The Only Roadmap for a High-Paying Cloud Career in 2026

A lot of the entry-level roles are grunt work. A lot of the grunt work is being eaten up by AI. What are you seeing in the entry-level market like right now? The requirement for entry-level people is way different than it was from 2020 to 2024. There's no more order takers. You're the person for the job rather than a person who just says, "I did a static website in S3." That's no longer the thing. Yeah. Who's getting hired these days? Someone is on the same level and you come in and you're talking about business impact. Architecture, security is number one. All right, guys. Welcome back. So, today I'm bringing on the man who he's the the cloud man on the internet. He has got more people cloud jobs than anyone I've ever met. His name is Broadus Palmer. And Broadus, welcome to the show. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate you, man. It's an honor to be on the show, man. Thank you. Yeah. So, let's let's get right into it, though. What are you seeing in the entry-level market like right now? So, what I'm seeing in the entry-level market is I'm going to say this cuz it's going to scare some people, but a lot of the entry-level roles are being They're this grunt work. That's what we call it, right? A lot of the grunt work is being eaten up by AI. So, not saying there are not any entry-level roles, but the requirement for entry-level people You're required to start thinking about business impact. Start thinking about architecture. Start thinking about scalability, elasticity. Start thinking about security. It's number one. There's no more order takers. We used to could be order takers where we get on a project, they give us something to do, and we just do it. We don't understand why. We just know how. Now, with AI, we have to understand the why as well. We have to learn like if we're implementing this model on top of what we're doing, what are some of the security constraints? What are some of the performance constraints? What do we need to build to make sure this continue to scale and scale at a cost optimization ceiling that we are not spending too much money on this until we actually see a return. If you want to get into cloud, the technical skills still have to be there. I'll say about 50%. But if you can dive deep into the company that you want to work for and understand what they're doing and then take your projects that you do and correlate it around business impact for that actual organization, you'll get in the room faster because we're still interviewing people that are just order takers and once again, someone is on the same level and you come in and you're talking about business impact, the future tools that are being used and what you can be curious with to optimize time of delivery, optimize time of work that you put in and make you work more efficiently, then you're the person for the job rather than a person who just says, I did a static website in S3 and I just hosted this resume so you can see what I do. That's no longer the thing. Yeah. So always always frame all of your answers, especially Well, I mean, just throughout your entire career, ROI and business impact, you're saying just just all just get ahead of that, right? Yeah, because you shouldn't look at yourself as an employee trying to land a job. You should look at yourself as a business looking for business. services to land the best clients. And sometimes your client, right, is most of the time in tech your client is an organization. So not only you should present what you can do for them, but you you should present the outcome. By me doing this, this will allow a 20% reduction in the money that you're spending on this service. It will allow you to focus your team on doing 90% of this grunt work and now you're focusing 90% on actual business impact, things that move the needle. If you could start thinking that way and aligning everything you do with the company's problems that you're trying to apply to, it's no question that you shouldn't have the conversation. It's all about the conversation that you should have then. That makes sense? You know what I mean? So, that's the thing today. Hands-on is cool, but now how do you market yourself as the person that can solve problems? And people don't care about the plane, they care about the destination. So, show them what you do with the where where it's going to lead them and you'll be getting offers in no time. But, one thing I know a lot of people think about and talk about in this space is certifications. So, let's hear from you. Let's hear your best certification sauce. Okay. Which ones do you like? Which ones don't you like? Okay. What's worth it? What's not? Let's go. So, all of them are worth it, but you have to like the certification is more of a tool, okay? So, think about it like this. Think about if I'm a person who wanted to remodel this office. Would it Let's just think you are a person you are a person this you live here you want to remodel this office. And let's just say I came to you and I say, "Hey Chris, I could remodel your office." And you like, "For real? Oh, wow, okay." The first thing you want to see is show me other offices. Like what other offices have or other rooms have you remodeled or homes have you remodeled? And let's say I don't anything I would say is well, I'm what is the certification contracts? I'm triple A certified. And you like "Okay, um that's cool, but that don't tell me you can remodel my office." So, what's the best thing to do is hey, here's how I can remodel your office. And guess what? Now you showing them pictures and videos of the offices and homes that you remodel. But now you also breaking it down as hey, this is why I did her office like that because she wanted blah blah blah. And we had a little issue where she wanted something hanging from the ceiling, but we had to put a new beam in etc. etc. You're explaining to me why you did the things you did and the outcome that you helped her with cuz you gave her what she wanted. Now, if you came after then and said and also I'm triple A certified as well. Wow, okay. Triple A certified, you gave me exactly what I'm wanting to see in a carpenter. You're on the top of the list, buddy. You're on the top of the list. So, the certification is a tool. You shouldn't focus on let me get these certs and then hey, I'm going to apply. I see people all the time. Hey man, I got the CCP. This is a foundational non-technical IT cert. This is typically a cert that you will see for sales. I got a certified cloud practitioner. I got the AZ-900. Or I got the cloud digital leader. I'm trying to apply to this cloud role. You're not going to get it. Now, if you had that cert and you showed that you could solve their problem, then the cert is just a bonus. Um so, they're not useless. It's just people are using them the wrong way. And there's no particular one that says you can land this job if you have it because I've had people who come in my program with two both of the professional level certs. The DevOps Engineer Pro and the Solutions Architect Pro. And they knew nothing about Linux, nothing about automation, nothing about continuous integration and delivery, nothing about nothing. So, because you can pass this cert and because you could cram all that information and because you can use Wizlabs or any other dump to pass it, doesn't mean you can do the job. So, just focus on doing the job first and making sure you can give the customer what they want. Then focus on the certification to wow them at the end. Like and and in a you know, in a certified with three associate level search. So, you can do all of that and you're certified, cool. We good. Okay, so you think it's a nice to have? Yeah, nice to have. So, learn one thing at a time. So, here's some of the skills you should put into your learning journey. First one is Linux. You understand server administration, containerization. So, while you're in the command line, containerize those applications that you're deploying and see how Docker transition these applications. Kubernetes, you don't need to be a maybe you want to be, but you don't have to be a Kubernetes expert. Kubernetes already in itself is a complex masterful solutions platform that is just it's it's complex sometimes. Just learn a little bit, understand how Kubernetes takes those containers and let you build like maybe a two-node Kubernetes cluster to deliver services for your application from the front end to APIs to the database layer. Continuous integration and deployment. So, like using those applications, how do we take those applications through a build process to make sure the code works properly? How do we deploy it in a test environment to make sure our services that we want to deploy it in actually works. And then, what does it look like when we deploy it in production or testing environment to make sure the customer can access the endpoint and our applications work. And then, let's say if we crash one, does the application still come up or switch IPs to another container where the customer never loses downtime? And then, AI, like just understand like how these AI services work, whether in Google, whether in Azure, whether in AWS, and just play with some models. Like, you don't have to be an expert in AI, but at least try to use some of these tools. If you're not going to use it to really solve problems for the customer or for your organization, at least use it on yourself so you can optimize your workflow and expedite how you're getting stuff done. Use it for yourself so you can expedite your workflow, learn faster, deploy quicker, get things done quicker. And infrastructure as code is always going to be a thing, right? So, whether it's CloudFormation, whether it's Bicep, whether it's Terraform, Google Cloud used to have deployment manager, but I think it's like a marketplace thing now where it's it's nothing that you can really write scripts on, but infrastructure as code and just have a solid foundation of those things. If you have a solid all obviously understand some security protocols, too. Understand a little networking ports and firewalls and how things really work, how to network, how a customer could come into your network and how data flows through your network. Just have those foundations. Once you start learning those, don't ever stop learning those. Like, we make the mistake of learning the foundations and then we're like, we got to build on top because that's what's going to get us a job. Well, in reality, if you just go over the foundations over and over and over and over again until it's embedded in your subconscious and you're just doing it second nature, that makes you a super strong candidate because now you have the foundations, so it doesn't matter if they throw Kubernetes in front of your face. You understand how networking works. You understand server admin. You understand a little bit how containers work. You have a strong foundation there. Kubernetes will be a little easier for you. So, hopefully I'm not talking too much for y'all. It's all good stuff. I mean, what I like to tell people is if you're in tech, it's different than it was 5-10 years ago. Absolutely. You could do a job and then go home and not think about it. And now you just have to be leveling up your skills after hours. Or else not. Yeah. Have a side hustle. It's to like continue to learn after hours for stuff like this because you'll just be left behind because something new will come out. New, you know, the next technology will come out. You don't even know what it is. People are already up on it. Yeah. And now you're getting beat out. Also, in interviews, when that stuff when you you're able to drop some stuff about maybe the newest technology, now you set yourself apart cuz the manager's like, "Okay, this guy's up on everything. Great." You become the You become the expert because guess what? They're not up on it as well. Like, they don't A lot of companies haven't built a culture to adopt new AI technology as well. And it's just funny thing because they put in their job descriptions that they're looking for AI experts, right? But, they're not even investing in the culture to take this or what they want someone to have the skill set and build a a culture around it so everyone can understand their place with using this in their organization. So, I'll say I'll piggyback off of what you're saying is like you have to constantly be working towards the next thing. And this is what we've seen with cloud in 2020 where a lot of companies were anti-cloud 19, but guess what? COVID hit and they were forced to use cloud. And they didn't have the talent. So, you had companies that needed cloud talent, but they didn't have cloud talent to interview the cloud talent that they needed. So, they had to hire pe- other people to come into the organization to hi- to interview the talent that they needed. And they spent a ton of money doing this. So, this is why sometimes you see it now like the layoffs as well. And it's due to two things. It's due to a lot of people or companies using AI and replacing a lot of these sales process, HR process, etc. This also two, people are not upskilling because they didn't realize AI would come as fast as it did because, you know, it's just what it is. But, number three, they're still trying to get back from the cloud swing they did in 20, 20, 2020, 2021, and 2022, and 2023. So, they're not trying to make the same mistake. Always be upskilling, so you if if something happens, and God forbid you do have a layoff, you have enough skills to go somewhere else and be an asset to another company, just like that. So, that's that's what Chris is trying to say as well, and I am. Yeah. Yeah, and and I think another kind of like to piggyback on what you said, it's like I think in these interviews, one great way to stand out is have kind of a unique way you're using AI in your personal life or in your career, and just be ready to drop that. Because that's what when I talk to a lot of hiring managers, they're always very impressed with that. So, you know, entry-level person, but they're like, "Oh, yeah, I automated this or that with ChatGPT or Claude Code or uh I've been messing around with uh Grok or whatever." Just have something unique that you're doing, or even if you have to make it up, uh but be ready to talk about that as well in these interviews, cuz that's really what's impressing these people. Want to talk about the career paths that you have seen people do. Cuz I think that is maybe obviously there's great pay in cloud, which we can get into as well, but it's so versatile because then you get in, you go to DevOps and SRE, you could be platform if you get to have your Kubernetes. I mean, it's cloud security. Now, it's cloud data engineer. Let's talk about like uh a progression some progressions that you've seen in career paths from people. Start off as cloud engineers that you've taught and like like where did they end up? Yeah, so a [clears throat] a lot of places. So, you can start off as cloud engineer, cloud con- some people start off cloud consulting or solutions engineer, which is typical consultant. You're involved in the sales process or pre-sales architect or engineer, etc. And you're just involved in the sales process of discovery with the client, seeing if it's a great fit, and building out of the statement of work and designing a solution and getting the contract signed. But, they go on to find things they like to do. Like, "Oh man, I like FinOps. Like, this is great and it's paying well." And some people get in and say, "You know what? I like being technical, but I don't want to be technical right now. So, let me I like reports. I like" because they're pulling from their old job. Like, "When I was doing this, I loved that at such and such." So, this is like typically the same type of role, but it's in cloud focus and I'm still working with engineers, etc. Or some people say, "I love security. You know what, bro? It's like, I like being a cloud engineer, but I always had a strong passion for cybersecurity. So, now I want to kind of match that up with what I'm doing." Some people like data. Some people like incident response. We've seen people The traditional upgrade will be cloud engineer to more Okay, senior cloud engineer or they go into more architect or consulting. And they Architects make great money. Um but, you may have two, three, four, five, six clients at a time, right? That you're working on. So, it all depends on what you want out of a career. Some people get into cloud engineering and make 130, 140 and say, "Hey, bro. You know what? My company is cool. As long as I do my job, they don't bother me. I get to go to lunch with my wife or this husband. I get to spend extra time with my kids and I can take off early anytime I want as long as I get the job done. I'm straight. I'm cool. I don't want to Cuz anything else is just cost too much me being in meetings, etc. So, what I'm saying is the world is the industry is open. Like, anything that you do that you get into is not lost if you want to pivot. And I think that's a thing that people think is a roadblock. Like, "Well, what if I don't like it?" Well, everything that you learn here goes over there. Like, you're learning a 60 with us anyway. You're learning a 60% foundational base that can carry you across several different roles. So, even if you don't like complete engineering, but let's say you like want to go over here where people are becoming data engineers. I like working with PySpark. I like working with Apache Spark. I like doing all these things, wrangling data. Cool. I want to be in machine learning AI. Cool. So, as we go on to the industry in 2026 and 2027, we're going to see more roles open up, new roles come, other roles will fade, and new roles will be presented. So, just stay on your P's and Q's and continue to stay consistent in showing up and being better and better every single day. And the roles that come out that pay a ton of money, you can go and grab them cuz you were consistent in learning and positioning yourself for them every day anyway. So, that's what I was saying. Well, thanks again for coming on, Broderick. We've been talking about this for 6 months, so we finally made it out. Yeah, right. Yeah. And uh yeah, guys, check it out, and I'll be your career coach, so I hope you get a great cloud job. Yeah, let's go. See y'all later. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. All right, Broderick. All right, guys, [music] we'll catch you in the next one.