My first month in the SCA Cloud SCA: My growth and challenges

I've always been fascinated by puzzles and the world of DevOps has been one big puzzle that I have enjoyed working through. This love for puzzles has also pushed me to want to help other people work through their cloud puzzles. It is what motivated me into preparing and obtaining an AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification. I want to help people make the right choices concerning their cloud infrastructure and the She Code Africa cloud bootcamp has helped me move closer to this goal.

I learnt about the She Codes Africa cloud bootcamp on Twitter through the shecodeafrica page and I saw it as an opportunity to both further my cloud learning journey but also to connect with a community of people that are as interested in cloud technologies as I am.

The program started on 31st of March and it is a two months program. I will give a brief overview of everything I've learnt in the last 4 weeks

WEEK ONE

• We discussed cloud computing and AWS fundamentals, including the different cloud deployment models and AWS services such as EC2,S3 and IAM.

• We setup our AWS account and learnt how to setup our EC2 instance as well as how to use an s3 bucket to host a static website

• I was able to share my knowledge by writing an article on How to create and connect to an EC2 instance

By the end of week 1, I was able to refresh my knowledge of cloud computing and AWS fundamentals
Prior knowledge of AWS helped me in understanding the concepts

WEEK TWO

• We learned about Azure and its concepts, we worked on creating our Azure accounts and we explored Azure core services like compute, storage and analytics.

• We discussed monitoring and how to use monitoring services to track and oversee our Azure resources.
  I also wrote another article on How to host a static web application in Azure

By the end of week 2, I had a solid grasp of core Azure services. I have never used Azure prior to this and I found it fascinating to be able to compare and try to figure out the AWS equivalent of some services.

WEEK THREE

• We explored security; both the general security and the network security features on Azure. We discussed how to protect against threats and how to secure network connectivity in Azure.

• We also discussed Identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features on Azure and learnt about Azure cost management and service level agreements which will help you to get the best value for your money on Azure.

• Finally, we deployed a virtual machine on the Azure portal, which gave me hands-on experience with creating and managing Azure resources.

By the end of week 3, I fully understood how to secure Azure resources and manage costs on Azure effectively. I also worked on configuring and formatting disks both on a Linux VM and also on a Windows VM. I had the opportunity to learn LVM and disk partitioning

WEEK FOUR

• We started SQL and learned about its fundamental concepts and how it is used in Azure.
  I carried out the assignment about practicing SQL on Codecademy and this helped me to easily understand the concepts in class.

• I learnt how to deploy and configure servers, instances, and databases for Azure SQL,.we practiced launching the three types of SQL options in Azure

• We practiced using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to backup and restore a database.

• We discussed how to secure data using Azure SQL and how to encrypt data in our Azure SQL databases.

By the end of week 4, I had a good grasp of SQL, it's commands and how to use it in Azure.

CONCLUSION
I have had an amazing time with She Codes Africa. I have learnt a lot about different Azure services, security and management in Azure, SQL as well as database management in Azure. I have gained practical experience in working with Azure and I can't wait to get started on the remaining concepts we will be covering in the cloud bootcamp.

I have nothing but good things to say about the She Codes Africa bootcamp as it has pushed me to better myself. Before the bootcamp, I have only ever written a couple of articles but I have been more consistent both in writing articles as well as in sharing my learning journey since the start of the program. The community has been so supportive and I and my classmates have been able to rely as well as learn from each other. My facilitators have also always been available to handle enquiries and have made the learning process beautiful for me.

I would recommend She Codes Africa to other women who are looking for a community of like minds and a place to grow both as individuals and with the community. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this bootcamp and I'm so excited to see what the next phase holds in store.