Dive Brief:
- Rising demand for Azure technical talent has cut into AWS’s longstanding lead in cloud, according to Revelio Labs research. The workforce analytics firm compared millions of job postings from 2017 and 2024.
- AWS skills were mentioned in 40% of job postings for cloud technicians in July 2024, compared to more than 60% in 2017. Conversely, posting for jobs requiring Azure skills rose to 34% from 21% in 2017.
- The shift in part reflects increased demand for candidates with multiple cloud proficiencies, Revelio Labs Economist Anna Airoldi said. Positions requiring skills in more than one provider’s technology rose six percentage points between 2017 and this year. The share of jobs mentioning AWS exclusively dropped to 29%, compared to 51% seven years ago.
Dive Insight:
Cloud market share is one indirect measure of enterprise preference. Postings for skills specific to a particular provider are another.
Microsoft more than doubled its market share in less than a decade, from just 11% in mid-2017 to 23% in Q2 2024, according to Synergy Research Group data. AWS, the perennial frontrunner, has seen its one-third share of the nearly $700 billion global market hold steady during the same period.
Postings for cloud talent have mirrored shifts in market share, Airoldi said. As migrations accelerate and cloud deployments expand, organizations need to onboard technicians in greater numbers, depleting an already shallow pool of available talent.
Cloud providers have tried to alleviate skills shortages through an array of training and certification programs. AWS added two cloud-based AI credentials to its certification portfolio along with complementary training programs in June.
While the job postings data shows Azure gaining ground in several key industries, including IT services, aerospace and defense, AWS had a major advantage among organizations new to cloud, Revelio Labs’ research showed.
More than 3 in 5 July postings by employers who had not previously sought cloud talent were directed toward technicians with AWS proficiencies. Fewer than 1 in 4 mentioned Azure skills.
“Demand data can tell us something about what’s going on in the market,” Airoldi said. “You can look at revenue and at actual spend, but the fact that companies are increasingly hiring for one technology is a pretty good sign that the technology is doing well.”
