The Linux Foundation is priming the pump to help software engineers become cloud technology certified through a self-paced bootcamp and discounted pricing.
LF last week announced the availability of the Cloud Engineer Bootcamp, its first-ever training bootcamp. This new offering enables individuals to go from complete IT beginner to certified cloud engineer in only six months.
The training program’s cost is US$599, far lower than similar bootcamps, which typically cost $999. The introductory price will be in effect through June 17.
According to the foundation, the cloud engineering bootcamp is a great way for IT workers to move into a new, highly in-demand career in a structured, accessible format.
Clyde Seepersad, general manager for training and certification at The Linux Foundation, noted that the cloud tech bootcamp is a response to industry needs and proactive planning by the foundation.
“We have been considering ways to increase that talent pool to meet existing demand and also prepare for future waves as cloud adoption continues to accelerate in the coming years,” he told LinuxInsider.
Essential Solution
Thomas Hatch, SaltStack’s CTO, said LF’s first-ever cloud school for engineers is a viable approach to addressing the issue of cloud engineering proficiency.
“The current void of Linux cloud engineers is significant, and demand is also growing rapidly,” he told LinuxInsider.
Although a number of existing programs and bootcamps are available, The Linux Foundation should be able to deliver a more credible and solid program, and the price is amazing, Hatch said.
The project is well aligned with the goals of The Linux Foundation, he added.
“Quite a few cloud providers, tech schools, and universities have offered these sorts of bootcamps. With that said, there are very few, if any, that are as authoritative and affordable as this program from The Linux Foundation,” Hatch maintained.
Companies are adopting cloud technologies at a near exponential rate, noted Wei Lien Dang, chief strategy officer at StackRox.
This rapid movement makes a Linux-based program an especially appealing starting point for cloud engineering since Linux serves as the underpinning of so many cloud technologies, he pointed out.
“Cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google also provide great resources for learning, but those programs tend to be specific to their own platforms and ecosystems,” Dang told LinuxInsider.
He suggested that engineers consider those providers’ offerings on top of The Linux Foundation program as a next step before pursuing additional specialization.
Curriculum Specifics
The Linux Foundation Cloud Engineer Bootcamp bundles self-paced e-learning courses with certification exams and dedicated instructor support for a comprehensive educational program that begins with Linux at the operating system layer.
The curriculum then moves up the stack, covering DevOps, cloud, containers, and more.
The following specific courses and exams are included:
- Essentials of Linux System Administration (LFS201)
- Linux Networking and Administration (LFS211)
- Containers Fundamentals (LFS253)
- DevOps and SRE Fundamentals: Implementing Continuous Delivery (LFS261)
- Kubernetes Fundamentals (LFS258)
- Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator Exam (LFCS)
All of them are taken online.
Participants will have access to a bootcamp-specific online forum to interact with other students and instructors. Also provided are live virtual office hours with course instructors five days per week.
Participants will have access to reading, videos, and lab exercises in simulated real-world environments. They also will have access to support from the Linux Foundation training instructors who helped develop the courses. There is an interactive forum monitored by the instructors.
“This gives them the opportunity to discuss their progress in the program, ask questions about specific topics, and even get advice on career paths,” said Seepersad.
Those who spend 15-20 hours per week on the coursework should expect to complete the bootcamp in about six months. Upon completion, participants will receive badges for the LFCS and CKA certification exams and a badge for completing the entire bootcamp. Potential employers can verify badges independently at any time.
Satisfying Multiple Needs
Seepersad said the bootcamp “will help close the talent gap and ensure adequate staffing for companies seeking cloud talent.”
More engineers are seeking nontraditional forms of education — like online courses and bootcamps — that are reliable and offer practical experience, said Kim McMahon, director of marketing at the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
“The Cloud Engineer Bootcamp is a perfect way to certify their working knowledge of Kubernetes while also advancing their careers in the cloud native and open source communities,” she said.
Broad-Based Cloud Coverage
While much of the foundation’s cloud engineering bootcamp course focuses on Linux, it also provides crossover to dealing with other cloud platforms. Like all LF training, the course is vendor-neutral, noted Seepeersad.
“Azure is clearly one of the largest cloud providers in the world, and Microsoft revealed last year that the majority of Azure instances are Linux. Beyond that, regardless of the cloud vendor one might be using, the fundamentals beneath all of them are built on the same building blocks, which is what this bootcamp really delves into,” he explained.
StackRox’s Dang noted that engineers can choose from a number of existing programs for cloud engineering certification, but none offer the implicit value of being backed by the Linux Foundation.
Cross-Training vs. Platform-Specific Expertise
Dang explained that cloud providers also offer abundant training opportunities for various roles, at different levels and in different formats, to help people identify the specific skills they need to be cloud practitioners in today’s market.
AWS, for example, has one of the longest-standing programs, which provides support from foundational learning to deep specializations. These programs help support communities of users who are well-versed and qualified to operate services on their platforms and within their ecosystems, he said.
Each cloud provider offers similar resources, particular to that cloud platform. AWS was an early mover that established a strong training and certification curriculum.
Other cloud providers have followed suit. Dang suggested that if engineers want to become proficient in a specific cloud platform, they will need to understand the intricate details of those platforms and environments, which would best come from the provider itself.
Free Jenkins Training
The Linux Foundation and Continuous Delivery Foundation on Monday announced a new, completely free training course to help teach the fundamentals of continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD). The course includes a detailed understanding of Jenkins’s role in the software development lifecycle.
The Introduction to Jenkins course focuses on the leading open-source automation server. It provides details on how to install a Jenkins server, build software with it, manage third-party integrations/plugins, and scale and secure Jenkins.
Those who take the course will get a glimpse of what they can do to further enhance their CI/CD skills.
Introduction to Jenkins was developed by Deepika Gautam, an author, speaker, trainer, and DevOps evangelist with almost two decades of experience in the software industry. She specializes in implementing DevOps toolchains in multi-cloud environments and is a co-founder of Aplima Solutions, a DevOps consulting and training company.
Get more details about this free course here.
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