You may have seen the news that Microsoft launched three new Professional Certificates on Coursera, with a fourth that’s also open for pre-enrollment.

Let’s take a closer look at the relationship between IT support and cloud support.

As noted, these two roles are closely related, and if you’re interested in a technical career, you may engage with both of these roles at some point throughout your career journey.

IT support is the broader starting point. IT support specialists maintain and improve the computer systems that organizations rely on for everyday business operations. They also help users securely install software and troubleshoot technical issues. People who start their careers as IT specialists may end up advancing into cybersecurity, network administration, system administration, software development, software engineering, web development, or even cloud computing roles.

Cloud support is a more niche, rapidly evolving industry. Cloud computing allows organizations to store data and access computational resources via the internet rather than local hardware or installed software. Since this architecture doesn’t require organizations to maintain their own servers or data centers, it can cut costs and increase efficiency. Starting out as a cloud support associate is one way to guide toward roles like cloud architect, cloud developer, or cloud engineer.

Choosing between IT support and cloud support

Knowing where you should get started often comes down to knowing where you want to end up.

If you have no experience working in a technical field and aren’t quite sure where you’d like to end up, IT support is a great first step. Working in IT will introduce you to a range of career paths, which you can choose to pursue when you’re ready to advance. Cloud support primarily differs from IT support because it focuses on troubleshooting, maintaining, and optimizing cloud services. In a cloud support role, you’ll likely specialize in vendor-specific platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS).

If you know you eventually want to advance into a cloud computing role, cloud support may be a better choice for you. Entry-level cloud computing jobs tend to require background knowledge and hands-on experience working in IT or a similar field, so starting out as a cloud support associate can be a productive entry-point into those more advanced specialties.

Where to begin

Essentially, if you have any uncertainty regarding where you’d like to end up, start with the Microsoft IT Support Specialist Professional Certificate. Later, if you decide to enroll in the Microsoft Cloud Support Associate Professional Certificate, the aligned IT Support Specialist courses you already completed will count toward your progress—or perhaps you’ll decide to take a different route, like cybersecurity, data science, or data engineering.

No matter which you choose, you can feel confident that you’re working toward an in-demand career. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer and information technology occupations in general are expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations from 2022 through 2032, and as of May 2023, the median annual wage for these roles was $104,420—much higher than the median across all occupations, $48,060.

Learn more about IT career paths and cloud computing, and feel free to drop any lingering questions in the comments below!