4 reasons to gift yourself cloud skills (rather than buy a new TV) for Black Friday, Cyber Monday
Save up to 40% on personal annual plans (Limited Time Only). The ACG Black Friday Sale is on! Lock in low prices on the world’s leading cloud learning platform. For a limited time, we’re slashing the price of plans for all new users.
May 16, 2023 • 5 Minute Read
There's never been a better time to learn cloud!
Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are already on. While people are fighting each other (and e-commerce sites) to nab a cart full of stuff they don’t need, why not skip the madness and treat yourself or someone you care about to something a little more life-changing than a dirt-cheap TV?
Here are 4 reasons why you should give (or get) the gift cloud skills this holiday shopping season.
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1. Employers are desperately seeking people with cloud skills
The overwhelming demand for cloud skills makes Pokemon cards look easy to come by.
Just last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the current cloud talent shortage is a major obstacle for companies looking to move to the cloud. In response, some companies are offering jobs to prospective candidates within hours instead of days or weeks. They report:
“With cloud computing, companies were already trying to figure out what to do with the small pool of experienced engineers when Covid-19 sparked a wave of new demand. According to the labor and economics research firm Emsi, the number of cloud job openings grew by more than 90% between 2017 and 2020, which is more than four times faster than the total growth of tech jobs over the same period.”
2. Start the new year off in a new direction
Thinking of adding "save more money" to your New Year's resolution list? The best way to save more is to earn more. And cloud careers offer some serious earning power.
LinkedIn currently reports that the average base salary for a cloud engineer is $118,201 USD per year with a $10,000 USD cash bonus per year, and common benefits including unlimited time off and 401k matching.
Now, let's be real. Picking up a new cloud skill may not immediately land you a six-figure job. But it can help you make a huge salary jump, and it puts you on the path for extremely high-paying positions going forward.
Case in point? Look at ACG student Thad McNullen. Thad doubled his salary in 90 days by going from a help desk job to a cloud career with some skills development courtesy of A Cloud Guru.
WATCH: Solving The "No Experience" Cloud Hiring Problem
Need experience to get a job, but need a job to get experience. It's a cloudy Catch-22! Watch this free, on-demand webinar with insights from the ACG challenge that helped dozens get their first cloud job.
3. Use downtime to move up in your career
A little downtime from work or school can mean a perfect time to pick up new skills.
If you’re able to dedicate just a couple of hours a day, you could be ready to earn an entry-level cloud certification in Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure in about a week.
Consider our 14-hour AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course or AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01), both of which are great entry points into the cloud.
Why study for a cloud certificaiton if you're new to tech? Because the prep work that goes into a certification is an ideal way to push yourself to pick up new skills. And once you have that basic certification under your belt, you can set your sights on some of the top-paying certifications and jobs in tech.
4. Anyone can learn cloud
Don’t know the first thing about tech? That doesn’t have to stop you! If you know enough about tech to be able to browse the internet for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, you know more than enough to start learning cloud.
Every journey starts with a first step, and the right cloud skills development can take you from a cloud novice to a guru in no time.
At ACG, we offer entry-level courses on everything from Cloud Computing Foundations to Introduction to Kubernetes and Introduction to Python Scripting or, check out one of our most popular courses for beginners, the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.
Treat yourself to best deal ever on the best cloud learning around
Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are a once-a-year thing. But investing in cloud skills can transform your life.
Whether you’re a cloud newcomer hoping to jump-start your cloud career or you have a bit of tech experience and are looking to level up those skills, A Cloud Guru’s hands-on learning can set you up for career success. 95% of ACG users say our tools and content directly helped in their careers.
Learn by doing for less. There’s never been a better time to invest in leveling up your cloud skills.
Best Black Friday ever? Save 40% on ACG!
Looking for a Black Friday discount on cloud training? For a limited time, get 40% off A Cloud Guru personal annual plans and get the best hands-on cloud learning at our best price ever.
With a deal this dandy, you may want to bump up to Personal Plus and get unlimited access to real AWS, Azure, and GCP sandbox environments with Cloud Playground. (It’s the perfect way to get your hands cloudy while you learn without putting your wallet — or critical systems — at risk.)
