Cloud Engineer is a role in the Platform Engineering family. It has 59 skills across 5 levels (from Junior to Principal). 176 skills are mandatory. Key domains: Programming Fundamentals, Backend Development, Database Management.
Technology Stack
Focus by Level
Setting up cloud resources. Writing Terraform configurations. Monitoring cloud services. Managing IAM.
Designing cloud architecture. Terraform modules. Networking (VPC, subnets). Cost optimization basics. Multi-environment.
Multi-account/multi-project architecture. Landing zones. Network design. Security policies. Disaster Recovery. FinOps.
Cloud strategy. Multi-cloud/hybrid cloud. Vendor management. Budget planning. Security compliance.
Enterprise cloud strategy. Cloud operating model. Vendor negotiations. Industry best practices.
Skill Matrix
59 skills × 5 levels. Click on a cell for details.
AI-Assisted Development
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | A | W | A | E | E |
| Cursor IDE | A | W | A | E | E |
| ChatGPT / Claude | A | W | A | E | E |
| Prompt Engineering for Code | A | W | A | E | E |
API & Integration
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REST API Design | A | W | A | E | E |
| GraphQL Design | A | W | A | E | E |
| API Documentation | A | W | A | E | E |
Architecture & System Design
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System Design Fundamentals | A | W | A | E | E |
| High Load Architecture | A | W | A | E | E |
| Capacity Planning | A | W | A | E | E |
| Disaster Recovery Design | A | W | A | E | E |
Backend Development
2 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redis | A | W | A | E | E |
| S3 / Object Storage | A | W | A | E | E |
Cloud & Infrastructure
18 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Docker | A | W | A | E | E |
| Container Security Scanning | A | W | A | E | E |
| Kubernetes Core | A | W | A | E | E |
| Kubernetes Advanced | A | W | A | E | E |
| Helm | A | W | A | E | E |
| Terraform | A | W | A | E | E |
| Pulumi | A | W | A | E | E |
| Ansible | A | W | A | E | E |
| Serverless Functions | A | W | A | E | E |
| Serverless Containers | A | W | A | E | E |
| AWS | A | W | A | E | E |
| Google Cloud Platform | A | W | A | E | E |
| Yandex Cloud | A | W | A | E | E |
| Microsoft Azure | A | W | A | E | E |
| Network Fundamentals | A | W | A | E | E |
| Load Balancing | A | W | A | E | E |
| CDN & Edge Computing | A | W | A | E | E |
| VPN & Network Isolation | A | W | A | E | E |
Database Management
1 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | A | W | A | E | E |
DevOps & CI/CD
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Actions / GitLab CI | A | W | A | E | E |
| ArgoCD | A | W | A | E | E |
| Blue/Green Deployment | A | W | A | E | E |
| Canary Deployment | A | W | A | E | E |
Documentation
1 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runbook & Playbook Writing | A | W | A | E | E |
Observability & Monitoring
6 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured Logging | A | W | A | E | E |
| ELK Stack | A | W | A | E | E |
| Prometheus & Grafana | A | W | A | E | E |
| OpenTelemetry | A | W | A | E | E |
| SLI / SLO / SLA | A | W | A | E | E |
| On-Call Management | A | W | A | E | E |
Programming Fundamentals
7 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algorithms & Complexity | A | W | A | E | E |
| Data Structures | A | W | A | E | E |
| OOP & SOLID Principles | A | W | A | E | E |
| Design Patterns | A | W | A | E | E |
| Multithreading | A | W | A | E | E |
| Async Programming | A | W | A | E | E |
| Code Quality & Refactoring | A | W | A | E | E |
Security
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OWASP & Application Security | A | W | A | — | — |
| Secure Coding Practices | A | W | A | E | E |
| Secrets Management | A | W | A | E | E |
| Cloud Security | A | W | A | E | E |
Testing & QA
2 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit Testing | A | W | A | E | E |
| Integration Testing | A | W | A | E | E |
Version Control & Collaboration
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Git Advanced | A | W | A | E | E |
| Code Review | A | W | A | E | E |
| Documentation as Code | A | W | A | E | E |
FAQ
What skills are needed for the Cloud Engineer role?
The Cloud Engineer role requires 59 skills, of which 176 are mandatory. Skills are distributed across 5 levels: from Junior to Principal. See full matrix.
How to advance to the next level in the Cloud Engineer role?
Use the Grade Calculator to assess your current level and get personalized recommendations. The system will show which skills need to be developed for the next level.
What tech stack is used in the Cloud Engineer role?
The stack includes 5 technologies at different levels. AWS/GCP/Yandex Cloud basics, Terraform basics, Linux, Docker, Monitoring basics, AWS/GCP/Yandex Cloud, Terraform modules, VPC/Networking, IAM, S3/GCS, RDS/Cloud SQL, CloudWatch/Cloud Monitoring, Multi-account architecture, Landing zones, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, Cost Explorer, Security Hub, GuardDuty...
How does the community define requirements for the Cloud Engineer role?
Role requirements are shaped by the community through a proposal system. Any member can suggest changes that go through voting and expert review.