What are the Prerequisites to Learn Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is among the hottest and trending domains in the present job market. The scope of cloud computing has become brighter recently as more and more companies have understood the importance of integrating these solutions into their operations. 

The pay of a cloud computing professional in India can go up to INR 10,000,000 per annum, so you can understand just how lucrative this field is!

However, before you start learning cloud computing, you’ll have to familiarise yourself with several subjects. This article will cover all the cloud computing prerequisites to help you kickstart your learning journey. 

Cloud Computing Prerequisites

Cloud computing is an advanced sector and requires you to be familiar with multiple subjects because it is related to many technologies. Here are the primary topics you should know to start learning cloud computing:

1. Programming Skills

As a cloud computing professional, you’ll need to have proper programming skills because you’ll be working with several programming languages. Cloud computing professionals use multiple programming languages including Java, PHP, Python, and .NET. Each of these languages has its distinct advantages so you should focus on developing a basic understanding of each of them. 

For example, Python has multiple libraries that make specific programming tasks easier and efficient. On the other hand, PHP is necessary for developing cloud computing applications. 

Knowing how to create a program and having coding skills will also help you in becoming a cloud computing professional. If you’re a beginner in programming, you should start with Python as it has a simple syntax and doesn’t require you to have any coding experience. 

2. Familiarity with Databases

Databases allow companies to easily store and access a lot of information. Cloud computing professionals help their organizations by creating and managing cloud-based databases. Thus, it is crucial to understand the functionality of databases. 

Moreover, cloud-based databases have become increasingly popular in the last few years because they let an organization avail the benefits of having a database without the necessary hardware. 

Apart from covering the basics of databases, you should also learn related technologies. SQL is the programming language for handling a relational database management system. Apart from SQL, other prominent database technologies are MongoDB, MySQL, and Apache Hadoop. 

Having a basic understanding of these technologies is sufficient to start learning cloud computing. If you aren’t familiar with these subjects then we recommend starting with learning the fundamentals of databases and SQL. 

3. Basics of Security and Privacy

Digital security and privacy concerns have become a significant issue recently. Currently, hackers attack people 2,244 times per day, which means they are attacking every 39 seconds.

Companies have to make sure that their cloud storage and cloud-based applications remain safe from hackers and other malicious elements. That’s why you should study the fundamentals of cybersecurity. You should be familiar with the best practices to prevent cybersecurity threats as they mitigate the risk of a successful hacking attack substantially. 

Some of the prominent subjects you can learn about are cryptography and encryption. They are vital for studying cybersecurity so you can start with them. Even a little familiarity with these subjects would be sufficient for your preparation. Cybersecurity is a prominent prerequisite for cloud computing so we recommend focusing on it. 

4. Knowledge of Agile Development

Agile development is a software development methodology that focuses on developing products through the collaboration of cross-functional and self-organising teams and their users. In this methodology, a team releases the product after it has reached a certain development stage and then modifies the product based on the user feedback on the same. The user’s feedback plays a huge role in agile development as it helps the developers understand the weak areas of the product and work on them. 

An excellent example of agile development is mobile apps. Companies release a mobile app and then release new updates now and then for the app to enhance their user experience. 

Agile development has become widely popular in the last few decades as it allows companies to release many products effectively and efficiently while satisfying the customers. Almost all the major companies use agile development methodology so learning about it will surely help you professionally. You should be familiar with its principles, terminology, and implementation. 

5. Familiarity with Operating Systems

You should be familiar with the basic operations of different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux. Linux is a little more important than the other operating systems because it’s a widely popular solution among companies for cloud computing implementations. 

This is the simplest prerequisite for cloud computing as it takes very little effort to familiarise yourself with an OS’s operations. If you’ve been using a PC or a similar device for quite some time, you’d already be familiar with most of the concepts. 

6. Understanding of Virtualization

Virtualization is the process of creating virtual devices, infrastructures, and servers on one computing device. You create a virtual, software-based representation of another device such as virtual storage, network, or application in this process. Virtualization helps companies in reducing operating costs as they can multiply the available software devices without increasing the hardware. 

It’s necessary to be familiar with the basics of an operating system before you learn virtualization. You should know how to create a virtual machine on your computer and also how to create multiple VMs. 

7. Basics of Networking

After you have learned about virtualization, you should focus on networking. In cloud computing, networking focuses on hosting some or all network resources from the cloud. This includes virtual firewalls, virtual routers, network management software, bandwidth, etc. 

As a beginner, you should start with learning about IP addresses and how they work. Understanding the concept of IP addresses is fundamental to learning the advanced concepts of networking. The network in a cloud-based solution allows the user to connect with the cloud services.  

Apart from connecting the users to the cloud service, the network also allows the different components of the cloud-based solution (servers and storage nodes) to connect. 

How to Learn Cloud Computing Prerequisites (and More)

Learning about cloud computing can be quite daunting. In fact, simply learning every prerequisite for cloud computing is a herculean task in itself. 

As there’s a lot to cover, the best way to learn cloud computing is by taking a cloud computing course. With a cloud computing course, you can learn all the necessary skills and subjects efficiently as the course provides you with a structured curriculum along with additional benefits.

Our PG Certification in Cloud Computing offers you more than 250 hours of learning material and covers many prominent technologies including Java, AWS, etc. The course provides you with IIIT Bangalore alumni status and offers 1:1 personalized mentorship from industry experts to resolve doubts quickly. You’ll get to study the development of microservices, distributed systems, all the cloud computing prerequisites, and work on industry projects. 

This way, by the time you finish the course, you’ll be a job-ready cloud computing professional. The course comes with upGrad’s exclusive placement support. 

Conclusion 

It is no surprise that a diverse and complex field like cloud computing has so many prerequisites. While the learning process may seem challenging, you can master them with perseverance and the right professional guidance. 

At upGrad, we offer the PG Diploma in Software Development Specialisation in Cloud Computing program. It lasts only for 13 months and is completely online so you can complete it without interrupting your job.