AWS consultant hourly rate

How Much does an AWS Consultant Charge on Hourly Basis?

Amazon Web Service (AWS) is presently the undoubted market leader in the public cloud landscape. The wide range of cloud offerings on AWS makes traditional business operations much simpler to handle. Therefore, the demand for AWS consultants is also increasing constantly. You can easily find many certified consultants capable of addressing your various business requirements with ease. However, many of you might not have substantial clarity regarding the AWS consultant hourly rate.

Pricing of an AWS consultant is one of the notable concerns that you can identify with respect to the selection of consultants. Therefore, it is highly essential for you to understand the different factors you should take into account for determining whether they are worthy of the investment or not.

The following discussion helps you uncover basic information about an AWS certified consultant. Most important of all, readers can find information on the average pricing of AWS consultants for different job roles. However, the prime highlight of the discussion would be the factors that you can use to check the validity of the price quoted by an AWS consultant.

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Who is an AWS Consultant?

One of the important factors while reflecting on AWS consultant hourly rate is the definition of an AWS consultant. AWS consultants are experts with specialization in different areas of cloud computing. They can use their cloud expertise to provide ideal guidance on best practices for cloud designs and deployments.

A certified AWS consultant can work as an AWS contractor for you to address your diverse requirements from cloud computing. Basically, the role of an AWS consultant is to ensure the right implementation of an AWS infrastructure. AWS consultants are capable of designing, developing, testing, and maintaining different IT infrastructure hosted on AWS.

In addition, they can also provide reliable guidance for enterprises to strengthen their cloud migration strategies. AWS consultants have expertise in a wide range of cloud computing domains such as DevOps, administration, network designing, big data, architecture, development, and maintenance.

Skills that Influence AWS Consultant Hourly Rate

The AWS consultant hourly rate also depends considerably on the skills they have. Therefore, you should observe the necessary skills that establish the price you should pay for the consultant. Freelancers working from remote locations should validate their skills for establishing their prices. Here are some of the important skills that you should look for in an AWS consultant.

  • At least a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Computer Science is mandatory with minimum experience in Information Technology.
  • AWS certification is mandatory for becoming an AWS consultant, favorably a domain-related certification.
  • At least five years of experience as an AWS consultant.
  • Comprehensive knowledge of Jenkins, Docker, Java, OpenShift, Containers and Python.
  • Expertise in Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD).
  • The ability for writing scripts for EC2 instances, load balancer and Autoscaling policies.
  • Flexibility and thorough expertise in data storage fundamentals like Hadoop cluster and S3.
  • The ability for designing AWS networks alongside an in-depth knowledge of DNS, VPN, CDN, HTTP and TCP/IP.

The AWS consultant hourly rate varies from one role to another. Therefore, the certifications of an AWS consultant play a crucial role in determining their hourly pricing. Let us take a look at how different professional certifications impact the hourly rate of AWS consultants.

Looking for the AWS consultant to handle your cloud migration workloads? Here are the top sites from where you can hire freelance AWS consultant.

Salary Trends for AWS Consultants

The AWS cloud architect hourly rate is one of the clear indicators of the pricing of AWS consultants. Although the pricing of freelance AWS consultants can vary considerably, it is inevitable to consider the fact that the salaries of in-house AWS consultants can shed some light on favourable remunerations for an independent consultant in the same role.

  • The average annual salary for an AWS solutions architect associate is $130,883. On the other hand, the average annual salary for a professional AWS certified solutions architect is $148,456.
  • An AWS certified developer associate consultant can fetch an annual salary of $130,272.
  • AWS Certified SysOps administrator associate consultants could command an annual salary of $130,610.
  • The AWS consultant hourly rate for professional DevOps engineer roles would also reflect in the existing remunerations for in-house consultants. A professional DevOps engineer on the AWS platform can command an annual salary of $132,724 on an average.

Most important of all, you can clear your doubts on how much do AWS consultants make by reflecting on salary trends.

According to salary reports by ZipRecruiter, the average hourly pay for an AWS consultant is almost $61. You should notice that the average AWS consultant hourly rate varies from $39 to $70.

In addition, you can notice that AWS consultants could command higher hourly payments through diversification of their areas of specialization. More the number of AWS certifications, more the hourly pay of an AWS consultant!

Trends for AWS Consultant Hourly Rate

The important factor that determines the AWS consultant hourly rate is the consultant’s experience. The years of experience of a consultant directly reflect on their capability for addressing your project requirements with efficiency. Here are some of the trends that you can find in the hourly rates of AWS consultants, based on their experience level.

  • Entry-level AWS Consultants

In the case of entry-level AWS consultants, the pricing can vary between $20 and $50. In addition, you can notice that the pricing of AWS consultants varies considerably according to the location. For example, entry-level AWS consultants can earn around $20 per hour in India, and with the same expertise; an AWS consultant can earn almost $30 per hour in the USA.

  • Experienced AWS Consultants

Experienced AWS consultants would definitely command higher rates. As of now, the hourly rates for experienced consultants can range between $90 and $200. Even here, the pricing of an experienced consultant varies from country to country. Furthermore, the contract specifications also have a prominent impact on the AWS consultant hourly rate in the case of professionals.

  • On-demand AWS Consultants

The different options for hiring AWS consultants such as on-demand consultants also influence the price you have to pay for the services of an AWS consultant. You could hire on-demand AWS consultants for a specific period of time and on a strict commitment basis. Since the work of an on-demand AWS consultant would be intensive, the pricing of on-demand consultants would be higher. Actually, on-demand consultants are the most expensive as their hourly rates could reach a maximum of $250.

In addition, you can also hire independent AWS consultants with expertise in multiple areas of cloud computing. However, a consulting company can also provide you with individuals with multiple expertise in the AWS cloud in one place. On the other hand, you should also consider the fact that hiring individual AWS consultants through online platforms would be cost-effective as compared to consulting companies.

Also Read: AWS Jobs to Get with an AWS Certification

Best Practices for Hiring AWS Consultants at the Right Price

Nearing towards the end of this discussion, it is highly important to keep certain things in mind for selecting the ideal AWS consultant at reasonable pricing. Here are the important factors that you should consider before hiring AWS consultants, especially freelancers.

  • Find Trustworthy Online Platforms for Hiring Consultants

One of the first recommendations to find credible impressions of AWS consultant hourly rate is to visit online freelancing platforms. For example, Upwork and Freelancer are notable online platforms to find detailed information on the hourly rate of AWS consultants. In addition, you could also observe detailed information about the employment history and experience of AWS consultants.

  • Choose Consulting Companies

If you want an AWS consultant always available for your varying needs, then it is reasonable to go for a consulting company. Such companies have reams of experienced AWS consultants, and you can verify their credentials for your assurance. Most important of all, you can also find better alternatives to AWS consultants by paying attention to in-house references.

  • Transparency

The next important requirement for hiring an AWS consultant is the element of transparency. Explain your requirements in detail to the consultant that you are considering to hire. Interact with the consultant and dive deeper into their beliefs and values. If the consultant follows an objective-oriented approach and you want a consultant to give their inputs for a particular project, then you can find a misfit.

So, it is very important to verify that the consultant shares your vision and works towards achieving it. You have to be straightforward and communicate all your essential requirements and ask for the quotation and payment terms by the consultant. It is highly crucial that you verify the project delivery date and the final estimated budget for the project.

  • Adaptability

One of the most critical aspects that you should look for in a reliable AWS consultant is adaptability. Cloud transformation is not any one-time process that you would be done with immediately. As a matter of fact, you would face many requirements for changes in the project. So, it is important to verify that the independent consultant or consulting company can cope with your changing needs.

For example, if your customer base increases in a time of three months and you need to expand your database, then the consultant must have the necessary experience for such situations. As a result, you can avoid unwanted issues while maintaining reliable communication with the consultant.

Getting the best AWS Consulting Partner is not an easy task but depends on various factors. Check out the Points you should consider while choosing your AWS consulting partner.

Are You Ready to Hire AWS Consultants?

On a final note, it is reasonable to focus on the growth of the AWS landscape every day. More and more tech giants and SMBs are adopting AWS for their cloud transformation. Therefore, competitiveness in the age of the cloud would depend considerably on the selection of competent AWS consultants. A thorough reflection on variables affecting AWS consultant hourly rate can help you invest wisely.

In addition to the factors mentioned here, you should also check the consultant’s effectiveness personally. Find out how they respond to your requirements and check their manner of interaction. As a result, you can find trustworthy consultants at the right price. Do your research thoroughly and get the best results from the cloud right now!

About Pavan Gumaste

Pavan Rao is a programmer / Developer by Profession and Cloud Computing Professional by choice with in-depth knowledge in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform. He helps the organisation figure out what to build, ensure successful delivery, and incorporate user learning to improve the strategy and product further.

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