What You Need to Learn to Become a Cloud-Native Architect

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What is a cloud architect? What does it cloud

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architect do that's different from what a developer does? What

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skills does someone need to have in order to move from a role as

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a software developer, to a role of a cloud architect? today?

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We'll find out. Are you ready? Let's go.

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This is the modern digital business podcast, the

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technical Leaders Guide to modernizing your applications

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and digital business. Whether you're a business technology

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leader, or a small business innovator, keeping up with the

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Digital Business Revolution is a must do to help make it easier

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with actionable insights and recommendations, as well as

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thoughtful interviews with industry experts, Lee Atchison.

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Hello, and welcome to modern digital business.

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Today we're going to talk about becoming a cloud architect. What

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does a cloud architect do that's different from what a typical

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software developer does, or a typical operations engineer,

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Cloud Architect roles are in high demand, especially given

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the rise in interest in cloud native architectures, and micro

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service based applications. And highly innovative businesses use

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cloud native architectures to gain a competitive advantage.

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And Cloud architects are right at the center of this need.

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Becoming a cloud native architect first involves

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obviously becoming a software architect. But beyond that, a

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cloud architect generally has more responsibilities than just

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a standard software architect, and requires more specialized

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knowledge and expertise. The modern cloud architect must

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understand how building and operating applications in the

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cloud differs from building and operating traditional

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applications. This isn't a matter of understanding

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different programming concepts. This is about understanding the

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operational role of the modern application, and the role that

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IT infrastructure plays in operating a modern digital

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application. You may say this sounds like DevOps, and you

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could in fact be right. Being a cloud architect starts by

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understanding and knowing how to use DevOps principles in a

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modern application. Then beyond the basic DevOps knowledge and

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experience comes knowledge and experience with cloud

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technologies and how to optimize their years. This involves

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understanding the availability of various cloud services, and

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how they can be applied to a given purpose. How do you use

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cloud data storage? Which storage option is right? For

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what purpose? What about cloud based scalable databases such as

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DynamoDB. Understanding and leveraging the dynamic resource

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capabilities of the cloud is essential for building cloud

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optimized applications that are both scalable, and highly

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available without excessive and expensive reserve capacity. This

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is the fundamental basis of architecting any basic cloud

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based application, whether it's a small one off application, or

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a large enterprise grade monolith architecting a cloud

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native application, however, involves more than this, and

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involves understanding the concerns of building highly

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modular applications using microservices that can scale the

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development and operational requirements of the application,

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not just the traffic utilization. A modern cloud

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native application can be successfully developed and

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operated by two engineers, or 2000 engineers. These

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applications are highly adaptable, and responsive to

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customer and business needs and requirements. They are

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constantly changing, constantly improving, and constantly

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performing. To build and launch cloud native applications

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successfully. Cloud native architects must understand the

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following number one, how to build distributed service based

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applications, particularly those built with microservice based

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architecture concepts. Number two, how services can operate in

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a highly fluid and changing operating environment. Services

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are constantly resized, adjusted, upgraded and

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reconfigured, traffic is dynamically adjusted and

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controlled, and applications are highly monitored and managed in

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a highly distributed non centralized manner. Number

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three, the role of containers and container orchestration

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software such as Kubernetes in the construction and operation

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of a modern application. Number four, how cloud services such as

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data services, compute queuing, networking security, artificial

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intelligence and machine learning can be lost leveraged

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to enhance the capabilities of the cloud native application.

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Number five, how network infrastructure and routing work,

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and how traffic routing between services and service nodes works

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in order to use cloud services effectively. Number six, the

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fundamentals of cloud security, and how to build safe and secure

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applications using built in cloud capabilities. Number

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seven, basic service development concepts such as the 12 factor,

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application, and basic service, operational and security

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concepts, such as the principle of least privilege and the

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principle of shared responsibility. Number eight,

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how to expertly operate the cloud services for the vendors

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they support, including cloud vendor specific training and

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certifications. And number nine, how the cloud services being

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used actually operate internally. This is critical for

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knowing the strengths and weaknesses and performance

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characteristics of the cloud services in various situations.

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For example, can AWS lambda be used in a particular use case?

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Is the distributed cloud centric database appropriate for a given

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application? Or is a more traditional SQL database better

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suited? Does a cloud based caching service satisfy your

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performance needs? Take your career to the clouds. If you're

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a software developer, or software architect, who is

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considering advancing your career and becoming a cloud

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native architect. The concepts we've covered in this episode

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are some of the most important skills and expertise you'll need

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to acquire. But the hard work can easily pay off. As

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architects fluent, and building cloud native applications

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effectively and efficiently are in high demand today. And they

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play an essential role in all modern application development

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organizations. Are you interested in learning more? Me

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I suggest my newest course available on LinkedIn learning

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called Cloud careers from developer to architect.

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Additionally, please take a look at my new course at the address

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in the academy titled basics of cloud security. Both courses are

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quick and inexpensive courses that can help you on your cloud

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architect journey. Thank you for tuning in to modern digital

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business. This podcast exists because of the support of you my

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listeners. If you enjoy what you hear that you please leave a

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mdb.fm/reviews. If you'd like to suggest a topic for an episode,

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or you're interested in becoming a guest, please contact me

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like to record a quick question or comment, click the Microphone

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all of these links are included in the show notes. Thank you for

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listening and welcome to the world of the modern digital