4 training recommendations from a Solutions Engineer
By Forest Dewberry, BreakFree Solutions Engineer
DevOps. The Cloud. Infrastructure as Code. Configuration Management. CI/CD. It can all sound pretty challenging. You might be wondering where to start or what entering the world of Digital Strategy would be like. What do you do? Who should do it? What does it require to become a Digital Strategist? It’s only natural to have these types of questions. One of the best things you can do is start honing your digital skills. Here are 4 resources to help you do so.
How to Improve DevOps Skills
The good news is, you don’t have to invest too heavily in order to start building your digital skills and working on your resume. Here are some fantastic resources that will help you on your Cloud journey. Personally, these are the learning tools that I felt gave me the most value for my time:
1. Hashicorp Docs
Hashicorp’s impressive learning resources separate it from its competitors. Additionally, learning about terraform (Hashicorp’s Infrastructure as Code tool) will help you understand IaC in general. By the same token, learning Vault will also teach you to understand zero-trust secret architecture. You’ll also find lessons about networks, containers, and other Cloud technologies embedded in the Hashicorp tutorials.
2. Acloudguru
What makes acloudguru such a popular option is its robust lessons and labs on just about every area of Cloud technology imaginable. A personal subscription including the Cloud playground (which I would recommend) is currently $47. This may seem expensive, but acloudguru is chock-full of elucidating tutorials that both teach and allow you to build hands-on, practical infrastructure.
3. Azure Free Trial
I love the Azure free trial. I started tinkering with it before I made my way into Cloud technology. Azure currently offers $200 in infrastructure costs completely free to you when you sign up for a trial. In addition, there are tons of helpful tutorials like this one for hosting Wordpress. Azure and Azure DevOps are widely used, and based on my experience learning and applying knowledge, one of the best ways to learn DevOps is with Azure.
4. AWS Free Trial
AWS also has a free trial offering 12 months (within limits) of EC2, S3, and RDS. AWS is a bit more intimidating, but its heavy use in the industry makes it worth learning. Amazon wants to encourage people to become skilled in AWS, so the company has a multitude of training opportunities as well as a huge number of presentation-style courses.
Getting Started
As an emerging technologist looking to enter the world of Digital Strategy, it can be daunting to know where to start when it comes to developing your DevOps skills. Fortunately, there are a number of great resources available that can help you gain the necessary DevOps skills.
These 4 options will help you get started with honing your digital skills and preparing yourself for a career in Digital Strategy. However, keep in mind that this is just the beginning. If you have any questions about which direction to take or how to get started, don't hesitate to reach out. We'd be happy to assist you!