• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DCMA
  • Write For Us / Submit
Tech News, Magazine & Review WordPress Theme 2017
  • Tech
    Enhance your omnichannel service strategies with data-driven insights.

    Black Market for Fraudulent Ad Accounts Found on Facebook

    Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing.

    Trump’s TikTok ban might have been right after all

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Twitter, Facebook, Lyft layoffs spark fears of dotcom crash 2.0

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook Reels app on a smartphone on a yellow background

    How to Hide Reels on Facebook

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Meta lays off 11,000 workers as it faces competition from TikTok

    reduce a PDF’s file size

    How to reduce a PDF’s file size for Mac and Windows

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer's Work In 2022

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer’s Work In 2022

  • Gear
    • All
    • Camera
    • Laptop
    • Smartphone
    Pixel Watch in the test

    Google Pixel Watch in the Test

    Top 5 Websites To Buy Camera Lenses At Reasonable Price

    Top 5 Websites To Buy Camera Lenses At Reasonable Price

    US midterm results latest: Republicans win 218 seats to take House as Kevin McCarthy wins initial GOP speaker vote

    US midterm results latest: Republicans win 218 seats to take House as Kevin McCarthy wins initial GOP speaker vote

    Google Pixel Watch

    Your Pixel Watch is Getting Better at Sleep Tracking

    Analyst: iPhone 14 Plus Sales Lagged Behind iPhone 13 Mini, Strategy 'Failed'

    Apple’s Emergency SOS Service for iPhone 14 Goes Live in US and Canada

    Pixel 7 Pro hazel top down view with display on

    Survey shows few people have had major issues with the Pixel 7 series

    Trending Tags

    • Best iPhone 7 deals
    • Apple Watch 2
    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • iOS 10
    • iPhone 7
    • Sillicon Valley
  • Gaming
    Discord on Xbox is dropping its reliance on your phone

    Xbox rolls out official support for Discord, Lightstream, and Streamlabs

    Samsung brings Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now to 2021 sets

    Samsung brings Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now to 2021 sets

    Virtual Gaming Revolution Continuing To Develop

    Virtual Gaming Revolution Continuing To Develop

    How to Set Custom Shortcuts for Xbox Game Bar in Windows

    How to Set Custom Shortcuts for Xbox Game Bar in Windows

    Asus' ROG Flow Z13 is a Surface for gaming

    Asus’ ROG Flow Z13 is a Surface for gaming

    Atari's 50th anniversary celebration gives players a hands-on lesson in video gaming history

    Atari’s 50th anniversary celebration gives players a hands-on lesson in video gaming history

  • Crypto
    Enhance your omnichannel service strategies with data-driven insights.

    Black Market for Fraudulent Ad Accounts Found on Facebook

    Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing.

    Trump’s TikTok ban might have been right after all

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Twitter, Facebook, Lyft layoffs spark fears of dotcom crash 2.0

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook Reels app on a smartphone on a yellow background

    How to Hide Reels on Facebook

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Meta lays off 11,000 workers as it faces competition from TikTok

    reduce a PDF’s file size

    How to reduce a PDF’s file size for Mac and Windows

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer's Work In 2022

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer’s Work In 2022

  • Business
    Enhance your omnichannel service strategies with data-driven insights.

    Black Market for Fraudulent Ad Accounts Found on Facebook

    Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing.

    Trump’s TikTok ban might have been right after all

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Twitter, Facebook, Lyft layoffs spark fears of dotcom crash 2.0

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook Reels app on a smartphone on a yellow background

    How to Hide Reels on Facebook

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Meta lays off 11,000 workers as it faces competition from TikTok

    reduce a PDF’s file size

    How to reduce a PDF’s file size for Mac and Windows

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer's Work In 2022

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer’s Work In 2022

No Result
View All Result
Geeky Insider
  • Tech
    Enhance your omnichannel service strategies with data-driven insights.

    Black Market for Fraudulent Ad Accounts Found on Facebook

    Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing.

    Trump’s TikTok ban might have been right after all

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Twitter, Facebook, Lyft layoffs spark fears of dotcom crash 2.0

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook Reels app on a smartphone on a yellow background

    How to Hide Reels on Facebook

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Meta lays off 11,000 workers as it faces competition from TikTok

    reduce a PDF’s file size

    How to reduce a PDF’s file size for Mac and Windows

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer's Work In 2022

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer’s Work In 2022

  • Gear
    • All
    • Camera
    • Laptop
    • Smartphone
    Pixel Watch in the test

    Google Pixel Watch in the Test

    Top 5 Websites To Buy Camera Lenses At Reasonable Price

    Top 5 Websites To Buy Camera Lenses At Reasonable Price

    US midterm results latest: Republicans win 218 seats to take House as Kevin McCarthy wins initial GOP speaker vote

    US midterm results latest: Republicans win 218 seats to take House as Kevin McCarthy wins initial GOP speaker vote

    Google Pixel Watch

    Your Pixel Watch is Getting Better at Sleep Tracking

    Analyst: iPhone 14 Plus Sales Lagged Behind iPhone 13 Mini, Strategy 'Failed'

    Apple’s Emergency SOS Service for iPhone 14 Goes Live in US and Canada

    Pixel 7 Pro hazel top down view with display on

    Survey shows few people have had major issues with the Pixel 7 series

    Trending Tags

    • Best iPhone 7 deals
    • Apple Watch 2
    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • iOS 10
    • iPhone 7
    • Sillicon Valley
  • Gaming
    Discord on Xbox is dropping its reliance on your phone

    Xbox rolls out official support for Discord, Lightstream, and Streamlabs

    Samsung brings Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now to 2021 sets

    Samsung brings Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now to 2021 sets

    Virtual Gaming Revolution Continuing To Develop

    Virtual Gaming Revolution Continuing To Develop

    How to Set Custom Shortcuts for Xbox Game Bar in Windows

    How to Set Custom Shortcuts for Xbox Game Bar in Windows

    Asus' ROG Flow Z13 is a Surface for gaming

    Asus’ ROG Flow Z13 is a Surface for gaming

    Atari's 50th anniversary celebration gives players a hands-on lesson in video gaming history

    Atari’s 50th anniversary celebration gives players a hands-on lesson in video gaming history

  • Crypto
    Enhance your omnichannel service strategies with data-driven insights.

    Black Market for Fraudulent Ad Accounts Found on Facebook

    Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing.

    Trump’s TikTok ban might have been right after all

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Twitter, Facebook, Lyft layoffs spark fears of dotcom crash 2.0

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook Reels app on a smartphone on a yellow background

    How to Hide Reels on Facebook

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Meta lays off 11,000 workers as it faces competition from TikTok

    reduce a PDF’s file size

    How to reduce a PDF’s file size for Mac and Windows

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer's Work In 2022

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer’s Work In 2022

  • Business
    Enhance your omnichannel service strategies with data-driven insights.

    Black Market for Fraudulent Ad Accounts Found on Facebook

    Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing.

    Trump’s TikTok ban might have been right after all

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    14 Gift Ideas for the Home Chef (2022): Vitamix, Cookbooks, and More

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Twitter, Facebook, Lyft layoffs spark fears of dotcom crash 2.0

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook layoffs are a reminder that your job won’t love you back

    Facebook Reels app on a smartphone on a yellow background

    How to Hide Reels on Facebook

    6 Android Apps for Budget Management

    Meta lays off 11,000 workers as it faces competition from TikTok

    reduce a PDF’s file size

    How to reduce a PDF’s file size for Mac and Windows

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer's Work In 2022

    7 Best Tools To Boost UX Designer’s Work In 2022

Submit
Geeky Insider
No Result
View All Result

How to become a cloud architect

by Staff Writer
August 9, 2022
in How To
Reading Time: 7 mins read
How to become a cloud architect
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Just as there is a growing demand for cloud services among all kinds of organizations, there’s an increased need for technology professionals with related skills. That includes cloud architects, who develop and oversee the organization’s cloud environment.

Among their primary responsibilities, cloud architects design cloud applications, create cloud approval plans, and develop cloud storage management systems. These individuals also focus a good deal of their time on management, including managing and formulating strategies for maintaining cloud systems, servers, networks, storage, and front-end platforms.

READ ALSO

loop video logo youtube

How to loop a YouTube video on any device

November 16, 2022
Technology Network and Data Connection

How to Get the Most from Your Intel-Based Instances on Google Cloud

November 16, 2022

crismerritt IDG

Cris Merritt is an independent cloud architect.

Other responsibilities include evaluating the integrity of software, hardware, and cloud applications; creating and organizing cloud systems; developing relevant cloud strategies and managing processes for adapting them; collaborating with IT security professionals to monitor cloud privacy; responding to a range of technical issues in a timely manner; and determining the most effective cloud architecture solutions to meet company needs.

To find out what’s involved in becoming a cloud architect, we spoke with Cris Merritt, an independent cloud architect.

Education

Merritt studied at the engineering school at Johns Hopkins University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics in 1986. “At the time there was no computer science department; you either needed to study electrical engineering or applied mathematics, and add in subjects like algorithms and data structures to ‘bend’ it toward computer science,” he says.

Applied mathematics was “incredibly hard, because I was competing with math geniuses,” Merritt says. “But I worked hard and came away with an appreciation for the elegance of mathematics. One of my favorite subjects at the intersection of math and computer science was automata theory, which is about formal classes of theoretical machines and how these automata correspond to classes of computer language grammars such as regular expressions.”

A lot of computer language and compiler design is a direct application of this theory, Merritt says. “I found that link between mathematical theory and application fascinating,” he says.

Merritt taught himself to code when he was about 12 years old. “There was a computer terminal with a paper scroll—no screen—in a room in the school and nobody knew how to use it,” he says. “I read the manual and started coding. The first thing I built was a program to calculate and print out a table of bicycle gear ratios.”

He would take a printout of the code into his classes and work secretly, marking up the printout with changes. Then he would run back to the computer room between classes to type them in, run the code, and take the output to his next class to debug it. “No one had any idea what I was doing,” Merritt says.

Early career moves

Following graduation, Merritt went to work as a software engineer at test equipment maker Megatest, where he developed a compiler for a VLSI (very large-scale integration) test language in C/C++. Five years later, he joined communications company Siemens, where he worked on an application for the graphical specification and design of software.

Beginning in 1993, Merritt took on roles for a number of companies in Switzerland, working in positions such as research assistant, software engineer, and Unix engineer, and gaining knowledge and experience in areas including RAID storage systems, industrial vibration analysis systems, and Unix distributions.

For one of those jobs, at UBS Bank, Merritt was on a team that designed UBS’s in-house Unix distribution. “That team was so far ahead of their time and they taught me so much,” he says. “They were doing infrastructure-as-code and devops before the terms existed. This experience was what turned me from developing industrial applications to data center operations and eventually cloud operations.”

From Switzerland, Merritt moved on to the Netherlands, working at four different companies between 1998 and 2008. This included a stint as a Unix architect at a bank, where he managed a large Unix server farm for securities trading applications. He later held a role as CTO for an IT services and consulting firm, where he architected a platform for managing Wi-Fi hotspots and led a team of engineers to develop it.

Following his time in the Netherlands, Merritt returned to Switzerland, where he worked as a security consultant for Sun Microsystems. He also did a two-year stint as an information security specialist at a security company, Engiweb Security, in Italy.

Becoming a cloud architect

In 2011, Merritt founded a company called Bay31, which developed a cloud-based security analytics platform. He served as CEO and co-architect of the product, then sold Bay31 to Courion Corp. in 2015. Next, he joined Kespry, a drone analytics platform provider, as cloud architect. In that role he developed and managed Kespry’s AWS infrastructure for distributed image processing.

Then, in 2017, Merritt became an independent cloud architect. In this role he helps clients manage AWS cloud projects from design to deployment, optimizing their infrastructures for better performance and lower costs.

“My career has been really nontraditional, since I have had a ton of different jobs,” Merritt says. “I have often worked as a freelancer, and have worked all over the world. I discovered long ago that I most enjoy the challenge of a new job, learning new tech and new domains.”

Being a freelancer enables Merritt to work on a variety of projects. “It also benefits my clients because I have seen so many different environments, organizations, processes, and growing pains and I can put that experience to work for them,” he says. “I also really value the personal flexibility. Some weeks I work more, some less, or sometimes I have an acting gig and focus on that. If I’m in between clients I may take off to travel for a while. I’ve really made a point of cultivating and defending this kind of freedom. I feel really fortunate for that.”

A day in the life of a cloud architect

Merritt has found a niche working with clients that might be startups or smaller or medium-size companies that are growing quickly. He notes that he can relate to their entrepreneurial values from having worked at a number of these kinds of companies himself. “I can switch roles according to what they need in the moment,” he says. “One week I’m coding, the next I’m doing high-level design, and the next may be a go-to-market plan. I thrive on this kind of change, and clients appreciate that I can switch roles as they require.”

“I try to do work on hard problems that require heavy left-brain thinking, like coding or debugging, in the morning,” Merritt says. “Then get out for some physical exercise to clear my head. I try to push meetings, writing, and admin to the afternoon or evening.”

For his current client, Merritt is doing a lot of architectural design work for security, infrastructure, and technology operations, including writing code, testing, and planning. “For some clients, I’m collaborating a lot all day,” he says. For others, “I just show results when I’m done,” he says. “I post milestones regularly, so clients can follow where I’m at with their project. My clients give me a lot of trust, which I really appreciate, and I don’t let them down. I have really high standards for quality, for over-engineering. That’s the engineer in me.”

There’s also a certain amount of work to acquire new clients, he says, but most come through referrals or LinkedIn. Merritt also devotes time regularly to studying new technologies.

In the last few years, “I’ve become particularly interested in container orchestration, such as Kubernetes,” Merritt says. “I see so many cloud environments that are ad-hoc collections of servers, and companies often don’t know what’s running on their own servers. I think Kubernetes is the way forward to manage this complexity for scalable and secure operations.”

Training and certifications: AWS and Kubernetes

Merritt has earned certifications in areas such as AWS Cloud and Kubernetes. “The training is valuable and the certification helps get your foot in the door,” he says. “But you really need project experience to be fluent with any new tech. You just have to get on the project to get it. Honestly, I learn something new on every job.”

Memorable career moments and inspirations

“My startup was certainly a memorable experience,” Merritt says. “We had amazing technology, but we were terrible at sales. Three years into it we had writeups in [research firm] Gartner and tech magazines about how cool our technology was, but we were running on fumes to pay our few employees. Around a month before the month before the money ran out—which we kept a secret, of course—a big company called and offered to buy the company. It was so stressful, but it wasn’t a coincidence. because we had set it up to attract that call. I learned that if you venture something and stick to it, the reward will come.”

“In my profession, I learned a lot from the guy that pulled me into my first startup,” Merritt says. “I learned from him what you can achieve with gumption, authenticity, and putting your customers and colleagues first. Ultimately that startup failed, but it was the genesis of the next one, which succeeded. More recently, I am enormously grateful to my girlfriend, my partner, who is an actor and made me realize that I have an artist in me, too. She encouraged me to start painting and acting and I have discovered an enormous well of creativity and expression that I had never tapped into.”

Career advice from a cloud architect

“Keep learning and changing, try out different things,” Merritt says. “Trust that it will lead somewhere amazing that you may not have predicted. Indeed, my whole career has been about continually learning and reinventing myself professionally.”

Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.

Source by www.infoworld.com

Related Posts

How to protect yourself from phishing
How To

Phishing: The nasty tricks of the cybercriminals – this is how they protect themselves

December 27, 2022
How to Unsend an Email in Outlook
How To

How to Unsend an Email in Outlook

November 16, 2022
YouTube logo on a smartphone
How To

How to Turn Off Autoplay on YouTube

November 16, 2022
How to go through your CV in a job interview
How To

How to go through your CV in a job interview

November 16, 2022

Recommended.

Nothing phone white in hand showing back

The business of hype and building Nothing’s ecosystem

September 10, 2022
YouTube, Instagram, Discord appear to pull pages belonging to Illinois shooting person of interest

YouTube, Instagram, Discord appear to pull pages belonging to Illinois shooting person of interest

July 5, 2022

Trending.

What Is Tinder Here's What You Should Know About The Tinder Dating App Clone

What Is Tinder? Here’s What You Should Know About The Tinder Dating App Clone

January 9, 2023
Technology Competitive Advantage

3 Ways Technology Can Give You a Competitive Advantage

January 14, 2023
How Decentralized Financing Will Change The Real Estate Sector

How Decentralized Financing Will Change The Real Estate Sector

January 3, 2023
How to Make Characters Stick With Character Design Studios

How to Make Characters Stick With Character Design Studios

October 28, 2022
What is Servant Leadership

What is Servant Leadership

January 5, 2023
Geeky Insider

Geeky Insider is Web based independent Tech Magazine covering Topics Related to Technology, Gadgets, Software, Gaming, Crypto, Business And So on. Read More...

Submit a Techy Post | Write For Us

Feel free to contact us for submission queries. via contact form or email us at [email protected].

Categories

  • Android
  • Apple
  • Apps And Softwares
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Camera
  • Crypto
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Gadget and Gear
  • Gaming
  • How To
  • Laptop
  • Marketing
  • Microsoft
  • Review
  • Security
  • Smartphone
  • Technology
Sell on Amazon

Sell on Amazon – 5 reasons why you should put on the platform as a dealer!

January 18, 2023
Digitization in Business

Digitization in Business – How you can master the challenge?

January 18, 2023
Best Sales Tips to Boost Your Sales Success

20 Best Sales Tips to Boost Your Sales Success

January 18, 2023
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DCMA
  • Write For Us / Submit

© 2022 GeekyInsider.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Review
  • Apple
  • Gaming
  • Gadget and Gear
    • Camera
    • Smartphone
  • Microsoft
  • Security