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Using the Course#

This section will demonstrate to you how you can consume the content in this course. It's not overly complicated, but I did want to highlight some things so that you had everything you needed to get the best from the content.

This course has some features that I want to show you today so that you get the most out of it. The key features include:

  • The "Why?" videos
  • Key Points
  • various in-line quizzes
  • Check your understanding (section quizzes)
  • Section projects
  • Capstone projects
  • Discord community

The "Why?" videos#

I do use video content throughout this course. I think video is perfect for certain types of information. Explaining why you should be studying a particular is important because in this industry, it's really easy to waste time studying things you don't need, either yet or ever.

In my "Why?" videos, I'm simply going to cover the reasons for studying a particular topic and why it's important that you do.

Key Points#

Key points act as a "too long; didn't read" (tl;dr) for the section you've just read. This compressed, summarised information will be great for refreshing your knowledge on the section you just covered and then doing the "Check your understanding" quizzes.

If you already know a topic, then the Key Points could act as a decent reminder of the information you need, as opposed to having to do the entire section.

In-line quizzes#

Work In Progress

We're still working on this content! Check back soon.

As well as the quizzes at the end of each section, we've got in-line quizzes (1-2 questions) throughout sections that will prompt you to consider what you've just read/learned and apply it to a simple scenario.

Check your understanding#

These larger, end-of-section quizzes are designed to test your knowledge on an entire section. Ideally you should be completing all of these and aiming for a score of 90%.

Section projects#

Once you're confident you've read through a section, and you've scored 90%+ on the quiz, then you're ready to apply your knowledge via a project that will build something real-world and highly practical. This is the best kind of experience you can give your self. It's real-world and it'll challenge you with difficult problems.

Capstone projects#

This project is the final, end-of-course project. These build on everything you've learned so far, and you'll build some big, complex infrastructure that you can then go on to automate in the Level Two course via IAC, CI/CD, and more.

This is the project you write on LinkedIn about, note on your CV, write blog posts about, and use a portfolio peice. It's the big one, so give it your all!

Discord community#

The Upload Academy Discord community is the place to get assistance with anything you come across in this course.

Join and please ensure you read and understand the community rules.

Warning

The community is not a place for technical support questions. It's for students who need help understanding and overcoming course materials. That's all.

Videos#

The book has videos all throughout it. These videos are designed to addressed two things:

  1. The "Why?" for a given section (every section has a "Why?" video)
  2. And technical demonstrations

The "Why?" videos help you better understand why a section is worth your time. The text in the section then teaches you the what and the how.

Other videos are for technical demonstrations, such as showing you how-to create a Virtual machine in VirtualBox, or setting up an EC2 Instance in AWS. Text works for these things too, but sometimes a visual aide can help some readers grasp the concept better.

Getting help#

It's all about the Discord community. Join, introduce yourself in the #introductions channel, and then ask a question in the relevant channel for the level you're at (One, Two, etc.)