Cloud Computing Book Review: Kick Start your Career in the Cloud

Cloud Computing is disruptive technology that will not only profoundly change the way information technology is organized, but can also seriously disrupt the careers of IT professionals. This is true for those supporting in company IT users, as well as for those that work at service providers.

How should IT professionals act to safeguard their careers? This is the topic of “Kick Start Your Career in the Cloud“, a report by Peter HJ van Eijk, Head Coach of soon to open www.ClubCloudComputing.com. He send me a copy to review.

The report starts by introducing the reader, assumed to be a professional working in IT, to the various forms of cloud computing. Surprisingly, the different models of cloud computing have very different impacts on the careers of professionals. The author guides the readers through the business benefits and pitfalls of cloud computing, using examples of real companies. If you want to continue operating in your current organization, this will help you and your company to avoid making stupid mistakes.

The report describes some of the skills that will be in jeopardy, once cloud computing gets introduced. Lots of these skills can be updated to help organizations take optimal advantage of cloud computing. Not all of them are very technical, though some technology insight comes in handy. “Kick Start Your Career in the Cloud” explains some of these insights directly, and also points you to a number of free or cheap resources that you can use to actually practice and expand your skills. These range from user level skills to deep technical skills.

More than 50 links give you ample opportunity to selectively get more information. They appear to be well researched and handpicked. Dozens of screenshots illustrate the points made, and reduce the necessity to go out to do your own experimentation. And when you do need to experiment, the author guides you to the efficient and safe ways of doing that, for example by giving a number of specific exercises.

Obviously there are other ways of getting this information instead of buying this book. In fact the report lists quite a few of them, including their advantages and pitfalls.

If there is a point of criticism to be made, it is that there is not a lot of material on detailed web architectures, but then again, that may be too specialized for the intended audience.

At the end there is a peculiar bonus chapter. It is totally not about cloud computing, but about how you present you skills to the people that matter: Your co-workers, clients and bosses.

All in all, almost 60 pages of solid directly applicable insights written in an easily accessible style that is also quite readable for non-native English speakers. If you are in need of a career update this will definitely speed you up.