Now that the fireworks have simmered down and you finished Season 3 of Stranger Things (or did you…?), it’s time to get back to your professional development goals!
Need some help staying motivated?
Just ask your Google Home, Alexa — or whichever other device you prefer — to set a “study-time” reminder. Then, when you’re comfortably scrolling through your streaming apps (or DVR for the last of the cable users) looking for a something to watch, you’ll hear that friendly study reminder. You may be annoyed at your “previously” motivated self, but just remember: If you spend 30-60 minutes five days a week, you’ll pass that exam, know how to configure AWS Elastic Beanstalk, or actually understand how to write “pythonic” code (yes, that is a real thing, but you probably knew that already).
And if you’re really motivated, you can use the Cloud Academy iOS app to cast to your Google Home or Chromecast, but more on that at the end.
What’s new?
Let’s get right down to business and talk about our new content. At any time, you can find all of our brand new releases by going to our Training Library and finding the section titled “New this month to our library.” Check it out below. You can also keep track of what new training is coming for the next 4-6 weeks with our Content Roadmap.


In July, we made huge advances in our Training Library, adding new Learning Paths, Courses, Exams, and Hands-on Labs to help you with your professional development. This time around, we are changing up the format of our monthly update! We’ve organized the training assets by category to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. If you like this new change, drop a comment and tell me which is your go-to training category.
This Month’s Updates
AWS
Course: Deployment Orchestration with AWS Elastic Beanstalk
AWS Elastic Beanstalk can help you deploy and scale your applications and services with ease and without you having to worry about provisioning components and implementing high availability features such as elastic load balancing and auto-scaling. All of this and more is managed and handled by Elastic Beanstalk, and this course is designed to take you through those features.
Course: Using Elastic Load Balancing & EC2 Auto Scaling to Support AWS Workloads
Elastic Load Balancing and EC2 Auto Scaling are widely used features within AWS to help you maintain reliability, availability, and reduce costs within your environment. This course will explain and show you how to implement both and how they can work together.
Hands-on Lab: Use AWS Lambda Custom Runtimes to Run Bash Commands
In this Lab, you will be guided into the creation of a Lambda Layer which will contain the runtime configuration and the creation of a function that executes Bash shell commands.
Lab Challenge: AWS Developer Tools
This Lab Challenge simulates troubleshooting and performing updates in a real-world scenario, where your AWS DevOps skills are put to the test. You’ll need to complete several tasks using an existing continuous deployment stack built on AWS Developer Tools to complete the Challenge.
Azure
Learning Path: AZ-500 Exam Preparation: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies
This Learning Path is designed to help you and your team prepare for the AZ-500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies exam. It will cover:
- Managing Azure identity and access
- Implementing Azure platform protection
- Managing Azure security operations
- Securing data and applications on Azure
Python
Learning Path: Pythonic Programming
This Learning Path is your one-stop guide to mastering Python. It contains detailed explanations of many advanced Python language features to ensure your code is clean, concise, readable, and maintainable. This Learning Path includes the below Python content.
Course: Pythonic Programming
This training course provides you with a deep dive into the various Python language features that you should be exploiting to write clean, concise, readable, and maintainable code – the Pythonic way!!
Course: Python Functions, Modules, and Packages
Deep dive into how to refactor and structure your code into smaller more manageable building blocks using functions, modules, and packages.
Course: Python Classes
Learn how to create object oriented-based Python scripts.
Course: Python Metaprogramming
Deep dive into how to use metaprogramming to dynamically alter the behavior of Python scripts at runtime, using techniques such as monkey patching.
Hands-on Lab: Coding with Python Collection Types
Assess and exploit the correct Python collection types: tuples, lists, sets and dictionaries.
Hands-on Lab: Coding with Python Strings
Understand how to work with and manipulate Python strings.
Hands-on Lab: Dynamic Programming with Python
Exploit various Python language features to produce code that is considered to be Pythonic – being clear, concise, readable, and maintainable.
Platform updates
Cloning exams
Let’s face it. Creating a custom exam is highly rewarding, but it can be time-consuming. That’s why we love our latest capability: cloning exams.
This new feature allows you to automate the legwork, take advantage of the many exams already crafted by our trainers, and focus on where you add value: customizing the exam for your use case. Check it out for yourself.
To start using the feature, simply go to your Cloud Academy Dashboard > click Content Engine > Create or Modify Existing Exam > Create > Clone Existing.
App Updates
Cast to Chromecast on iOS
As mentioned earlier, you now have the option to cast your Cloud Academy content from your iOS mobile device to your Chromecast-enabled TV or Google Home.
When you’re watching a course, just tap on the Chromecast icon.


Then select your device. You’ve now reached the next level of sensory-learning enablement. Enjoy.


Stay updated
As always, we use Cloud Academy Blog to keep you up-to-date on the latest technology and best practices. All of our new blogs, reports, and updates go directly to our Cloud Academy social media accounts. For the latest updates, follow and like us on the following social media platforms:

