A recent study of technology job want ads shows a 61 percent increase in demand nationwide for IT professionals with cloud computing experience.

The study, which is based on ads posted by about 2,400 businesses, was performed by Wanted Analytics, a firm that provides business intelligence for the talent marketplace.

"This growth spurt shows that businesses are truly seeking to invest in cloud technologies," said Raj Mehta, president and CEO of Infosys International, an IT services firm. "It is pretty safe to say that the cloud has gone past the consideration phase and is rapidly becoming an entrenched IT service for most companies," Mehta added.

The study showed that the metropolitan area with the highest volume of job ads for cloud computing skills during the past 90 days was San Francisco, where recruiters in this area placed more than 1,000 unique job listings, representing a 95 percent year-over-year growth.

Meanwhile, nearby San Jose in the heart of Northern California's Silicon Valley was bucking the trend with a decrease of 12 percent, when compared with the same 90-day period in the previous year.

Other cities with high demand included Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and New York, all of which showed double-digit increases in the volume of online job postings. Recruiting conditions for cloud computing skills are likely to be moderately difficult based upon the current talent supply and hiring demand in each area, according to Wanted Analytics

For example, the company claims that recruiters seeking candidates for openings in Washington, D.C., are likely to experience one of the most difficult recruiting conditions in the United States and it will take longer to fill these opening than the national average of 44 days.

Professionals who are looking to get on the cloud hiring bandwagon may need to acquire new cloud technology skills and certifications. To help fill the demand for qualified IT professionals, some leading IT vendors are now offering education and certification programs. Case in point is Hewlett-Packard, which launched a suite of new cloud computing certifications this past November. The certifications offered by HP are designed to give IT professionals the skills required to design and deploy a cloud environment.

Mehta said, "Finding qualified individuals is still a challenge, and I expect that to only grow in the future as more cloud deployments become the norm."

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