Anytime something is commoditized, jobs change. Cloud is no exception. As enterprises move applications into off-premises cloud infrastructure, jobs will inevitably be eliminated, and roles will change. We’ve observed this effect for many years at Layer 7. New technologies like SOA demand that people break out of existing roles and take on new vision and responsibilities. The silos and job descriptions that were developed over the years in traditional IT departments cannot easily function in SOA (or by extension, in cloud). This is a great opportunity for the ambitious people to shine, but it also leaves people in its wake who can’t (or won’t) change with the times. When these people dig and and resist the change, they threaten the initiative and often stall the entire project. Cloud is going to face this significantly, particularly when it is being mandated from above.
Infoworld has an interesting article about how cloud will threaten certain IT jobs (and create new ones) here.
with the move to SOA is that new technology often demands entirely new roles and responsibilities be defined
K. Scott Morrison's Blog 