I have been working as a Windows Server Admin for 5 years and I want to move into a Cloud Engineer role. I am familiar with virtualization and networking, but the "DevOps" side of cloud feels overwhelming. What is the most logical path for someone with my background to take?
3 answers
Your background is a massive advantage! Since you already know Windows Server, the most logical path is Microsoft Azure. Start with the AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate). It covers identity management through Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), which will feel very familiar if you've used Active Directory. To bridge the gap to Cloud Engineering, you'll need to learn PowerShell or Python scripting and the basics of CI/CD pipelines. Don't let the "DevOps" buzzword scare you; it's just about automating the tasks you used to do manually.
Are you planning to focus more on the infrastructure side (IaaS) or are you interested in moving toward serverless and containers?
Don't ignore Linux! Even in Azure, a huge percentage of workloads run on Linux. Get comfortable with the Bash terminal as soon as possible.
Great point, Margaret. Most automation tools like Ansible or Terraform work most natively in a Linux-style environment.
If Jason wants to stay close to his roots, IaaS and Hybrid Cloud are the way to go. He should look into "Azure Arc," which allows you to manage on-premises servers as if they were in the cloud. It’s a perfect bridge for a traditional admin. Learning how to migrate a physical VM to an Azure VM using Azure Migrate would be a great first project for a portfolio.