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Noah Gift

In this course, you will:

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In this course, you will:

  • Build foundational cloud computing infrastructure, including websites using serverless technology, virtual machines, and PaaS (Platform as a Service).
  • Apply agile software development techniques to small and large projects, useful for building portfolio projects and global-scale cloud infrastructures.
  • Learn how to effectively choose the right level of abstraction: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), MaaS (Metal as a Service), PaaS, and Serverless.
  • Apply DevOps principles to Cloud Computing, Data Engineering, and Machine Learning.
  • Utilize IaC (Infrastructure as Code) to manage and provision Cloud infrastructure in a repeatable and idempotent process.
  • Develop Continuous Delivery pipelines for efficient cloud infrastructure management.
  • Evaluate best practices for implementing solutions with Cloud Computing.

This course is ideal for beginners and intermediate students interested in applying cloud computing to data science, machine learning, and data engineering. Students should have beginner-level Linux and Python skills.

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Build websites using serverless, paas, and iaas technologies
  • Apply devops principles to cloud computing
  • Utilize infrastructure as code (iac) for cloud management
  • Develop continuous delivery pipelines for efficient infrastructure management
  • Evaluate and choose appropriate cloud service models
  • Apply agile software development techniques to cloud projects
  • Effectively communicate in technical discussions and project management

Syllabus

Here is the course structure formatted with bullets for each module:
1. Module 1: Getting Started with Cloud Computing Foundations (1 hour)
- Videos:
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Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Includes the use of virtual machines, which is standard in industry
Develops DevOps principles and agile software development techniques, which are core skills for cloud computing
Taught by Noah Gift, who is recognized for their work in cloud computing and agile software development
Examines cloud computing economics, which is highly relevant to managing cloud resources
Offers hands-on labs and interactive materials, which provide practical experience
Builds a strong foundation for beginners in cloud computing

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Reviews summary

Foundational cloud computing across key platforms

According to learners, this course offers a solid foundational understanding of cloud computing, particularly its multi-cloud approach covering AWS, Azure, and GCP. Students appreciate the strong emphasis on practical, hands-on application, including Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Continuous Delivery (CD) pipelines, which are directly applicable to professional roles. The inclusion of technical communication and agile project management is also noted as a unique and valuable addition. While generally well-received, some learners found the initial lab setup challenging and advise ensuring prerequisite Linux and Python skills are firm. It provides excellent breadth, though not always deep dives.
Offers broad coverage of concepts but might lack deep dives into specific services.
"This course is great for breadth, touching on many topics, but don't expect deep dives."
"If you're looking for in-depth coverage of specific cloud services, you'll need to look elsewhere."
"As an intermediate learner, I found some sections a little too basic, but it still provided a good refresher."
Includes valuable modules on technical communication and project management.
"Module 2 on technical communication and project management was a pleasant surprise; it's often overlooked."
"This course uniquely integrates agile software development and effective technical discussions, which are vital professional skills."
"I found the sections on project planning and team performance analysis surprisingly helpful for my career."
Emphasizes building real-world skills with practical labs and projects.
"The hands-on labs and practical examples for IaC and CD pipelines were incredibly useful."
"I loved the focus on Infrastructure as Code with Terraform and CDK. It provided solid practical exposure."
"The projects for building websites were very engaging and helped solidify the theoretical knowledge, making it real."
Provides a broad and valuable introduction to AWS, Azure, and GCP.
"This course provides an excellent introduction to cloud computing across AWS, Azure, and GCP."
"I really appreciated the multi-cloud approach. It helped me understand concepts that apply across different platforms."
"It's fantastic to see all three major providers covered, giving a broad understanding rather than just one vendor."
Requires solid beginner-level Linux and Python skills for optimal learning.
"The course states beginner Python and Linux are needed. I struggled a bit because my Python was rusty."
"Ensure your prerequisite skills in Linux and Python are solid before diving in, as the course doesn't heavily reinforce them."
"Some labs were difficult to follow if you're not comfortable with basic command-line operations."
Initial lab and environment configuration can be a significant hurdle.
"The lab setup and environment configuration were a bit challenging, taking up significant time."
"I had some trouble getting the AWS and Azure accounts set up correctly for the labs. This delayed my progress."
"More clear instructions or pre-configured environments would be helpful, as the initial hurdle was steep."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Cloud Computing Foundations with these activities:
Read "Python Crash Course"
Reading "Python Crash Course" offers a focused introduction to Python, building a foundation for this course.
Show steps
  • Read through the introductory chapters.
  • Complete the exercises in the book.
  • Create a small Python project to apply what you've learned.
Review Linux Terminal Basics
Reviewing Linux Terminal basics will allow this course to be less daunting.
Browse courses on Linux Command Line
Show steps
  • Practice using the basic Linux terminal commands.
  • Review Linux file system structure.
Create a Study Guide or Summary of Course Materials
Creating a study guide or summary of course materials will aid in your retention and understanding of the core concepts.
Show steps
  • Review course materials and identify key concepts and terms.
  • Organize the information into a logical structure.
  • Summarize the main points and create visual aids to enhance understanding.
  • Test your understanding by recalling the information without referring to the materials.
Five other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all eight activities
Build a Personal Website or Blog
Building a personal website or blog will provide practical application of the concepts covered in this course and showcase your skills.
Show steps
  • Plan the design and content of your website/blog.
  • Choose a hosting platform and domain name.
  • Develop the website/blog using the skills learned in this course.
  • Publish your website/blog and promote it.
Follow Tutorials on Building Serverless Applications
Following tutorials on building serverless applications will give you hands-on experience using the concepts covered in this course.
Browse courses on Serverless Development
Show steps
  • Choose a tutorial that aligns with your interests.
  • Follow the tutorial step-by-step.
  • Deploy your application and test its functionality.
  • Explore the code and understand the underlying concepts.
Complete Coding Challenges on LeetCode
Completing coding challenges on LeetCode will sharpen your problem-solving skills in Python.
Show steps
  • Choose a difficulty level and start solving problems.
  • Review solutions and explanations for problems you solve.
  • Focus on improving your problem-solving approach.
Develop a Cloud Computing Architecture Diagram
Creating a cloud computing architecture diagram will help you visualize and understand the concepts of cloud computing.
Show steps
  • Identify the components of your cloud computing system.
  • Choose a diagramming tool and symbols to represent the components.
  • Draw the diagram, connecting the components and indicating their relationships.
  • Annotate the diagram with any additional information or notes.
Volunteer as a Mentor for Beginner Students
Mentoring others will reinforce your understanding of the concepts and help you develop your communication and leadership skills.
Show steps
  • Join a mentoring program or platform.
  • Connect with students seeking guidance in cloud computing.
  • Provide support, answer questions, and share your knowledge.
  • Reflect on your mentoring experience and identify areas for improvement.

Career center

Learners who complete Cloud Computing Foundations will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Reading list

We've selected 50 books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Cloud Computing Foundations.
This classic book provides a comprehensive overview of Continuous Delivery, covering the principles, practices, and tools involved. It is highly recommended for anyone looking to implement Continuous Delivery in their organization.
The premier applied machine learning masterwork, taking practitioners through intuitive concept breakdowns, production-grade Scikit-Learn workflows, and deep neural architecture implementations.
Considered a modern classic, this book delves into the fundamental trade-offs and concepts behind building robust, scalable, and maintainable data systems. While not exclusively about data engineering, its in-depth coverage of distributed systems, databases, and data processing patterns is essential for any data professional looking to deepen their understanding. It is highly valuable for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as working professionals.
A timeless mathematical masterpiece that provides an uncompromising Bayesian and probabilistic foundation for linear classifiers, graphical models, kernel methods, and sampling algorithms.
The definitive mathematical and theoretical canon of statistical learning, establishing the rigorous analytical foundations of regularized regression, tree ensembles, and high-dimensional inference.
Provides a comprehensive overview of building serverless applications specifically on the AWS platform. It covers key AWS services like Lambda, API Gateway, and Kinesis, offering practical insights and real-world use cases. It's valuable for understanding the practical application of serverless principles within a major cloud ecosystem and is suitable for those looking to implement serverless solutions on AWS.
Written by industry experts with decades of experience, this award-winning book offers a comprehensive overview of DevOps practices, including IaC implementation and continuous delivery.
Presents the results of a four-year study of high-performing technology organizations. It identifies the key factors that drive success, and it provides a roadmap for organizations that want to improve their performance.
Provides a comprehensive overview of cloud computing, covering concepts, technologies, and architectures. It is written by leading experts in the field.
A distilled practitioner field guide outlining best practices for the entire machine learning lifecycle, from problem formulation and feature engineering to model deployment and monitoring.
A recent publication focusing on leveraging AWS Lambda for building scalable and cost-effective serverless solutions. It covers basics to advanced deployment, including event-driven design, hyper-scaling, and operational techniques. is highly relevant for those specifically focused on AWS Lambda and seeking to deepen their expertise.
Delivers an end-to-end systems architecture guide for building reliable production ML systems, addressing data engineering trade-offs, real-time feature computation, and model drift mitigation.
Bridges linear algebra, multivariable calculus, vector geometry, and probability directly to fundamental machine learning algorithms like PCA, Gaussian mixture models, and support vector machines.
Provides the monumental mathematical foundation of modern neural networks, connecting deep representation learning, backpropagation dynamics, and sequence modeling to empirical machine learning.
Provides a practical approach to cloud computing, covering various aspects from deployment to management and optimization. It is suitable for IT professionals and anyone looking to gain a hands-on understanding of cloud computing.
Instructs data scientists on applied model evaluation, cross-validation, hyperparameter tuning, and pipeline construction through Scikit-Learn maintainers Andreas Müller and Sarah Guido.
Provides a comprehensive overview of cloud computing, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. It is suitable for both beginners and experienced professionals looking for a broad understanding of cloud computing.
Offers a vendor-agnostic view of serverless computing, covering AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and open-source options. It provides a broad understanding of the serverless landscape and helps in selecting appropriate technologies. It's a good resource for gaining a wider perspective beyond a single cloud provider.
This handbook provides a step-by-step guide to implementing DevOps in your organization. It covers all aspects of DevOps, from planning to implementation to measurement, and it valuable resource for anyone looking to get started with DevOps.
Another comprehensive guide to Apache Spark, co-authored by one of its creators. definitive resource for learning Spark for big data processing, covering its various components and APIs. It's a must-read for anyone serious about using Spark in their data engineering work, suitable for undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels.
Apache Spark widely used engine for big data processing. provides a comprehensive introduction to Spark, covering its core concepts and APIs. It's essential for anyone working with big data pipelines and aligns with courses mentioning Spark. The 3rd edition, published in 2020, covers recent features and improvements.
Aligning with the Google Cloud focused course titles, this book provides guidance on performing data engineering tasks on GCP. It's a valuable resource for those preparing for the Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer exam or working with GCP data services. It covers the relevant tools and services offered by Google Cloud.
Investigates the engineering realities of running automated ML pipelines in production, addressing data drift detection, automated retraining loops, telemetry infrastructure, and continuous validation.
This handbook focuses on best practices and real-world applications of serverless architecture, particularly using the AWS Well-Architected Framework's Serverless Lens. It's designed for technology leaders and architects, offering insights into operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, cost optimization, and sustainability in a serverless context.
Details cloud-native DevOps architectures for orchestrating automated machine learning lifecycles, integrating CI/CD triggers, model registry synchronization, and automated hyperparameter sweep workers.
Python fundamental language in data engineering. focuses on using Python for various data engineering tasks, including building data pipelines and working with large datasets. It is particularly useful for those whose background is in Python and want to apply their skills to data engineering, aligning with courses mentioning Python for Data Engineering. Published in 2020, it's a relatively recent resource.
Guides engineers step-by-step through implementing, training, and fine-tuning complete generative transformer architectures in pure PyTorch, providing crystal-clear low-level insight into modern models.
Dbt (data build tool) popular tool in the modern data stack for transforming data in the warehouse. focuses on using dbt for data engineering workflows, aligning with courses mentioning dbt. It's particularly relevant for professionals and graduate students working with cloud data warehouses and ELT processes.
Demystifies practical transformer model implementation through the Hugging Face ecosystem, showing how to fine-tune, optimize, and deploy attention architectures across diverse machine learning tasks.
While not solely focused on serverless, this book foundational text for understanding microservices architecture, which is highly relevant to serverless computing. It covers design, testing, deployment, and operational concerns of microservices. It is essential background reading for anyone designing complex serverless systems and is widely regarded as a key resource in the field.
Understanding how databases work internally is crucial for data engineers. provides a detailed look into the design and implementation of databases and distributed data systems. It's a highly technical book, best suited for graduate students and experienced professionals who want to deepen their understanding of the foundational technologies they work with.
Provides a comprehensive guide to deployment automation, a key part of the DevOps process. It covers the tools, techniques, and best practices for automating deployments, and it valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their deployment process.
Provides a theoretical foundation for cloud computing. It covers topics such as cloud architectures, cloud resource management, and cloud security.
Focuses on applying Agile principles, patterns, and practices in the context of C# development. It provides practical guidance for developers looking to implement Agile methodologies in their C# projects.
Presents the foundational treatise on Markov decision processes, temporal-difference learning, and policy gradient methods that underpin autonomous decision-making and modern post-training alignment.
Covers the fundamental principles and best practices for building scalable data systems in the big data era. It provides a broader perspective on designing data architectures that can handle large volumes of data and high traffic, valuable for undergraduates, graduates, and professionals involved in system design.
Combines interactive Jupyter notebooks with rigorous mathematical explanations to teach machine learning practitioners how modern neural architectures are designed, implemented, and trained.
SQL foundational skill for data engineers. goes beyond basic SQL, covering advanced techniques for data analysis and transformation. It's a useful reference for anyone looking to deepen their SQL skills for data engineering tasks, relevant for all audience levels, especially those focusing on data manipulation and analysis. Published in 2021, it offers recent perspectives on SQL for data professionals.
Explores the use of IaaS for AI and machine learning applications. It is suitable for data scientists and developers looking to build and deploy AI and machine learning models on cloud platforms.
Hands-on guide to cloud computing. It covers a wide range of topics, including cloud architectures, cloud services, and cloud security.
Provides a guide to site reliability engineering (SRE), a set of practices that helps organizations build and operate reliable systems. SRE key part of DevOps, and this book provides a valuable introduction to the field.
Authored by the 'father of the data warehouse,' this book explores the concept of the data lakehouse, an evolution of data architecture combining the benefits of data lakes and data warehouses. It's a relevant read for understanding contemporary data architecture trends, particularly for experienced professionals and architects. Published in 2021, it's a recent contribution to the field.
Unifies computer science, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience to synthesize the five foundational tribes of machine learning, giving practitioners a panoramic interdisciplinary view of learning algorithms.
Focuses on using IaaS to deploy and scale web applications. It is suitable for web developers and IT professionals responsible for building and maintaining web applications on cloud platforms.
Provides a guide to continuous delivery on AWS. It covers the tools, techniques, and best practices for deploying and scaling AWS applications.
Another valuable resource for understanding microservices patterns, which are highly applicable to serverless architectures. It explores various patterns for decomposing applications into smaller services, communication styles, and data management. provides architectural depth for designing serverless solutions.
Serverless architectures often leverage event-driven patterns. provides a deep dive into designing and implementing event-driven systems, which is highly relevant for building reactive and scalable serverless applications. It offers valuable architectural knowledge that complements serverless-specific technical guides.

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