Inside the Cloud Resume Challenge Guidebook
Table of Contents
The following table of contents is taken from the Google Cloud edition of the Cloud Resume Challenge Guidebook. Azure and AWS editions may have slight variations. Click on links to read a sample of the text.
How to use this book (Don’t skip this part) 9
Prologue: The greatest resume I’ve ever seen 14
Part 1: Cracking the Cloud Resume Challenge 23
The challenge itself 24
Why does the Cloud Resume Challenge work? 30
Breaking down the challenge 36
Community resources 40
Part 2: Challenge walkthrough 43
Setup and safety (before you begin) 44
Setting up your account 44
Local development setup 45
Billing 46
Cloud hygiene 48
Chunk 0: Certification prep 50
How to approach this chunk 50
Helpful resources 55
Paid resources 55
Free resources 56
Mods 56
DevOps Mod: If you have several years of existing IT experience 56
Security Mod: If you want a cloud security job 57
Developer Mod: If you want to become a cloud developer 58
Developer Mod: If you are about to graduate from college with a computer science-y degree 58
Stacy’s story: From IT Service Desk Manager to Cloud Operations Engineer 58
Pause to reflect 61
Chunk 1: Building the front end 62
How to approach this chunk 63
Helpful resources 67
HTML / CSS 67
Static website tutorials 67
DNS and CDNs 67
Actual CRC sites 68
Jerry’s story: From respiratory therapist to Associate Solutions Architect 68
Mods 71
Developer Mod: Frame Job 71
DevOps Mod: Automation Nation 72
Security Mod: Spoof Troop 74
Pause to reflect 74
Chunk 2: Building the API 76
How to approach this chunk 77
Helpful resources 83
Python 83
APIs 84
Google Cloud serverless 84
Source control 85
Jakob’s Story: From Clinical Research Technician to Cloud Engineer 85
Mods 87
Developer Mod: Schemas and Dreamers 87
DevOps Mod: Monitor Lizard 88
Security Mod: Check Your Privilege 91
Pause to reflect 93
Chunk 3: Front-end / back-end integration 95
How to approach this chunk 96
How to write your very own smoke test 96
Helpful resources 99
Mods 100
Developer Mod: Playing the Hits 100
DevOps Mod: Browser Up 101
Security Mod: Wall of Fire 101
Pause to reflect 104
Nana’s Story: From Tech Support to Cloud Native Engineer 105
Chunk 4: Automation / CI 107
How to approach this chunk 108
Google Cloud Deployment Manager 110
Pulumi 110
Setting up your deployment pipeline 111
Helpful resources 113
IaC 113
Docker 113
CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment) 113
Mods 114
Developer Mod / Security Mod: Chain Reaction 115
DevOps Mod: All The World’s A Stage 119
Stephanie’s Story: From Bank Manager to Cloud Engineer 123
Pause to reflect 124
Chunk 5: The blog … and beyond 126
How to approach this chunk 126
Include a diagram 128
Make it about you, not about the challenge 128
Consider focusing on your mods 129
Don’t ramble on 130
Tag me 130
Ian’s Story: Writing a Blog That Gets Exposure 131
Helpful resources 133
Pause to reflect 134
Part 3: From challenge to career 135
What is a “cloud job”, anyway? 137
The history of the cloud job 138
The first IT jobs 138
The “golden age” of IT: everybody has their own servers! 138
The emergence of the cloud job 142
What does a “day in the life” look like for a cloud engineer? 145
Is there actually such a thing as an “entry-level cloud job”? 147
Getting unstuck: the underrated skill of asking for help 150
The career-changing art of reading the docs 158
Mapping your path to a cloud job 172
Getting hired without tech experience 172
Building your skill stack 174
When to apply 176
Getting hired with IT experience, but no cloud experience 178
Exploiting your “unfair advantage” 179
Avoiding a temporary step back 182
How to effectively interview for work with a portfolio site 184
Networking your way to a job 193
Resume Roulette: a losing game 193
How hiring happens 194
Network Bets: a better game 195
Owning your credibility 196
Building connections 197
But I’m an introvert … I can’t network! 198
Play the long game – it’s a shortcut 202
Afterword: The side project that made the front page 204
Anatomy of the perfect cloud project 206
Paying it forward 209
Acknowledgements 212
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