Today I made a decision not to run between cloud dashboards anymore and begin to learn something well-organized Terraform. I have been surrounding myself with the concept of cloud engineering and this time around it started to make sense, rather than it making me adhere to it out of frustration.
Today I did not write any complicated code. Rather, I paid attention to seeing the entire concept of Terraform:
how it works, why engineers use it, and why people continue to insist on Infrastructure as Code (IaC) as a superpower.
Why Terraform Matters (At Least to Me)
Prior to today, requesting cloud resources was more of an ad hoc ritual, whereby you had to click here and scroll there and hope you would recall what you had done the last time.
That mindset is altered by Terriform.
It allows creating your infrastructure through code. Not guesses. Not memory.
Code.
You request Terraform to know what you desire and Terraform haggles with the API of the cloud provider on your behalf. I have come to know the reason why teams are using it, repeatability, automation, and sanity.
The Workflow That Stood Out
I have gone through the workflow of Terraform and it was surprisingly clean:
terraform init - plans your project.
terraform validate - verifies your configuration.
terraform plan - displays what is really going to occur.
terraform apply- create what was defined.
terraform destroy everything, destroys everything.
The tool was made not so frightening but more rational, seeing the links between these steps.
And yes it is too pleasant to be able to ruin everything with the swab of a finger.
Learning by someone who knows how to explain it.
I watched a YouTube session with Piyush, and how he dissected the terms allowed me to view Terraform in a new practical perspective, as opposed to the other DevOps buzzword. That type of teaching would make a big difference, especially when you are new and fresh.
A 30-Day Push
I am participating in a 30 days Terraform + AWS challenge.
Not only to enhance my ability to use clouds better- but also to be able to write regularly and track my learning experience.
It was only day 1: the meaning of Terraform and its purpose.
The next day I will leave theory and actually supply real resources. I would like to run terraform apply and see the cloud reacting as magic.
And don't forget, when you are learning Terraform you can join the 30daysofawsterraform challenge and learn together with the rest of us.
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