Select your current position

Pick a role and level — we'll show the growth path, skills and gap analysis.

Development path

Junior

0-2 years

Current

Responsibility: Setting up cloud resources. Writing Terraform configurations. Monitoring cloud services. Managing IAM.

Key skills:

Ansible Need
ArgoCD Need
Blue/Green Deployment Need
Canary Deployment Need
CDN & Edge Computing Need
Google Cloud Platform Need
Helm Need
Kubernetes Advanced Need
Microsoft Azure Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Pulumi Need
Serverless Containers Need
Serverless Functions Need
VPN & Network Isolation Need
Yandex Cloud Need
Load Balancing Need
Container Security Scanning Need

Middle

2-5 years

Next

Responsibility: Designing cloud architecture. Terraform modules. Networking (VPC, subnets). Cost optimization basics. Multi-environment.

Key skills:

Ansible Need
ArgoCD Need
Blue/Green Deployment Need
Canary Deployment Need
CDN & Edge Computing Need
Google Cloud Platform Need
Helm Need
Kubernetes Advanced Need
Kubernetes Core Need
Microsoft Azure Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Pulumi Need
Serverless Containers Need
Serverless Functions Need
Terraform Need
VPN & Network Isolation Need
Yandex Cloud Need
Load Balancing Need
Network Fundamentals Need
Container Security Scanning Need

Senior

5-8 years

Responsibility: Multi-account/multi-project architecture. Landing zones. Network design. Security policies. Disaster Recovery. FinOps.

Key skills:

Ansible Need
ArgoCD Need
AWS Need
Blue/Green Deployment Need
Canary Deployment Need
Capacity Planning Need
CDN & Edge Computing Need
Docker Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
Google Cloud Platform Need
Helm Need
Kubernetes Advanced Need
Kubernetes Core Need
Microsoft Azure Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Pulumi Need
S3 / Object Storage Need
Serverless Containers Need
Serverless Functions Need
Terraform Need
VPN & Network Isolation Need
Yandex Cloud Need
Load Balancing Need
Network Fundamentals Need
Container Security Scanning Need

Lead / Staff

7-12 years

Responsibility: Cloud strategy. Multi-cloud/hybrid cloud. Vendor management. Budget planning. Security compliance.

Key skills:

Ansible Need
ArgoCD Need
AWS Need
Blue/Green Deployment Need
Canary Deployment Need
Capacity Planning Need
CDN & Edge Computing Need
Disaster Recovery Design Need
Docker Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
Google Cloud Platform Need
Helm Need
High Load Architecture Need
Kubernetes Advanced Need
Kubernetes Core Need
Microsoft Azure Need
Pulumi Need
Runbook & Playbook Writing Need
S3 / Object Storage Need
Serverless Containers Need
Serverless Functions Need
Terraform Need
VPN & Network Isolation Need
Yandex Cloud Need
Load Balancing Need
Cloud Security Need
Network Fundamentals Need
Container Security Scanning Need

Principal

10+ years

Responsibility: Enterprise cloud strategy. Cloud operating model. Vendor negotiations. Industry best practices.

Key skills:

Ansible Need
ArgoCD Need
AWS Need
Blue/Green Deployment Need
Canary Deployment Need
Capacity Planning Need
CDN & Edge Computing Need
Disaster Recovery Design Need
Docker Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
Google Cloud Platform Need
Helm Need
High Load Architecture Need
Kubernetes Advanced Need
Kubernetes Core Need
Microsoft Azure Need
Pulumi Need
Runbook & Playbook Writing Need
S3 / Object Storage Need
Serverless Containers Need
Serverless Functions Need
Terraform Need
VPN & Network Isolation Need
Yandex Cloud Need
Load Balancing Need
Cloud Security Need
Network Fundamentals Need
Container Security Scanning Need

Gap analysis: skills to develop

To reach the next level you'll need to develop:

Ansible

Independently writes Ansible playbooks and roles for cloud infrastructure automation including VM provisioning, network configuration, and security group management. Implements dynamic inventory scripts for cloud providers and uses Ansible collections (amazon.aws, google.cloud, azure.azcollection) for idempotent resource management. Structures playbooks with roles, handlers, and templates for reusable cloud configuration patterns across environments.

ArgoCD

Independently configures ArgoCD Applications and ApplicationSets for multi-environment cloud infrastructure deployments. Writes sync policies with automated self-healing, pruning strategies, and sync waves for ordered resource provisioning. Implements RBAC and project-level access controls for cloud team namespaces.

Blue/Green Deployment

Independently creates and maintains Blue/Green Deployment. Configures CI/CD pipelines. Automates routine operations.

Canary Deployment

Independently creates and maintains Canary Deployment. Configures CI/CD pipelines. Automates routine operations.

CDN & Edge Computing

Implements CDN configurations with custom cache policies and origin failover using IaC. Deploys edge computing workloads for request transformation and A/B testing. Optimizes cache hit ratios and reduces origin load.

Google Cloud Platform

Independently configures and manages Google Cloud Platform. Writes IaC for common tasks. Understands networking and security basics.

Helm

Authors reusable Helm charts with parameterized templates and dependency management. Implements Helm hooks for migration and initialization workflows. Integrates Helm deployments into CI/CD pipelines with automated testing.

Kubernetes Advanced

Configures Kubernetes RBAC, network policies, and Ingress controllers for multi-tenant cloud environments. Writes Helm charts and manages cluster upgrades with zero-downtime strategies.

Kubernetes Core

Configures production-ready deployments: resource requests/limits, liveness/readiness probes, HPA, PDB. Works with Ingress controllers, NetworkPolicy, RBAC. Understands scheduling, taints/tolerations and affinity rules for load distribution.

Microsoft Azure

Independently configures and manages Microsoft Azure. Writes IaC for common tasks. Understands networking and security basics.

OWASP & Application Security

Applies security headers (CORS, CSP, X-Frame-Options). Protects against SSRF, path traversal, mass assignment. Uses input validation and sanitization. Configures rate limiting. Conducts basic security code review.

Pulumi

Independently writes Pulumi programs for multi-cloud deployments using component resources and stack references. Configures networking, IAM, and storage with proper secret encryption and environment management. Understands Pulumi policy-as-code with CrossGuard for compliance enforcement.

Serverless Containers

Independently configures and manages Serverless Containers. Writes IaC for common tasks. Understands networking and security basics.

Serverless Functions

Independently designs and deploys serverless architectures with API Gateway, SQS, and event-driven triggers. Configures cold start mitigation, concurrency limits, and VPC connectivity. Writes Terraform/CloudFormation for serverless stacks.

Terraform

Writes modular Terraform configurations for multi-tier cloud architectures. Creates reusable modules with input variables, outputs, and documentation. Manages multi-environment setups using workspaces or directory structures. Implements remote state with locking (S3+DynamoDB, GCS). Configures IAM policies and security groups through Terraform.

VPN & Network Isolation

Independently configures VPN solutions and network isolation in multi-cloud environments: AWS VPN Gateway, Azure VPN, GCP Cloud VPN with BGP routing. Implements network segmentation using VPC service controls, private endpoints, and transit gateway architectures. Understands zero-trust network access patterns.

Yandex Cloud

Independently configures and manages Yandex Cloud. Writes IaC for common tasks. Understands networking and security basics.

Load Balancing

Independently configures cloud load balancing: multi-AZ ALB with path-based routing, weighted target groups for canary deployments, and WAF integration. Implements auto-scaling policies triggered by load balancer request metrics.

Network Fundamentals

Designs network architecture: multi-tier VPC with public/private/isolated subnets, VPC Peering, Transit Gateway for VPC connectivity. Configures DNS (Route 53/Cloud DNS) with health checks and failover. Works with Site-to-Site VPN and Direct Connect for hybrid environments.

Container Security Scanning

Independently configures container security scanning in CI/CD pipelines with Trivy, Snyk Container, or Aqua. Implements admission controllers for vulnerability gates. Manages base image registries with automated vulnerability patching workflows.