For years, Amazon Web Services (AWS) seemed to dominate tech professionals’ cloud usage. Is that still the case? Or have competing web platforms made strides in adoption over the past few years?
This year’s massive Stack Overflow Developer Survey asked tens of thousands of developers about their preferred cloud platforms. While AWS dominates, some of its rivals have indeed managed to claw some market share over the past year or so. Check out the chart:
“AWS' share of usage amongst respondents is the same in 2024 as in 2023, while Azure and Google Cloud increased their share,” the Survey added. “Azure has climbed from 26 percent to 28 percent usage and Google Cloud went from 24 percent to 25 percent.” (Specifically, the Survey asked: “Which cloud platforms have you done extensive development work in over the past year, and which do you want to work in next year?”)
Anyone who works with cloud platforms knows they evolve rapidly. For example, AWS continually adds features, including a new generation of generative AI tools. For tech professionals, that adds pressure to keep your cloud-related skills constantly up-to-date, along with your certifications.
As more companies embrace multiple cloud solutions within the same tech stack, it’ll prove helpful for tech professionals interested in cloud tech if they expand their mastery—or at least gain some knowledge—of the most popular platforms. For example, any tech pro can spare a few hours to learn the fundamentals of Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.
Whatever your cloud journey, it’s important to learn some key fundamentals. As he explained on Dice’s ‘Tech Connects’ podcast, Kevin Kelly, Director of Cloud Career Training Programs at Amazon Web Services (which include the education and training programs AWS Academy and AWS re/Start), thinks anyone who wants to master the cloud needs to learn the principles behind the following:
- Compute
- Storage
- Network
- Database
- Security
Formal degree programs in software engineering, computer science, and other disciplines can help boost your knowledge of these fundamentals, especially as more tools and platforms are levitated into the cloud. Although the cloud market can be complicated, there are lots of training options out there for anyone to pursue.