Disclaimer: ex preferred partner early AWS client-facing Fortune 200 consultant. The senior sysadmin at the DMDC around mid California coast: only one certific

Disclaimer: ex preferred partner early AWS client-facing Fortune 200 consultant. The senior sysadmin at the DMDC around mid California coast: only one certification, VMware. A French offensive exploits broker, solid researcher and reeigne: no certs. I only have a few certs because work paid tens of thousands for offsite training. A few certs are okay because corporate HR wants staff to demonstrate continual learning and achievement, lots of low-quality ones (A+) are a negative signal. It's more important to keep up on news, tools and techniques on the front lines. My opinion is managing \aaS needs solid rack&stack ops experience at scale. For IT folks: either start huge if you can or start small and move towards huge. The biggest challenges are customer communication, managing expectations, anticipating and planning where possible and showing empathy... it's a 5% technical skill and 95% getting along productively game. Communicate the business impact, don't overwhelm customers with unnecessary* detail.