With over 900 business leaders predicting enterprise cloud native apps to double by the end of this year, there’s never been a better time to learn about the cloud.
To help train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future, Udacity is now launching the Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree program.
This new addition to our School of Cloud Computing is a collaboration with SUSE — a global leader in innovative, reliable and enterprise-grade open source solutions. The partnership will broaden the cloud resources offered to our students.
Not only has SUSE been instrumental in building the new cutting-edge program, but they’re also providing 300 scholarships for deserving students.
What is Cloud Native Application Development and Why is It Popular?
Cloud Native Architecture (CNA) is a form of tech stack that consists of microservices and cloud technology.
Essentially, the stack is built with various forms of software-as-a-service (SaaS) that are independent, but all work together to form applications.
While traditional stack architecture focuses mainly on pricey physical data centers and in-house software, CNA is designed for scalability, automation, and flexibility. In most cloud environments, businesses pay only for what they use, which helps them scale.
Automation is enabled in CNA with CI/CD, and monitoring status and logs is simple, allowing for a quick rollback in case of a problem.
What You’ll Learn with the Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree Program
The Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree Program is designed to teach students how to run and manage scalable applications in a cloud native environment in as little as four months.
After taking the course, students will be able to design secure service architecture with open source cloud native tools (like ArgoCD, gRPC and Grafana) and perform upkeep using a metrics dashboard to monitor metrics, diagnose problems, and troubleshoot solutions.
To get the most out of this course, it’s critical that students have a grasp of basic programming and networking concepts, and are comfortable coding in Python and using the command line. Ideally, students will also know Docker and have a general understanding of the CI/CD pipeline.
Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree Program Projects
Deploy a News Website
Extend a news website (TechTrends) on a cloud-native ecosystem to include logs, metrics and data visualization. Package changes to a Docker image and use Kubernetes to deploy.
Refactoring a Cloud Native App
Take an existing app (UdaConnect) and refactor microservice architecture while implementing message passing strategies.
Performance Monitoring
Learn the basic tools around application tracing and performance monitoring, including using Grafana to create dashboards and data visualizations.
Microservice Security
Create a hardened Docker container and deploy it as a private image. Then, identify, fix and write an incident report on a simulated security incident.
Learn More About the Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree Program
Each course in the Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree Program is taught by industry professionals with extensive experience in cloud development, cloud architecture and DevOps.
Instructors:
- Katie Gamanji, Ecosystem Advocate for the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)
- Justin Lee, Data Platform Engineer at Stitch Fix
- Nick Reva, Technical Manager of Security Engineering at Snapchat
- Jason “Jay” Smith, App Modernization Specialist at Google Cloud
At the end of this course, students can expect to have a thorough understanding of the principles of microservices and cloud native architecture, plus a portfolio of projects based on real-world work.
SUSE Cloud Native Foundations Scholarship
Through Udacity’s partnership with SUSE, you could be the lucky winner of one of 300 scholarships. Learn more about the scholarship program and be sure to apply before applications close on May 25.
Ready to jump right in? Enroll in the Cloud Native Application Architecture Nanodegree program now.
