Your cloud architect used to sort ledgers.

Cloud architecture sounds new because the tools are new. The job is older: keep an information system orderly, available, and ready for the next run.

This three-card family tree runs from the clerk / tabulator clerk, through the punch-card operator, mainframe operator, and server administrator, to the cloud architect. Card 2 lingers with the mainframe operator's shift: punched cards, console lights, tape reels, and green-bar paper. Card 3 follows the desk objects as work moves from paper ledgers to a cloud control plane.