Global Azure Bootcamp 2018

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Introduction

On Saturday 21st April 2018 I attended the Glasgow based Global Azure Bootcamp 2018 organised by Sarah Lean. As a complete novice at Azure I wanted the opportunity to learn more about it and the event delivered. There were three sessions which I will go over.

How to learn Azure and become certified

The first talk was from Gregor Suttie on his journey learning Azure. He’s only been learning for four months and it was encouraging that he learnt so much about Azure in that space of time for a beginner like me.

Some top tips from Gregor were:

  • Make sure you look at the blueprint on a regular basis. It is always changing
  • Microsoft offer a free 30 day, £150 credit in Azure. You can use multiple email addresses at the end of each trial to keep learning
  • Pluralsight have a number of free videos
  • Azure Friday videos
  • Visual Studio Dev Essentials has lots of free stuff
  • The exams are tough!
  • Plenty of practice exams available
  • Azure skills will benefit your career

Gregor has placed his presentation on his blog if you want to grab a copy. Thanks Gregor it was a very useful talk.

Azure Serverless Computing

Next up was Analben Mehta on Azure Serverless Computing. Not ashamed to say this but a lot of it went way over my head! I was impressed that Analben was brave enough to do live demo’s of functions in Azure. I have heard this is the future of computing and Analben’s presentation backed that up but as she said, remember even though it’s called Serverless, there is always a server in the end!

I was amazed that Microsoft give you 1 million function executions per month for free. If you are a developer there is not risk in trying it. Clever stuff and Analben was very passionate about it.

Azure Stack and the Hybrid Cloud: Modernise Applications Anywhere

Last up was Kenny Lowe talking about Azure Stack. I think there is NOTHING he does not know about Azure and Azure Stack and you can see why he is a Microsoft MVP. Azure stack is available for three main reasons:

  • Edge and disconnected environments (think oil rigs, ships, etc.)
  • Compliance reasons
  • Bringing the cloud application model on-premises

What stuck in my head from the presentation was with Azure stack we don’t need to, or even have access to, the underlying hardware. Like Azure it’s all about the applications. That is the way IT is going. People don’t care about the hardware, it’s about applications and their delivery. I am sure if anyone is remotely interested in Azure Stack reach out to Kenny.

Conclusion

This was a really useful event for me. It gave me some great pointers on getting started in Azure and it’s always enjoyable to hear people who are passionate about technology speak. Thanks to Sarah for organising, the sponsors (Redgate, elmah.io, Servent) and Microsoft for lunch. Hopefully it will be back in 2019.

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