As Malaysia’s cloud sector booms, companies face a critical challenge: while interest in digital careers is high, employers struggle to find job-ready talent. Exabytes ‘ Annie Ong explains why certification alone is not enough; the skills gaps that matter most, and how mentorship and hands-on experience – particularly for women – can turn potential into real-world capability.
The key to Malaysia’s digital competitiveness
AS businesses transition to the cloud (servers that are accessed over the internet), Malaysia faces a growing paradox: demand for cloud talent is soaring, yet companies continue to struggle to find candidates who are truly job ready.
According to industry projections by The National Tech Association of Malaysia (PIKOM), salaries for cloud-related roles are expected to continue rising through 2026, signalling strong market demand. But while interest in digital careers is high, the gap between certification and real-world capability remains a major hurdle for employers.
For Exabytes’ Chief People Officer, Annie Ong, the issue is not simply about attracting more talent into the industry. It is about preparing candidates to operate in real-world environments, where cloud systems support mission-critical workloads, AI applications, and millions of users.
In an interview with Sarawak Tribune, Ong shares why employers are still struggling to hire job-ready talent, where the real skills gaps lie, and why expanding opportunities – particularly for women in cloud careers – could play a crucial role in strengthening Malaysia’s digital capacity.
Q: PIKOM says cloud roles are in high demand and salaries are climbing into 2026. If the market is clearly rewarding these skills, why are employers still struggling to hire job-ready talent?
Hiring isn’t only about interest or certificates; it’s about risk. When workloads are mission-critical, employers need confidence that a new hire can operate under real conditions: following security basics, troubleshooting systematically, documenting properly, and communicating clearly during incidents. That gap between being “trained” and “job-ready” is why employers continue to struggle, even when salary signals are strong.
The core issue is the gap between certification and real-world capability. Many candidates may hold credentials, but employers are looking for hands-on experience: managing live environments, handling outages, securing workloads, and working directly with customers. That exposure takes time to build.
Another factor is the rapid pace of cloud evolution. Technologies, tools, and security standards change quickly, and training institutions often struggle to update curricula at the same speed as industry demand.
There is also a mid-level talent gap. Entry-level talent exists, and senior architects are highly sought after, but professionals with three to five years of applied experience who can independently lead deployments remain scarce.
Finally, SMEs compete with larger enterprises and global companies for the same talent pool. While salary matters, job-ready talent also evaluates learning opportunities, project exposure, and career progression.
At Exabytes, solving this challenge requires stronger collaboration between industry and education, structured apprenticeship pathways, and giving emerging talent early exposure to real cloud environments.
Q: Is this really a pipeline shortage or a readiness gap?
It’s mostly a readiness gap, not an awareness gap. Malaysia has a strong interest in digital careers. The pipeline exists. The opportunity lies in accelerating the transition from learning to real-world application.
Where pipelines do exist, the missing piece is structured exposure: mentorship, milestones, safe environments to practise, and early real-project responsibility with guardrails.
With AI tools now enhancing learning environments, we can shorten this gap, but structured exposure remains essential.
Q: What do employers actually look for in candidates?
From an employer’s perspective, we look for:
- Security-first and risk-aware thinking
- Clear communication with clients and cross-functional teams
- Ownership of outcomes, not just tasks
- Practical understanding of how cloud supports AI workloads and business use cases
- Comfort using AI tools responsibly to improve productivity and problem-solving
In other words, job readiness is less about what you know and more about whether you can operate.
Q: Why should “women in cloud” be viewed as a national capacity issue rather than just a diversity narrative?
Because the market is signalling a capacity constraint. PIKOM’s outlook shows sustained demand for specialised roles, such as cloud architects, with salary pressure continuing into 2026.
When the economy competes for cloud capability, expanding and retaining the talent pool becomes a national productivity issue. Women represent a significant part of Malaysia’s potential workforce; improving conversion and retention into cloud roles is one of the most direct ways to increase capability at scale without lowering standards. This is why “women in cloud” should be framed as a matter of capacity and competitiveness, not just representation.
Q: What structural supports actually move the needle – beyond panel talks and International Women’s Day posts?
Inclusion is not something we talk about once a year – it is part of how we live our ACTION values every day.
Through Accountability, leaders take responsibility for developing their teams, not just achieving targets.
Through Ownership, women are given meaningful responsibilities early: real projects, real decisions, real growth.
Through Nurturing, structured support, mentoring, and sustainable leadership pathways are provided.
Through Teamwork, collaboration and mutual support are prioritised over competition.
Progress happens when people feel seen, supported, and trusted. Beyond awareness campaigns, Exabytes focuses on building systems that provide clarity, opportunity, and confidence at every career stage. Inclusion is not about visibility – it’s about belonging and growth.
Q: How can smaller companies support certification without burning budgets?
Don’t sponsor everything; sponsor strategically:
- Sponsor role-relevant certifications only
- Use structured study cohorts or shared study time
- Tie sponsorship to milestones (e.g., completion + project proof)
- Prioritise vendor resources and hands-on labs (many are low-cost)
- Combine certification with real tasks so ROI is immediate
SMEs can also partner with ecosystem initiatives rather than fund everything alone. Exabytes participates in cloud skills ecosystem programmes tied to measurable outcomes, such as completions, certifications, and placements.
Q: If Malaysia wants to avoid a cloud skills bottleneck by 2026, what must change in the next 12 months?
Three major shifts are needed:
- Hire for proof, not perfection: Evaluate portfolios, troubleshooting approaches, and readiness behaviours, not just years of experience.
- Build the bridge: Structured exposure, mentorship, and protected learning time should be standard, not optional.
- Outcome-based pipelines: Programmes must track conversions, completions, certifications achieved, and job placements – not just participation.
This is particularly important as mission-critical workloads move locally into cloud regions. For example, Maxis announced migrating mission-critical and 100 per cent of its digital workloads – including apps serving millions – into the AWS Malaysia Region. This shift increases demand for operationally ready talent.
Ultimately, closing Malaysia’s cloud talent gap will require more than producing more graduates or certifications. The real challenge lies in transforming interest into capability through structured exposure, mentorship, and meaningful project experience.
With industry demand projected to remain strong, as highlighted by PIKOM, the next few years will be critical. Whether Malaysia can avoid a cloud skills bottleneck depends on how quickly education providers, employers, and the wider tech ecosystem bridge the gap between learning and doing.
