A  new microcredential program at postgraduate level will run for the first time in July on the FutureLearn platform. Created in collaboration with Amazon’s AWS Academy, it prepares students to sit the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification – the price of which is included in the cost of the course.

Disclosure: When you make a purchase having followed a link to from this article, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The race toward cloud-based solutions and services has been gaining pace over several years and has seen further impetus as a result of COVID-19 with the requirement for remote working and a spike in the use of cloud networks. Even before the pandemic, however, we had reported that Cloud Computing had been rated the second most in-demand hard skill of 2020 by Linkedin.

AWS, Amazon Web Services, is and is likely to remain, the foremost provider of cloud services. The services it provides also go beyond those of any other provider which means that keeping abreast of AWS is indeed difficult. Back in 2014 Amazon launched a certification program for developers and administrators who wanted to be able to show their competence in working with AWS with three levels - Foundational, Associate and Professional.

We have already looked as several options for learning about AWS and preparing for the certification exams, including the AWS Fundamentals Specialization consisting of four courses on Coursera, the AWS Developer Professional Series XSeries on edX, and a YouTube-based class from Freecode Camp, see The 16-Hour Guide to the AWS Developer Associate Exam.  

FutureLearn's new 12-week long Cloud Computing Professional with AWS is an opportunity to "upskill" and prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, the one at Foundational Level. It is one of FutureLearn's recently introduced Microcredential programs which, in common with edX Micromasters gains credits that can be counted towards a Master's degree, in this case 15 UK academic credits which are validated by Coventry University. 

For this particular program, FutureLearn has teamed up with AWS Academy and students will complete labs in the AWS cloud environment. It is designed for those looking to accelerate their career progression by developing the theoretical understanding and practical skills needed to create business value through cloud technologies. As the program is at postgraduate level a bachelor’s degree or work experience in a relevant field is expected. It comprises two courses which will be repeated at intervals:

• Cloud Computing Business and Technology Fundamentals
  Discover the fundamental business case for cloud computing and the key skills required for a successful cloud-first organisation.
  Starts July 12, 2020 for 6 weeks at 12 hours per week
  
  

• Cloud Computing Professional
  Use more advanced cloud concepts like cloud architecture, networking and databases and practice them in the AWS cloud environment.
  Starts September 7, 2020 for 6 weeks at 13 hours per week

By the end of the program successful students with be able to: 

Research, at a systems level, cloud technology and apply to a business problem, supported by a business case that communicates to a non-technical audience

Apply the principles of cloud computing to the selection of the components and architecture to a defined organisational problem

Critically evaluate use-cases of cloud computing products and services to meet required organisational goals and objectives

Research and design implementation plans to provide a technically sound and secure migration to, and deployment of, cloud-based business functions

Critically analyse AWS products and services to provide a well-argued resource request for selection and usage

Critically evaluate an organisation's readiness for cloud migration and develop a strategy to support a cloud migration that considers stakeholders

In addition, this microcredential prepares learners to earn the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certificate and a voucher for this exam is included. When it wsa first announced this program had a price tag of £995. This has been reduced to £699.   

More Information

FutureLearn Microcredentials

Cloud Computing Professional with AWS

Related Articles

Top Skills In Demand For 2020

Professional Credentials For Computer Science Careers

Gain A Computer Science Credential In 2020 

Learn About AWS On Coursera

Udacity's School of Cloud Computing

The 16-Hour Guide to the AWS Developer Associate Exam

AWS Certification Launched

To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, sign up for our weekly newsletter, subscribe to the RSS feed and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.

Comments

Make a Comment or View Existing Comments Using Disqus

or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info