Yearly vs. monthly commitments

What can you accomplish in a year that you can’t in a month? Daniel feels that a yearly plan is a good investment in himself. He finds the longer commitment makes it easier to stick to his training plan because he can visualize earning a certification or other goals in the space of a year.

Favorite parts of Cloud Academy

Daniel likes the framework of learning paths. They provide structure for learning when so much else (work, life, etc.) can easily get in the way. He’s using our Google Cloud certification learning paths to get ready for an exam in a couple of months.

Another small thing that’s a big plus for Daniel is our mobile app. With it, he can watch courses on the go and can instantly push content from the platform to his phone without missing a thing.

The post Investing in Tech Skills for the Long Term: Daniel Ferrer appeared first on Cloud Academy.

Terry’s work focuses on architecture, implementation, and infrastructure. It’s always evolving, so he sees Cloud Academy as a worthwhile investment that pays for itself. In fact, he was able to get his most recent contract based on the knowledge he gained from Cloud Academy.

Terry recalls a time when he had to carry around 1,000-page manuals for the different hardware he was working on. Obviously, things have changed a lot since then, but even with all the info he can find online, he still goes to Cloud Academy before anywhere else.

What types of content do you focus on?

Terry focuses a lot on AWS for his goals. He loves the certification learning paths because they provide solid knowledge and they’re organized well with all the info in one place. When he studies Azure content, he goes straight to the certification learning paths even though he hasn’t pursued a cert yet. The learning paths have already prepared him well for the day-to-day problem-solving challenges that he encounters in the Microsoft cloud. He also thinks that the hands-on examples are really helpful for him, since he does not have a coding background. The courses help Terry build a strong base in code by giving him practical experience.

Some of Terry’s study techniques

Terry loves Lab Challenges and practice exams. Recently, he was learning all about Citrix, and the hands-on work helped cement the theory he was getting from courses. He then likes to couple that with practice multiple-choice tests within Cloud Academy. His personal method is to prove the wrong answers are indeed wrong by going into the real environment with labs and learning why the answers are incorrect.

When he needs some quick info, Terry jumps into one course and fills the specific need he has. Maybe he’ll even run the course at 1.5x speed (he loves that option). Then when he has time, he’ll go back to the associated learning path and take the rest of the courses, labs, exams, etc., in order to fully immerse himself in the new subject.

The post Always in Demand With Current Tech Skills: Meet Terry Brummet appeared first on Cloud Academy.

As an executive with a technical background, Carlos lacks the time to get his hands dirty with actual projects, so Cloud Academy helps him keep up-to-date and fill his own skill gaps. He also sees the effectiveness of this type of learning at scale, especially for a busy multi-project team like the one he manages.

Certifications prove a team’s abilities

Among other accomplishments, Carlos is a Microsoft Regional Director and former MVP for 12 years. At this stage of his career, he’s got enough “street cred” when he is talking to colleagues and vendors. But he really sees the value of certifications for his teams and believes in them getting multi-cloud certified to attest to their competence with internal groups as well as clients.

Carlos’s favorite features

Carlos loves the easy interface of Cloud Academy. It’s really easy to find any topic he needs. Learning paths help him achieve what he’s looking for, since all the steps are sequential and bite-sized. This structure helps him find any topic, ranging from business to vendor specifics, so he can jump right in.

Another big advantage for Carlos is the quality of content and instructors. He really appreciates that the instructors are thorough and prepared for all the courses they narrate, delivering content in an engaging way.

As a technical person, Carlos loves the practical experience users can gain in labs, without the worry of running up huge cloud bills. He sees this as a scalable way that he can train his team.

As Carlos’s clients all move to the cloud, so must he and his team. Gone are the days when a small team can get trained and then share that knowledge internally — that just doesn’t scale. This is why he likes Cloud Academy: its core competency is training technical people at scale.

The post A Tech Leader Bringing His Teams to the Cloud: Carlos Mattos appeared first on Cloud Academy.

What was your goal with Cloud Academy?

Pritpal’s first goal was to fill the skill gaps he saw emerging. This was around five years ago, when cloud was really starting to take off. The next logical step that came out of this process was getting certified, and since AWS was the overwhelming leader in the space at that time, Pritpal started down the cert learning paths.

The continued benefit of certifications

After filling his skill gaps, Pritpal’s next big win was getting both his AWS DevOps and SysOps Engineer Certifications. He got these certifications because of the recognition and credibility they give him at his job, both with peers and management. Getting the certs was completely his choice, so he feels good about the effort he put in and the payoff. His next goal is to get more advanced practitioner certifications.

Pritpal’s studying method

When he’s addressing an immediate need such as a skill gap, Pritpal searches within Cloud Academy for a course or lab that can give him the info he needs right away. He finds the search functionality very intuitive, and he likes that the courses are part of larger learning paths because there are labs, quizzes, resources, and more recommendations all in one place. He also finds the transcripts of courses to be helpful, and particularly loves all the DevOps content from Jeremy Cook — he’s been watching Jeremy for a while now and thinks all his content is spot on for the job.

The post Getting Strategic With Your Learning: Pritpal’s Story appeared first on Cloud Academy.

What are your experience and goals in the cloud?

Pete’s first cloud-specific work was with Azure, where he was able to get a position through his own independent study. After getting more experience in Azure, he became a lead, and his next goal is to get more proficient in the AWS cloud. 

To work toward his AWS goals, Pete started with the Cloud Practitioner Certification. He passed the exam and really credits this to the ability to dive into labs, learn quickly, and then bring those skills into his job and show his colleagues.

Since he already has plenty of SysAdmin experience, Pete’s next goals are to explore and learn more around DevOps, building pipeline, and infrastructure as code — that’s the general area where he sees himself in the future. The AWS Solutions Architect – Associate cert will be a perfect choice for him to encapsulate all those skills he’s aiming for.

What features help you the most?

It’s a simple one, but first and foremost, Pete loves the search functionality within Cloud Academy. Not only are the courses organized logically, but search allows him to drill down to any piece of content, even specific quiz questions or lab steps. 

Labs are another key favorite in Pete’s training. He loves having the environment built instantly and knowing that he can’t break anything in the sandbox. His strategy is to redo those labs again and again so he feels strong in his skills.

Do you have a favorite instructor?

Since he’s been focusing on AWS lately, Pete’s favorite instructor is Stuart Scott. He loves the fact that Stuart has tons of experience, is concise, and presents his lessons in an easy-to-digest format. The courses are so easy to listen to that Pete enjoys using the mobile app to just grab a five-minute break with a lecture, not even paying attention to the video.

The post On-Prem, Cloud, and Beyond: Meet Pete Brar appeared first on Cloud Academy.

How did you come across Cloud Academy?

After Mohanbabu moved to Singapore as a college graduate, he wanted to learn more about real-world cloud technologies to help with his job search. He liked the way Cloud Academy covered his main interests of AWS and Google Cloud, and he was able to find everything he needed to get ready for all the post-graduation job interviews.

How did you study for certifications?

Mohanbabu’s next goal after landing a good job was to get AWS certified. He saw that the market demanded it when interviewing for jobs, so it was a natural step to make that his focus. He studied extensively using the Cloud Academy mobile app during every commute to and from work — 45 minutes each way on public transportation. As you might imagine, it can be hard to watch detailed courses or do labs while commuting. What Mohanbabu did instead was focus on quizzes. Every day he worked on new quizzes, and each incorrect answer was a new learning opportunity to take a step forward.

A little studying trick

As mentioned above, Mohanbabu’s little studying trick is to use quizzes to “reverse engineer” the courses and see if he wants or needs to take them. On his commute, he starts a learning path and goes straight to a quiz and tries it out. If it’s too easy, he skips the course. If he can’t figure it out, he looks for answers within the platform or on Google, and that’s a good sign that the course is one he should pursue.

Benefits of certifications

Mohanbabu earned certifications in AWS and GCP. These have been helpful in his career at an enterprise company because they have to meet compliance needs — ISO certification — to ensure delivery of product. Cloud certification attests that he’s eligible to do his job and gives weight to his role internally. 

Next up on his cert goals is a fun one: Kubernetes. He’s glad to have hands-on labs in his arsenal because they’re not just simulations — they’re real work in real cloud environments. This will especially pay off for cert exams like the Kubernetes CKA and CKAD which are lab-based.

Mohanbabu likes to keep up on his progress by paying attention to his Skill Profile score. He loves to see it go up and up, and it’s a great motivator for him. Nothing like a personal best to fire you up for a little competition!

The post Study for Certifications Anywhere: Mohanbabu’s Tips appeared first on Cloud Academy.

What are Pav’s tech training goals?

Pav’s goal is to get certified in several areas. Even though he has the experience, certifications give him credibility as a consultant, proving to employers that he has the skills to complete a job. His first order of business is getting Azure certifications. Soon after that, he plans to tackle Google Cloud, Kubernetes (he’s going to watch our webinars on the CKA and CKAD exams on demand), and AWS DevOps certs (in that specific order — that’s a lot!).

Pav and the power of learning paths

Pav really likes how all the content is arranged into organized learning paths. This helps him in a few different ways. 

First, the content in each learning path is bite-sized, which allows him to find what he needs quickly and to jump in and out — getting right to the answer and right back to solving the real-world problem. 

Second, the logical organization of the learning paths allows him to scan the order and jump to specific sections if he’s already strong in some of the other paths, resulting in saved time.

Third, the learning paths have links to additional resources at the end — handpicked by the instructor — that provide deeper knowledge on specific topics if you feel you need it. 

Lastly, Pav feels that if he jumps around too much, he might leave some questions unanswered. So he likes to trust the experts to lay out all the courses, labs, and exams in a clear order so he can progress steadily. 

The post Pav Bahia: Getting His Certification Goals in Order appeared first on Cloud Academy.

This was a great move for Brandon. As he educated himself, he was able to take on more responsibility at work and ultimately help set his company’s cloud strategy. Becoming fluent in cloud meant that Brandon was able to be well-grounded and comfortable so he could talk intelligently about cloud topics with both internal stakeholders and external vendors. This is a good example of the extra “soft skills” benefits you can get from training with Cloud Academy. 

From skills gaps to multiple certifications

Brandon’s method for learning was to start addressing any skills gaps he had. As he gained confidence with new abilities, he decided to go down the certification route, starting with the AWS Cloud Practitioner and then the Solutions Architect Associate.

Since then, Brandon has transitioned into working in the analytics space. His new goals are to get two AWS specialty certifications: AWS Certified Machine Learning and AWS Certified Data Analytics. 

What’s an average study day for Brandon?

At first, Brandon was fairly structured: he dedicated a couple of hours each day to studying. But as other priorities claimed his time, his studying became less structured and he would just check out the courses and labs whenever he could find time. Lunch breaks have proven to be perfect for these sorts of short bursts, allowing Brandon to quickly boost his confidence in new areas and enabling him to talk to more experienced colleagues in a productive way.

Favorite parts of Cloud Academy

Brandon loves everything about the courses themselves. He appreciates the varied and broad view across the entire cloud and tech space. He really enjoys that the lectures are not just a slide deck with a narrator — it’s helpful to have a face to look at and engaging visuals. In addition to all this, a real wallet-saver has been the lab playgrounds. They’ve allowed him to have fun exploring and not worry about ever getting any expensive bills from accidentally leaving instances running all weekend.

The post From Infrastructure to Analytics: Brandon Croom’s Tech Journey appeared first on Cloud Academy.

Certifications prove your knowledge and experience

Simon is using Cloud Academy to get more hands-on experience and to get AWS certified. Through many job interviews, he learned that companies really value AWS certification for senior-level positions. So Simon’s goals are to take his current work experience, add in hands-on practice from labs, and aim for two certifications in the next 12 months: AWS Cloud Practitioner first, then AWS Solutions Architect.

What features work for Simon?

Simon likes the structure of learning paths. He takes them from beginning to end and feels they provide a good way to attack complicated topics. He likes the courses, but he really enjoys having videos mixed together with hands-on labs in order to get different modes of learning activated.

Simon’s favorite instructor is Stuart Scott, Cloud Academy’s AWS lead. He enjoys Stuart’s clarity of instruction as well as the wide range of topics that he covers.

The post How Simon Beck Sets Himself Up for Success With Certifications appeared first on Cloud Academy.