All, Im looking to switch my current consulting domain to cloud and aspire to join AWS / Google cloud/ Azure In terms of the following, which of these is better 1. Work life balance 2. Career growth 3. Salary Background: 5 YOE as a tech consultant at big4 #amazonaws #amazon #aws #solutionarchitect #google #microsoft #azure #googlecloud
You can't go wrong with any of those three... Get some counter offers and go with the highest TC
As far as independent consultants, Azure and AWS have the most market share and highest demand/salaries. Personally know a few wise consultants making off very well from big customers in nowhere towns specialized in AWS, but if I was MS I'm sure I'd see the flip side as well. Frankly, why not both given the SA certs are easy enough to get? Is there a reason why specialization by provider is so common?
Thank you! My first choice was also AWS SA. I was more concerned on the culture and responsibilities of these roles in Amazon vs Google.
If you're looking to work inside any of the companies, make sure you examine whether you're a contractor or full-time asset at any company. I know of contractors doing SA for G. G also has better compensation and benefits for full employees compared to Amazon and Azure - whether the GCP will continue to see investment in 5 years and whether the SA role there will exist or have grown in value is a different story. Culture for SAs at Amazon can be pretty good. Even though I've hear of horror stories at bad teams here, I see SAs working quite cushy compared to other engineering roles.
GCP, fastest growing. More opportunities
True too. My bet of future in order of ranking: Azure, GCP, AWS.
I went through the same thought process. The first thing to state is that if you are looking to get started in cloud, you can’t go wrong with any of the three. But a bigger question is where will these cloud providers be in 3-5 years. AWS will remain the biggest cloud albeit by a smaller margin than today. You will learn a lot with AWS dealing with large enterprises and complex use cases. With Azure and GCP, you will see hyper growth. Much faster clip than AWS. With Azure and GCP, you will have more and faster opportunities for promotions. There will be lots of highs and lows. I like that kind of work environment cause you learn so much. Then between Azure and GCP, and I may get some flack for this, but Azure was retrofitted for the cloud. Azure AD is an example. It works just fine though. That said, Azure is an easy choice for companies heavily entrenched in the Windows / Office 365 area. So they will win that market share. Meanwhile, GCP was built for the cloud. Kubernetes (K8s) being a great example. They also have superiority and a leg up on AI/ML and Big Data solutions. These will be very common use cases in the future. Also, I like GCPs model of embracing hybrid cloud so much so they support even multi-cloud approaches such as AWS and Azure through GCP Anthos for example. Lastly, GCP embraces open source solutions like Elastic, Redis, Confluent etc. They partner with them and provide healthy revenue sharing. AWS implements these open source solutions and hangs the open source companies who built them out to dry. Plus AWS seems paranoid of hybrid cloud, even though they seem to be coming to terms with reality with Outposts. I don’t work for any of these providers but have considerable exposure to them. The above is my personal opinion - flawed or not. Having said all this, I have all Associate AWS certifications and Professional SA. I started with AWS to learn because it’s the most mature with more services than the other two.
Great summary!
OP, do you have experience with cloud already? im considering the same transition as well. I have AWS certs but no professional experience. I don't have the confidence yet to apply to SA positions out there so Im still learning and relearning aws stuff.
Can’t go wrong with either. Apply at all and negotiate to get too TC. All have growth potential - Azure is gaining share, so good work. - AWS is the leader, well established tech and sales org. and I don’t see them loosing #1 spot anytime soon - GCP is building a solution arch and sales team fast and furious so lot of open roles and growth opportunities. So every one has positives
2 yrs in and I don’t see any GCP SA roles compared to Azure.
Azure or GCP. Azure will be gaining more market share, so more interesting work.
GCP doesn't have a high adoption rate currently, and I haven't seen any external consultant positions for it in my stretch of the woods either. I definitely see them for AWS and Azure - why leave out AWS given it has such higher demand than GCP for consultants/SAs?
It is a matter of time. Azure is beating AWS and it seems will take the first place from AWS in the future. GCP is unknown. But still Azure.