Inside the Cloud
What is Azure?
As a software engineer, my fascination with cloud computing has driven me to understand and perhaps one day pursue a career in this ever evolving field. If this peeks your interest as well, Keep reading.
Try typing “what is Microsoft Azure?” into any search engine. The results will reveal that it is Microsoft’s Cloud computing platform and that Azure provides a variety of services to business around the globe.
That sounds intriguing, but what does all that actually mean?
Luckily, I was able to talk to Microsoft’s very own Varsha Sujanani. Varsha is an Azure Technical Trainer and by flexing her extensive knowledge, was able to give me some insight as to what really goes on in the world of Azure. That which I’ve learned from Varsha will be included in this reading as we explore this impressive operation.
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Due to the tremendous amount of data that must be processed in today’s world, there has been a growing need for cloud services and the options they provide. Microsoft launched Azure in 2010 as an alternative Cloud platform to Google’s App Engine and Amazon’s Ec2. According to Varsha, Satya Nadella(the current CEO of Microsoft) has brought a lot of positive change to the company.
Satya has pioneered the creation of the Azure public cloud business, Which has contributed to the climb of the company’s stock up 700% in recent years. Satya’s initiatives have also led to Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance, LinkedIn and GitHub.
Alright let’s talk about Azure. Like other cloud services, Azure is a cloud computing platform which includes cloud models such as PaaS, IaaS and SaaS. This means that Microsoft provides or rents Online access to cloud computing technologies ranging from virtual machines, databases, SaaS applications, etc. If an individual company decided to host these technologies or resources on site, this would be referred to as a “Private cloud.” Although a company hosting a private cloud would be entirely responsible for maintaining the entire structure of their cloud rather than having it maintained elsewhere by a provider, it has it’s benefits. According to Varsha, if said company “has specific data governance or security policies, they’re able to utilize the power of cloud computing within their private network to expand and innovate applications.” If you prefer a more out of sight, out of mind approach, that is where IaaS, PaaS and SaaS come in. A company may choose either of these options to optimize their operations. Take a look at the following illustration to see what each service category provides:
As you can see, there is a range of services that can be rendered by the provider. For an example of SaaS, think of services such as Outlook or Dropbox .In the case of IaaS and PaaS, there are a few things that a business would still be responsible for. This is why one might find “Microsoft Azure” jobs for employers other than Microsoft. This operation requires the expertise of employees of many fields from Software Engineers to Data Scientists.
If one would like to begin a career in cloud computing, Microsoft offers a myriad of certifications. The best way to start would be to complete the requirements for the AZ-900 — Azure Fundamentals cert as it is the pre-requisite for many other certifications. As per Microsoft - “Azure Fundamentals certification is an opportunity to prove knowledge of cloud concepts, Azure services, Azure workloads, security and privacy in Azure, as well as Azure pricing and support.”
If you refine your knowledge on concepts like app development/maintenance, data storage, compute and networking, you’ll be opening the door to becoming a Full stack cloud developer, cloud engineer, solutions architect, administrator, etc.
Things that I’ve looked up, so you don’t have to:
Cloud Engineer positions pays $57 per hr on average.
Full Stack Cloud Developer for Azure positions can pay at a range of $100–$150k annually.
Azure Virtualization Engineer positions can pay at a range of $110-$160k annually.
More Info:
Special Thanks to Varsha Sujanani for schooling me on the History and services of cloud computing!
- Written by Matthew S Umrawsingh
*I am not a paid spokesperson for Microsoft… just sayin.*
