An online course gives you the flexibility to study at your own pace, follow Sundar R N Rao’s journey with Great Learning’s Cloud Computing Course.
Tell us about your professional background and work experience.
I have a total of 9.5 years of work experience. I started my career with Infinite Computer Solutions, Bangalore. I worked with Cypress Semiconductors for a while. Currently, I am working with Cisco as a Cloud DevOps Engineer.
Initially, I was working on the Windows server and then I moved to Unix application support. My entire career and experience lie mainly in operations such as gathering requirements, providing application support, etc. I used to support applications deployed on the Windows and Unix servers. I joined as a Service delivery Engineer in Cisco. Later, I worked as a Service Delivery Lead and then moved on to support operations. Cloud DevOps is a recent transition.
Did the Program help you with your current role?
The program helped me a lot. It helped me understand how to execute my work in this domain. I joined the Cloud Computing program in July and soon after joining, our organization transitioned from our data centers to AWS.
2 months later, when the core training program kicked in, I was able to simultaneously learn and implement the same in my current role. This made my work a lot easier. I was able to implement the applications and DevOps part of it and was able to give some really interesting ideas in Design and Architecture meetings. Therefore, yes! The program helped me a lot.
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Why did you decide to upskill?
When I joined my organization, it was a Cloud-based Contact Centre provider. It had a private cloud. When we planned to move to a different cloud platform, we used GCP for 4-5 months and eventually moved to AWS completely. Initially, I was not a part of these discussions due to a lack of knowledge. I knew about Unix and server management. This drove me to learn more. I started researching and reading books. Once I realized that this was not enough, I started my journey of looking for the best institutes that provide online training.
Why Great Learning?
Before thinking about this program, I did a Cloud computing certification from TUV SUD, but that training was not very helpful. After some research, I found out about Great Learning. My colleagues at Cisco gave me great reviews about Great Learning. I was skeptical about my decision initially because it was a big investment. But soon after completing it, I realized the course offered value for money. The biggest advantage of the Cloud Computing program is the discussions with different people from diverse backgrounds. We had learners from Networking testers, developers, architects, etc. who would ask questions relevant to their domain. This helped me get a better perspective and guided me well. In this domain, the real-time issues that you encounter are always different from what is available in theory and textbooks. All the training at GL that was imparted to us was industry-oriented. Lecturers like Nirmallya Mukherjee, an industry expert, gave us his insight and approach to fix the production issues. Personally, this helped me a lot.
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How was your overall experience with the online Cloud Computing program?
I feel that an online program is better because you can always resume where you left off. You have the liberty to study at your own pace. These advantages aren’t available in a classroom program. In an online class, you can revisit the recorded classes and gain a better understanding.
For example, I was weak in networks. At the time of the first project, I was supposed to learn what networks are. I had to implement them in my project too. I was able to revisit the recorded class and learn the topic well. The best part is that the material is available even now, and whenever I have a doubt I go through it and clarify it. I was really happy with the program and referred it to two others. Grateful for this opportunity.
Advice for the future Cloud Computing aspirants.
As a DevOps professional, I moved from NewYork Datacenter to AWS. Anyone who is working on Data migration and operations should take up this course. Learning Python is not necessary, but would be an advantage as implementation becomes easier. Your job will also become much easier once you learn these skills.
