Cloud computing is essentially an information technology model that delivers computer system resources– data storage and computing power, on-demand. It is popular because the services can be accessed in a pay-as-you-go format instead of buying the physical data centres or servers. This is why almost 94 per cent of enterprises around the world use the cloud.
Essentially, the three main cloud providers are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Interestingly, 30 per cent of all IT budgets are allocated to cloud computing. The demand for cloud computing is constantly growing, and it will continue to do so in the future. If you are planning to leverage the rising demand and kick start your journey in the space, here are a few courses to begin with:
Introduction to cloud computing on Amazon AWS for beginners
Expertise level: Beginners
Available on: Udemy
Course fee: Rs 1,600
This course designed for beginners is delivered by Neal Davis, AWS Certified Solutions Architect and Developer. It will take a candidate right from the AWS basics to becoming a competent AWS cloud practitioner. The course will take one through the fundamental concepts of cloud computing and introduce them to storage, database, networking, containers, cloud architecture and virtualisation. Additionally, candidates will get to create their AWS Free Tier account and launch their virtual servers on the cloud.
This Udemy course on Introduction to cloud computing on Amazon AWS for beginners is a great stepping stone for those who wish to earn their AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification, or AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification. Divided into 14 sections, over five lakh students have already enrolled for the course.
No prior experience or knowledge is required to take this course.
Fundamentals of cloud computing
Expertise level: Beginner
Available on: Pluralsight
Course fee: Free
This beginner-level course on Fundamentals of Cloud Computing approximately takes two hours to complete. Offered by author Pluralsight David Davis, the course covers:
- The basics of cloud computing– its traits, benefits, risks and many forms. Additionally, it talks about its history and provides a demo of cloud computing in action.
- Infrastructure as a service: virtualisation, virtual machine, container, private cloud, hybrid cloud and public cloud, IaaS pricing models, service level agreements, and migrating to the cloud.
- Infrastructure as a service networking: virtual private cloud networking, connecting with a virtual private network, and IaaS networking options.
- Storage in the cloud: cloud file storage, object storage, data protection in the cloud and understanding IaaS.
- IaaS Security: cloud security concerns, encryption, compliance, vulnerabilities and mitigation.
- Comparing IaaS and PaaS
- SaaS cloud solutions
Introduction to Cloud Computing
Expertise level: Beginner
Available on: EdX
Course fee: Free
The EdX course on Introduction to Cloud Computing is offered by IBM, and the instructor is Rav Ahuja– AI and Data Science Program Director at IBM. The course introduces one to the core concepts of cloud computing– essential characteristics, history, emerging trends, and various cloud service models. Additionally, one will gain knowledge about the key components of cloud architecture, including virtualisation, storage, networking and containers.
This self-paced course takes approximately three weeks to complete, provided one spends at least two to four hours studying every week. The prerequisites for taking this course includes basic computer literacy but no prior knowledge of cloud computing or computer programming.
Become a cloud developer – nanodegree program
Expertise level: NA
Available on: Udacity
Course fee: Rs 22,849
The Udacity nanodegree programme on cloud development will introduce students to the fundamentals of cloud computing, compute power, security, storage, management services, networking and messaging in the cloud. Additionally, it will teach students how to design and deploy full-stack applications using cloud architecture; develop and deploy microservers, and use serverless technologies.
On average, a student takes approximately four months to complete this course. The prerequisites for this course include intermediate knowledge of Javascript and a familiarity with web development with HTML, CSS and Linux Command Line.
Cloud Computing Concepts
Expertise level: Beginners
Available on: Coursera
Course fee: Free
Offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Cloud Computing Concepts course on Coursera is delivered by Indranil Gupta, Professor at the Department of Computer Science. It is the first course of the whole specialisation module and takes approximately 23 hours to complete.
The course is divided into 16 videos, eight readings and three quizzes. It will introduce one to the fundamentals of cloud computing, including MapReduce, classical distribution algorithms, NoSQL stores, scalability, and trending areas, among others.
Prior experience in C++ is required to take this course.
Learning Cloud Computing: Core Concepts
Expertise level: Beginners
Available on: LinkedIn Learning
Course fee: Rs 1,652 (first month free)
The Learning Cloud Computing course offered by LinkedIn Learning teaches the core concepts of cloud computing along with its impact on cost efficiency and agility. The course instructor is David Linthicum, Chief Cloud Strategy Officer at Deloitte Consulting. He explains how to select the right cloud provider and plan for migration. In the latter half of the course, David explains multi-cloud operations, advanced cloud operation approaches and discusses cloud governance.
The course includes one project file, five quizzes, and a certificate of completion.
Cloud Computing with AWS
Expertise level: Beginner
Available on: Udemy
Course fee: Free
The Cloud Computing with Amazon Web Services course works like a beginner’s guide. Taught by Karan Brar, a Cloud Solutions Architect and DevOps Engineer with over 15-years of experience, the course focuses on creating virtual servers in the cloud, configuring monitoring services, configuring storage services in the cloud, setting up a load balancer and auto-scaling of existing infrastructure.
This course is directed towards system administrators, small and medium enterprises and developers. It is divided into 11 sections comprising 29 lectures and approximately takes three hours for completion.
