Pathway intelligence
Compare the work, a realistic entry point and the evidence to build next. Choose up to three routes.
2 of 3 selected. Add another route or compare these two. Your choices are saved in this page’s URL.
At a glanceRead across each question
Security · broad track
Broad track · compare specific roles
Cloud infrastructure
Includes entry opportunities
Investigating threats, engineering safeguards or supporting risk decisions. The responsibilities differ by security specialism.
A practical engineering route combining cloud deployment with access, reliability and cost decisions.
Help desk
Junior Cloud Engineer / Cloud Support
Explain an investigation, a control decision or a risk assessment, with evidence and a clear escalation. Choose the specialism before building a study plan.
Deployment, access and recovery evidence
How much of the work is reading logs, writing reports, and explaining risk to non-technical stakeholders.
Deploying a service is only part of the remit. Determine who owns incidents, spending, infrastructure changes and recovery, and how much of that ownership is supervised.
Try a small, authorised lab or sample project. Record your decisions, checks and what you would improve.
Use a fictional phishing report to record the evidence, explain the possible impact and write a clear escalation. Then compare whether you prefer investigation, control design or risk decisions.
Investigative, on-call rotations common
Linux · Splunk · Burp Suite · Active Directory · Python
Sketch a small web service with one public endpoint and a private data store. Explain access, one failure scenario and a spending limit. Save the diagram and a short recovery checklist; no cloud account is needed to start.
Async-friendly, project + on-call mix
AWS · Terraform · Linux · Docker · Kubernetes · Python
Cloud Architect or Principal Engineer. System-of-systems judgement, not more YAML.
Salary is context, not a promise. UK family estimates and US occupational medians use different methods and cannot be treated as equivalent entry salaries.
UK salary evidence is not mapped for this broad track. Compare a specific role before budgeting.
TechWaymark UK pathway evidence
UK pathway context.
£36–45k junior · £45–58k mid · £58–72k senior (Cloud engineer; UK family estimates, not a forecast across different roles)
TechWaymark UK pathway evidence
UK pathway context.
These are editorial route guides. Workload, on-call expectations, progression and hiring requirements vary by employer. Ask about the actual team and vacancy; a broad risk score cannot establish your fit.