I'm 26 and recently completed a second bachelor's degree, this time in Computer Science. My first degree was in History and Political Science, and I also have a couple of years of experience in cloud account-executive sales. I'm considering pursuing a part-time master's degree in Finance, but my main goal is to move into a technical cloud career. Would employers consider me for an entry-level Cloud Engineer position, or should I target a different role first?
4 Answers
A practical certification path could be a good starting point. For Azure, you could begin with AZ-900 and then work toward AZ-104. After that, look for cloud administrator or junior infrastructure roles, keep developing your skills, and use real work experience to qualify for engineering positions.
The number of degrees won’t matter as much as what you can actually demonstrate. Build projects involving networking, Linux, scripting, Terraform or another infrastructure-as-code tool, CI/CD, monitoring, and a major cloud platform. A portfolio showing that you can deploy and maintain something is likely more convincing than another academic credential.
Cloud Engineer usually isn’t considered a true entry-level role. Employers generally want some hands-on experience supporting applications, infrastructure, or cloud environments. Your CS degree is useful, but you’ll probably have better results starting with cloud support, application support, or a junior cloud administrator position and then moving up.
It is possible to land a cloud engineering job straight out of college, especially through an internship or a company with a junior-level infrastructure role. I started that way with a CS degree, basic networking and security certifications, and an internship. Learning Terraform and applying for junior Infrastructure Engineer positions may give you a more realistic entry point than applying only to jobs titled Cloud Engineer.
That route makes sense because junior infrastructure roles often provide the same foundational experience while setting clearer expectations for someone early in their career.
Exactly. Any role that gives you practical exposure to deployments, troubleshooting, networking, identity, and cloud operations can help you build toward engineering.