Looking for a career switch from developer to cloud architect. What should I be expecting?
So for some context, I'm a B.Tech CS kid (graduated in '24). I loved cloud when I was in college and did a few courses. I learned Kubernetes, Docker, Grafana, CI/CD, Networking, Security, AWS and so much more. I was completely invested. Then the campus placement season came along and I started to get nervous, no roles for cloud architect were coming up, all my effort was seemingly taking me nowhere. Then a role came up which said "Salesforce Cloud" and I was desperate, so I took it. I thought it's still cloud, it's close enough, I'm not getting anything else anyway. I was naive, it turned out to be a proper code intensive developer role and I've been toiling away in it for almost 2 years now and it's getting too much for me now. I've tried so many times to get better at coding but I just can't get it right, now I want to go back to finding proper cloud architect roles. But I'm worried it's not as good in reality as it is in my head, so here are some questions I have about the field to people who might have been working in it for a while now, any answer and guidance is GREATLY appreciated!
- How code intensive is it? From what I learned in college, there was little to no code involved but I have a feeling I might be wrong.
- How hectic is it? On other posts here on Reddit, people say it's not for everyone, late night pages every day, all responsibility on one to two people, no guidance, intense pressure etc. I definitely wouldn't be able to take that kind of pressure in a job I don't know... But for cloud... Maybe?
- From what I know about this field, it would probably be very hard for AI to take over any time soon. Is that true? Most of tech is already doomed, so I was hoping that if I do make a switch, it would be safe from AI for at least a few years...
- How insane is it to actually be making this switch? All my knowledge is primarily in Salesforce for now, I would practically have to start from scratch if I go to a cloud role. I know what to study and where to start and what certs to get, but I have absolutely no one to guide me so it's very daunting
- Should I get a specific degree? Overkill no? Should I get MBA instead?
This is starting to sound like a intrusive thoughts rant so I'll stop here. Thanks for reading!