Udacity and Microsoft have just launched a Nanodegree program that will equip you with the skills to build cloud-based applications on Microsoft Azure. It also serves as preparation for Microsoft’s AZ-204 Azure Developer Associate Expert certification exam.

Is hard not to be overwhelmed by Azure today. The Microsoft Ignite Virtual Event is in full swing with Azure being present as the foundation or the cornerstone of every important announcement. 

With more and more companies shifting to remote work cloud computing is one of the fastest growing fields in technology. As the promo video for the Developer for Microsoft Azure Nanodegree Program points out, 95% of Fortune 500 companies using Azure and, according to Burning Glass, Azure-related jobs expected to grow by 38% in the next 10 years: 

This course is expected to take 4 months at 5-10 hours per week. It is at intermediate level and its prerequisites are:

• At least 1-3 years of web development experience, preferably programming in Python

• Experience creating and managing databases such as SQL Server or PostgreSQL

• Familiarity with Git as a version control system to clone, pull, or push code.

Students will also need an Azure account, which can be obtained for free to create and provision Azure services.

By the end its students will be able to:

• Deploy storage and app solutions to Azure for a system that allow users to log in, view content, and publish content

• Use Azure Functions, Cosmos DB, Event Hub to implement a serverless microservice back-end architecture

• Perform a “lift and shift” application migration to Azure

• Migrate and deploy the pre-existing web app to an Azure App Service

• Migrate a PostgreSQL database backup to an Azure Postgres database instance

• Refactor the notification logic to an Azure Function via a service bus queue message

• Use Azure Monitor, Azure App Insights, and Azure Metric Insights to enhance the performance of an application that has been deployed to Azure or post-migration 

True to the Udacity approach, this is project-centric learning and they will reinforce their learning with industry-relevant projects, benefiting from personalized feedback from Udacity's network of 900+ project reviewers.

Undacity's interface makes it easy to submit projects as often as required and in the case of this Nanodegree there are four of them, one per course:

• Course 1: Azure Applications
  Project: Deploy an Article CMS to Azure
  Deploy storage solutions for the content management system built with Python Flask to interact with, such as a SQL database that contains a user table and an article table for the webapp to query, along with a Blob Storage container where images are stored. Add an option to “Sign in with Microsoft” for authentication using OAuth 2.0 and Azure Active Directory. Add logging to the cloud application to be able to track successful or unsuccessful login attempts.
  

• Course 2: Azure Microservices
  Project: Deploying the Neighborly App with Azure Functions
  Implement a serverless microservice backend architecture for a social networking web application that lets neighbors exchange helpful information, goods, and services. First build the back-end services that leverage an API to communicate with a MongoDB database. Then integrate the client-side application and server-side API endpoints in Python and finish by deploying and managing their service with AKS for future CI/CD integration.
  
  
• Course 3: Azure Migration
  Project: Migrate App to Azure
  First, you’ll migrate and deploy the pre-existing web app to an Azure App Service. Then, you’ll migrate a PostgreSQL database backup to an Azure Postgres database instance. Finally, you will refactor the notification logic to an Azure Function via a service bus queue message.
  
  
• Course 4: Azure Performance

• Project: Enhancing Applications
  Collect and display performance and health data about an application post-migration to Azure. First you’ll set up Application Insights monitoring on a virtual machine scale set (VMSS) and implement monitoring in an application to collect telemetry data. Then you will create auto-scaling for a VMSS and an Azure Automation account to create a RunBook that automates the resolution of performance issues. Finally, you’ll create alerts to trigger auto-scaling on an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster and trigger a Runbook to execute.

This new nanodegree complements the DevOps Engineer for Microsoft Azure Nanodegree which we reported on when it launched last month. Its next starting date is October 13.

For students interested in AWS (Amazon Web Services) the The Cloud Developer Nanodegree Program next begins on October 12 and Cloud Dev Ops Engineer Nanodegree Program on September 30. See our coverage in New Udacity Cloud Nanodegree Programs. 

More Information

Developer for Microsoft Azure Nanodegree Program

DevOps Engineer for Microsoft Azure Nanodegree

Udacity School of Cloud Computing

Cloud Developer Nanodegree Program

Cloud Dev Ops Engineer Nanodegree Program 

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New Udacity Cloud Nanodegree Programs

Udacity's School of Cloud Computing

Microsoft and Udacity Partner To Offer Azure Machine Learning Nanodegree

Learn About AWS On Coursera

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