A Beginner’s Guide to Cloud Computing
I’m assuming that you must be really curious about cloud computing if you are here. This article is for college undergraduates or the beginners who want to explore or build their career in cloud computing. Moreover, anyone can give it a read, all we need is just a desire to learn!
I know it’s been a while being stuck in this new normal and some of us are really tire of this monotonous routine. Hence, throughout this article, I’ll try to not to sound like a monologue. I know what kind of questions you may have related to cloud computing; hence I’ll try to cover all of ’em. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that. Now it’s my time to help you all. 😊
So, you’ve to just assume that you are sitting right in front of me and we are doing a podcast together.
Let’s begin with our first question.
Why Cloud?
Computer Science is a vast field and it’s been in the industry for many years. But emerging as a cascade, it has emerged into a large delta of rivers, all flowing together into the corporate world. Earlier people had this perception that by pursuing computer science one can only become a software engineer. And by software engineer they meant only coding. But now it’s lot more than that, really a lot! We all have witnessed a tremendous growth and advancement in the technology over the last few decades. But unfortunately, the pace of revision of our curriculum of what we study in colleges is too low than this growth rate. It’s all the game of supply and demand. With the new technologies making our lives easier day by day, we need people to keep making it happen and consistent.
This can go very long, so let’s jump back to cloud. As of now, most of the organizations are somehow dependent on cloud. Cloud has become one of the necessities like internet. Now you can imagine the horizon of opportunities cloud lays in front of us.
There are of course many paths to pursue in the field of computer science, but in this article, I’ll just stick to cloud computing.
How having a distinct skill set helps in a career growth?
You might say that why don’t just study what’s there in curriculum? Why the need to study extra?
Yes, that’s not a wrong way but considering the competition you need a lot more than that. This is the world of ‘Master of one thing and Jack of everything’. But remember don’t let yourself become a frog of a well.
Everyone has a unique skill set and abilities. Hence, it’s always preferable to explore things of your interests and start getting familiar with those things. And don’t forget it’s a responsibility of a computer science engineer to be familiar with all of your concerned fields as well. Having a skill set that could make you feel confident and familiarizing with the other domains is always a good trait.
How would you know what is your best until you try some things? During the first year of our courses, we tend to spend most of our time in adjusting in the new environment. It’s a transitional phase from school to colleges. It’s fun and adventurous. The next phase i.e. the second year is all about exploring. People explore different horizons of their streams. The next year i.e. the penultimate year of the entire course is the time where we tend to make differences. And the rest is a marathon we all are running in.
How to start with cloud?
Azure, AWS, GCP, Oracle…..
Where to start?
It might sound very confusing that which cloud platform is best for the beginners. But it’s not.
The recommended pathway is to first understand the basic architecture of cloud computing and its underlying technology. Try to understand the different service models and deployment models of cloud and how are they distinct from each other. Then dig little bit about virtualization, gain some knowledge around hypervisors, how virtualization takes place at the root level etc.
This thing is vendor neutral. You don’t need to have any prior knowledge of any of the platforms to understand this. After getting familiar with the basic concepts of cloud you can start your cloud journey with any of the cloud platforms you like.
Trust me, there’s no that much difference. The architecture is nearly same, just different nomenclature of services. See, which platform is relevant to you in terms of the resources you could gather easily for understanding their services. Many platforms are providing several learning opportunities at free of cost. Now it’s your turn to explore. Here I’ll stick to AWS.
· Find free courses and much more on https://www.aws.training/
· AWS Skill Builder Platform https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn
· A lot of insightful videos on AWS Technology at https://www.youtube.com/c/amazonwebservices
· Find many learning and career opportunities for student at https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/
There are some good paid courses as well. But why to spend money when you’ve so much resources at free of cost. But still if you want everything at one place than I’d recommend you to go for the following course on Udemy.
Ultimate AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner — 2021 By Stephane Maarek — https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-new/
Take your time, focus on exploring more rather than just completing the courses. Try to implement the things on your own. You can even start with creating a free tier account on AWS.
Happy learning!
