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Not all business heroes wear capes. Some have multi-cloud certifications.

If there’s one thing Aviatrix CEO Steve Mullaney is sure of, it’s that enterprises are finally making multi-cloud a reality. “The cat’s out of the bag,” he explains. “Pandora’s box has been opened. Multi-cloud is happening, and it’s happening right now.”

And he’s not wrong. As of 2021, 92% of enterprises were said to have a multi-cloud strategy, which is significant but unsurprising. With promises of optimized agility, flexibility, and innovation, it’s no wonder that most companies want to embrace multi-cloud, and quickly.

But businesses are not naïve to the fact that multi-cloud strategies are more challenging than operating within a single cloud. That’s obvious – the more cloud service providers (CSPs) you have in your mix, the more plates you have to spin. Since each cloud comes with its own language, security, storage considerations and so on, enterprises need sufficient and knowledgeable talent in place to build and maintain their multi-cloud environments.

So, why not just hire that talent?

Multi-cloud strategies would be far more achievable if not for the widening cloud skills gap. A growing deficit of cloud expertise is hindering business development globally, not to mention creating a fierce talent war across enterprises.

The trouble with multi-cloud specifically is that enterprises need engineers who know the nuances of each cloud. Such talent is rare; most cloud engineers will specialize in a particular CSP, and few can claim to have mastered them all. As a result, while there is plenty of drive and ambition to get multi-cloud ‘done,’ there are not enough cloud experts to deliver it.

This skills shortage during the current era of business transformation provides a glittering opportunity to IT professionals.

IT folks now have the chance to rise above and lead. Enterprises around the world are struggling to attract multi-cloud talent; they need people with the expertise to design and operate a consistent network architecture across various complex clouds. It’d be pretty impressive to be that person, wouldn’t it?

To rise to the challenge, contenders will need to build adequate knowledge of the native constructs across the major CSPs, as well as gain immersive experience of multi-cloud network architectures. One way to do so (and show evidence of it) is to get an industry-recognized certification in this arena.

Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) Program

To master multi-cloud, a great path to consider is the Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) program. Not only is it an excellent upskilling opportunity for cloud architects, but it’s also helping to plug the industry’s skills gap.

Program participants (referred to as ACEs) are educated on the native networking constructs in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Infrastructure Cloud, before being trained to build, scale, and secure multi-cloud architectures. ACEs are exposed to the workings of the major CSPs and can expect to develop advanced competency in native cloud capabilities, enabling them to grow the diverse skillset that is currently so sought after.

The program is split into various levels, each with a key objective: Associate (Learn), Cloud Operations (Operate), Infrastructure as Code (Automate), Professional (Build), and Design Expert (Design). Some are self-paced, while others are instructor-led.

The prerequisites for the foundational ACE Associate training are minimal; there’s no specific knowledge you will need to bring to the table, although an understanding of basic networking concepts will be helpful. Similarly, participants do not need prior experience with coding so, overall, the barriers to entry are not as technical or complicated as you may think.

The program was developed to address the multi-cloud demands and skills shortages facing businesses today. Aviatrix hopes to prepare the current generation of IT professionals to spearhead their organizations’ cloud transformations, while simultaneously helping to plug the skills gap.

To date, more than 17,000 ACEs have earned certifications since the program’s launch two years ago, with candidates spanning 3,000 companies in over 180 countries worldwide.

Aviatrix ACE Michael Clemmer, a US-based IT architect in the healthcare industry, notes “I use the skills I learned in ACE daily. In addition to providing training on Aviatrix products, the coursework took a deeper dive under the cloud providers’ covers. Thanks to this training, I have a better understanding of their underlay networks, which simplifies troubleshooting. With more and more enterprises migrating to the cloud, I believe ACE professionals will be highly desirable in this market due to their multi-cloud expertise.”

To find out more about the ACE program, check out our ACE page.