Greetings. Welcome to Cloud Academy's course on Microsoft Cosmos DB. I'm delighted to have you join me on what is bound to be an educational and delightful adventure into the world of database technology. First, I'll let you know a little bit about myself before I get into the course outline. My name is Jonathan. I'm one of the course developers with Cloud Academy. I work professionally as a technical consultant specializing in DevOps, data engineering, and security. Long ago in another life, I was a public school teacher, so I love educating people and I'm thrilled to be doing it again, only now, with technology. 

This course is designed to be very practical. It's meant for technology professionals, DevOps engineers, data architects, CTOs, etc, with the goal of helping them get a solid understanding of Cosmos DB in a short time. So, what exactly are the prerequisites then for a course like that? Well, we're going to be doing a pretty deep dive on the Cosmos DB architecture and its varying data models. For that reason, we recommend that people have some basic knowledge of database technologies. You should also have at least a passing familiarity with Microsoft Azure and cloud hosting generally. So, when I talk about how an Azure service can talk to Cosmos DB, I'm going to assume that the students know what that means at a high level. In short, if you have any technical experience working with cloud providers and databases, you'll probably be fine. If this is your first time learning about databases, then maybe you'll struggle a bit.

So, what are the exact learning objectives for a course like this? Well, I've narrowed it down to three big ones that will guide each section. Objective one, is to ensure that the student gains a basic understanding of the Cosmos DB technology, including its feature set and design philosophy and a little bit of history too. Objective two, is to teach students how to use Cosmos DB, via its APIs, Microsoft CLI tools, and the Azure web console. Finally, objective three, is to give students a practical understanding of how to integrate Cosmos DB with other Azure services with the goal of creating a working app. So in short, what is Cosmos DB, how do we use it, and then concrete example. So, lastly, I would like to encourage everyone to leave feedback. Email support@cloudacademy.com if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns. We always appreciate people taking the time to provide feedback. So now without further ado, let's get started.