DF: Sure. Let’s say I want to learn German. Basic literacy would involve knowing individual words and being able to communicate in a rudimentary way. If I went into a bar, I could say “ein Bier” and the bartender would know I want a beer.
Fluency involves the ability to have a conversation about the beer. The bartender could ask my preferences, and I would understand the question. We could have a back-and-forth dialogue about what’s on tap, and I could let the bartender know my thoughts about the beer after drinking it. If I’m fluent, I have a much better chance of getting beer I’ll actually like.
In a cloud context, you create literacy (not fluency) with cloud certifications. Certifications help you learn the vocabulary and principles of cloud computing. You gain a broad enough understanding and context to avoid being a hazard to your organization, but you also become keenly aware of how much you don’t know.
Many organizations mistakenly think that cloud certification equals cloud fluency. It doesn’t. Employees need to apply the “cloud language” toward your specific business outcomes through hands-on experience to gain fluency.
Back to the language metaphor: I’m not going to become fluent in German by reading a textbook. I need an immersion experience among German speakers to learn the nuances of the language and how to apply it in daily life so it becomes second nature.
