Ben's Cloud Career Roadmap

Tampa Bay · $65K → $220K+ · Target: Data Solutions Architect · 4–5 year horizon · Azure-first, AWS + GCP aware

Living document · cert & tool pills open official training · expand “Current jobs” on any stage for date-sorted searches you can save as daily alerts · last updated July 2026

~$72K ~$110K ~$158K $220K+ Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 The Goal
Azure core cert Optional / cross-cloud (AWS · GCP) Tools & skills Current jobs — saved-search + alert (expand per stage)
1
Stage 1  Months 0–18$65K – $80K
Junior Data Analyst Foundation
Jr Data Analyst · BI Analyst · Reporting Analyst · Analytics Associate
Azure certs
AZ-900 · Azure Fundamentals DP-900 · Azure Data Fundamentals PL-300 · Power BI Data Analyst AZ-104 · Azure Administrator
Cross-cloud (optional)
AI-900 · Azure AI Fundamentals AWS Cloud Practitioner GCP Cloud Digital Leader
Power BI / analytics stack  ·  learn in order →
Excel SQL / T-SQL Power Query (M) Data modeling Power BI DAX
Microsoft Fabric (get started)
Microsoft Fabric
▸Current jobs“Data Analyst”— open a search, then hit “Save / Create alert” for a daily digest
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2
Stage 2  Year 2–3$90K – $130K
Cloud Data Operations · Analytics Engineering
Analytics Engineer · BI Developer · Data Platform Engineer · Fabric Engineer
Certs
DP-700 · Fabric Data Engineer DP-600 · Fabric Analytics Engineer AWS Data Engineer – Assoc GCP Associate Data Practitioner
Programming
Python
Fabric data platform
Azure Data Factory Delta Lake ETL / ELT (low-code)
Transform & query
dbt (SQL) KQL Synapse
▸Current jobs“Analytics Engineer”— open a search, then hit “Save / Create alert” for a daily digest
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3
Stage 3  Year 4–5$130K – $185K
Data Solutions Architect
Cloud Solutions Architect · Senior Analytics Engineer · BI Architect
Certs
AZ-305 · Azure Solutions Architect Snowflake SnowPro AWS Solutions Architect – Pro GCP Professional Data Engineer
Architecture
Warehouse / lakehouse design Semantic models Snowflake (SQL)
Delivery & governance
CI/CD Governance
▸Current jobs“Data Solutions Architect”— open a search, then hit “Save / Create alert” for a daily digest
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★
The Goal  Year 5+$170K – $220K+
Senior Data Solutions Architect
Cloud Solutions Architect · Principal / Staff track
Focus
Multi-cloud Cost & architecture Team leadership
▸Current jobs“Senior Data Architect”— open a search, then hit “Save / Create alert” for a daily digest
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4 stages Azure core spine AWS + GCP at each level $155K+ projected climb fundamentals → associate → expert