming is also for techies and developers. It is the reason they do not want to expand their knowledge in coding. Remember even though coding is not a necessity, you will have questions about what platforms are used when working in cloud computing. You do not want to only know how they work.
Anyone can learn programming such as CC required in managing the cloud. It is also a myth that you should have IT experience to learn clouding. The truth is you can learn it from scratch.
Learning Azure can be done without any coding skills or experience in IT. The first place to start is learning the basics of Azure. Learning Azure online in many cases requires a basic understanding of the cloud concepts. After learning the basics, you should learn the details of each technology involved.
There are so many training institutes that train people’s cloud skills. These are available both online and offline and you can enroll without submitting a coding certificate or proving coding skills. In some cases, you may want to learn or have coding skills, for instance, if you want to work in an Azure developer role.
Non-coders Can Pursue Cloud-Based Careers
Having said that programming skills are not a must for anyone wanting to work in the cloud, it is clear that non-coders can take roles in cloud computing. There are numerous roles to take on Google, Azure, and Amazon cloud platforms and which do not require coding.
All non-coders interested in cloud computing careers, however, should consider first understanding concepts of cloud computing. Some people start a career without coding skills and later sign up for those courses.
From a work perspective, many people create their AWS infrastructure using the user interface instead of via code. Additionally, many tutorials teach how to do things in UI, hence it is not hard to learn through them in case you needed. Non-coders can still create cloud infrastructures manually and complete all setups manually without problems. Indeed, this is a great place to start. However, this is hard to track and manage.
Using code, however, helps the worker to review changes before implementing them. They can always easily go back and restore the previous configurations.
Viable Careers: Computer Networker and Cloud Solution Architect
The latter is one of the most demanded careers in IT. These professionals are also called cloud engineers or solution architects. The role of a cloud solution architect ideally is to build the cloud infrastructure using different resources. These resources include load balancers, memory, virtual machines, storage devices, servers, switches, and firewalls.
The cloud architect requires a mandatory high school diploma and a high school pass in computer and math. The other alternative is a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or Arts. The former is better but also the latter is possible. Even if you do not have a technical degree, you can still become a cloud architect so long you have the skill-set.
These skill-sets do not have programming details. They include Linux, Windows, Mac operating systems; domains or services such as security, scalability, management, migration, compute, and networking. These skills include networking systems and mechanisms – networking and file-sharing protocols, load balancers, content delivery networks, firewalls, routers, and others.
Cloud solution architects require to understand what cloud is and why it came into existence, why is cloud popular, the benefits of the cloud, features of the cloud, cloud providers, models for deploying cloud, and different cloud services. The architects require understanding how to scale clouds, storage and recovery of cloud networks, threats and how to counter them, architecture for clouds, and planning and designing clouds.
For a person to become a cloud architect without the technical programming education, they can add on cloud computing certifications. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is one area you should gain certification in. These experts consider CompTIA Cloud+Certification, Certified OpenStack Administrator, Google Cloud Certified Professional Architect, and others. Besides, there are many online courses you can take to gain mastery of the IaaS skills.
The Value of Virtualization
It doesn’t necessarily need programming skills. Virtualization involves running multiple operating systems virtually on a single physical machine. The different virtual machines have different and specific RAM, CPU, and disk space. They, however, use the same network and hardware. Another important thing is to differentiate between the private and public cloud.
For private clouds, the organization must have people with adequate skills to code on and manage it. This is because they own a data center privately and must deploy and manage their infrastructure. Most public cloud renting involves a lot of remote assistance these days.
Non-coders who want to pursue careers in cloud computing require knowing how to operate a computer and to do configurations, and how to use and configure Internet connections. These are the tools they deal with daily.
Let us focus on some other tasks that can be done on the cloud without necessarily having programming skills. One of the tasks done on the cloud such as AWS is creating a WordPress website on the cloud. Many people, including those without any technical programming skills, can create these websites quickly and easily.
Using the marketplace on AWS, you can access different ready-to-launch images offered for free or sale. These can be used for blogging, photo storage, and other needs.
People without programming skills can easily store files using clouds, whether it is for business or personal use. The files can easily be managed and distributed over the Internet through other website services. The Simple Storage Service in AWS, for instance, allows users to access and manage cloud storage through clients and GUIs.
It is also not necessary to have programming skills to create a website, although people will require programming skills to create a custom website. HTML coding is needed in most cases in that case, although it can be done with Node.JS, Python, and PHP. Creating home automation projects like Alexa Sill on AWS will definitely need programming skills. This is because you will need to write the technical APIs that power the skill.
Azure can be used by people without any programming skills especially if undertaking normal infrastructure management and other tasks that do not involve deploying an application.
Cloud Certifications for Non-Coders
Non-coders should start by choosing a platform on which to learn or in which to gain skills. This helps you choose the right certification. Certification is recommended for those without IT and technical coding backgrounds.
Amazon Web Services has 11 individual certifications. The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CCP) is very common as is AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (CSAA). Other certifications include DevOps Engineer, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Certified Database, AWS Certified Developer, and SysOps Administrator. The ones that require coding skills, in this case, are DevOps Engineer, Certified Developer, and possibly Certified Database. Others can provide real skills to work in cloud careers.
Microsoft Azure certifications include Solutions Architect Expert and the Administrator Associate. Others include Data Fundamentals, AI Fundamentals, Administrator Associate, Security Engineer Associate, Data Engineer, Data Analyst, and many others. There are many others but the developer and engineer certifications will need coding skills. The rest are not a must to have any coding.
In some cases, you would require experience to work in cloud management. Many people who do not have experience volunteer to work with organizations for free to gain that experience. They then will pen positions in different organizations.
How the Cloud Benefits from Coding
Coding is a must requirement if you are a cloud developer. Therefore, with some roles, it is not an exception. Provisioning roles require knowing code building, elastic beanstalk, and cloud front. Coders in this area require knowledge in JavaScript, Python, and other programming languages.
During the coding of applications, you will need to know how to code to secure, deploy, verify, and backing up data. Coding in the cloud is the best way of ensuring you automate all these tasks.
Cloud coding involves writing code on a text editor and uploading it through a virtual machine. Cloud coding allows you to be flexible enough in your business applications. It allows, from a basic point of view, to automate tasks that need to be done on the server. There are so many tasks that someone will not do without coding skills.
WordPress Website
The first one is creating a custom website in WordPress or other platforms. If you do it with mere drag and drop, you may not come up with the website a client likes at best. There will be limitations in the features included, for instance.
Custom Home Automation.
Coding is needed to write a specific API that powers the Alexa skill.
Manual coding through UI can become very complicated. It is very tiresome to do in cases where you have many setups. Creating infrastructure manually takes time for extensive infrastructures. Besides, this is considered a bad practice within the industry. For instance, it is very hard to track and manage resources when using UI.
As said previously, this type of practice allows users to track changes even before they can be implemented. It helps them to audit code concerning when it was made and why. Many people are also not familiar with the many features when using UI on platforms. Hence UI can limit the usability of these platforms.
Coding for the Cloud
You will have in-depth knowledge of how platforms work and different ways of exploiting them to your advantage. For instance, it helps you extend resources as much as possible. You can get as many testing and staging servers as possible. Scalability is possible without coding but is very limited. Without coding, you would need to look for the exact hardware needed to run a given web application or server. With coding, you can integrate many systems more flexibly.
Developers who use coding can launch software that is of a higher quality and that launches quickly. These companies can keep up with the needs of their consumers. Upgrading the software now and then and more flexibly helps to maintain the integrity of data. You also can keep up with the data recovery needs of your clients. Security is improved because you are working on a large software and computer network with lesser hacking risks.
Besides, having a large computer network helps to reduce costs. This means that there are higher savings on cost. These savings in cost result because companies use to pay as you go approaches – they upgrade the features as the demand increases. They do not end up overpaying for resources they do not need.
Coding & Cloud Data Management
This way, coders will scale the databases easier and quicker. They have access to a larger amount of resources for scaling, for instance, a larger SSD storage. This provides them quicker information and data redundancy. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are also expected to help businesses to scale further. For instance, it will enhance the consumer and marketing aspects of applications and web services.
The cloud contains the latest technologies and development including the latest programming languages to that end. For a company that uses a private cloud, it is an opportunity to customize it the way they like. Otherwise, without coding skills, the company or manager will need to outsource those skills to fix issues. This increases operational costs. Again the manager wouldn’t know if something is not fixed correctly.
Coding for the cloud allows coders to quickly create environments and resources without having to wait to find a specific platform that suits non-coding needs. For instance, the AWS platform ensures a faster deployment lifecycle by ensuring it is easy to transfer incremental changes to an app instead of an entire application.
Furthermore, it supports existing tools such as Git tools. Hence developers can keep preferred development environment plugins. They do not have to develop things from scratch.
Coding Competence Helps
As mentioned earlier, working in cloud careers does not only involve knowing how it works. If a platform is not working, you would like details on why and how to fix it. Indeed, most people, even managers are more concerned with how to fix systems than how they work.
Better managers with in-depth knowledge of the platform do not have to wait for directions from juniors before advising for a solution. Developers who understand code also know vulnerabilities in code. They help the company secure the platforms to their advantage and that of customers. Hence customers can trust them. This earns them more loyalty, which translates to more business.
Final Statements
Finally, although one can get a good job in cloud management even without expert-level coding skills, the roles they can take are limited. It is not possible to get a developer job without any coding skills. For instance, if you are a cloud architect, gaining these skills allows taking developer roles.
Many companies also hire people who can take diverse roles in the same organization. This means people with coding skills stand a better chance to get hired than those without. Acquiring coding skills also helps you to increase your salary.