The more conferences I speak at, the more I become aware of two things with respect to cloud technology. Firstly, it is still a very misunderstood area that is becoming so ubiquitous in the IT world that one cannot afford not to understand the basic concepts. Secondly, many people are embarrassed to ask questions for a fear of looking uneducated.
With this in mind, I have put together a list of some great online courses and resources that will help anyone get to grips with all that is cloud.
Forget about setting your 2015 New Year’s resolutions, it’s still 2014 and there is still time to further your brain power this year.
This site hosts some excellent courses from the world’s top universities. In the area of cloud, I recommend the following:
Cloud Computing Concepts: A free five week certificated course. https://www.coursera.org/course/cloudcomputing
Cloud Computing Specialisation Course: A $196 specialisation course that takes you from concept to planning and implementing a cloud system.
https://www.coursera.org/specialization/cloudcomputing/19?utm_medium=catalog
An introduction to Cloud Computing on Alison
http://alison.com/courses/Introduction-to-Cloud-Computing
If you want to focus on VMware, they have their own introduction to cloud that focuses on their technology:
https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=det&id_course=189017
The Cloud Academy has over 25 online courses teaching you all about cloud, but these are at $29 a month. Comes with tests to check your skill.
And lastly, if you are just looking for some quick definitions to make you look smart at the next dinner party, then be sure to visit these glossary sites.