Introduction

Hello Everyone! I recently completed my Hybrid Cloud Engineer Nanodegree. I wanted to share my experience about this nanodegree as it was started recently and would help people like me who are beginning to learn more about Cloud.

I am not new to Udacity and its interface, I have previously completed a Front- End Web Developer Nanodegree from Udacity and this is my 2nd Nanodegree with Udacity. I would like everyone to know that I have completed both my Nanodegrees as part of scholarship programs and you can also try and get one using this link - Scholarship.

Previous Experience with Udacity

My experience with Udacity has always been great. They, as an organization, are helping a lot of developers like me to learn new tech skills and move ahead or start a new career in technical fields. I came to know about Udacity towards the end of 2017 and that was the time I applied for my first nanodegree of Front-End Web Developer.

I came to know about a scholarship which was being offered by Google in collaboration with Udacity and I thought why not apply, I might get selected and it would be a great opportunity to learn.

I had a fair idea that a lot of learners like myself would be there but once I joined the slack community, the experience was overwhelming. There were more than thousands of new learners with me and a majority of them were beginners. It gave me a morale boost to get started as I was a little behind because of my experience.

All the scholarships work similarly as per my understanding. First, we submit our application through the link I have mentioned earlier and then we wait for the D-day for announcements. You will receive an email from the Scholarship Team in case you are selected or rejected. No need to worry, they open a handful of scholarships round the year so it won't be an issue. I applied many times and got rejected as there were many applications submitted and there are limited seats available.

On the other hand, if you are selected then you will be receiving an email about how to get started with the course and links for the classroom and slack invite too. In the earlier days, we had slack and later the Udacity chat was the only mode for communication for students within Udacity.

In the beginning, a part of the nanodegree was open to us for learning and projects and we had to complete all the lectures or videos to get started and complete the projects. Projects are the real deal here as they test all of your skills and it is not like you are alone. If you get stuck at any part, there are always people you can ask your doubts about in the community and they would love to help you out, so no worries there.

I completed all three of my projects and lectures and passed with flying colors as I was very motivated to get to the next part. The 3 projects were Phase – 1. Phase - 2 was locked for people who would show real growth and will get the full nanodegree access. Great Tip - To make sure that you get to the next phase, make sure that you complete all your projects before time and try and answer as many doubts of others as possible as it will help mentors to see that you are working towards helping others and yourself. Worked for me at least.

I wasn't expecting to get selected for the second round because of the number of applicants there but still, I got to Phase 2. Phase 2 is not easy, you need to be consistent with the project and attend the lectures regularly for your betterment as it helps you to be motivated throughout the course and saves you from last-minute troubles.

I am a part of the other category who are late in everything, I was late as at the same time I was going for my college placements and could hardly cover the video lectures. So, once I got free, I had to work over the weekends to complete the nanodegree but I finally did it and I was on cloud nine. I still remember, it was my last project and I was up for almost 40 hours as the last day was approaching and I was desperate to finish it. Those days are something I will remember for the rest of my life and the last-minute rush is fun.

Hybrid Cloud Engineer Nanodegree

For this nanodegree, I had to wait for a long time guys. Nanodegree was sponsored by Nutanix and was the first of its kind, so I applied and waited for the results. I remember that I applied on 21st April 2020 and the last date was the end of April. I got a confirmation of application submission and was asked to wait for a response till around 15th May 2020.

Application submissions were increased somehow with an extension of a month which I came to know once I contacted the support team. So, after waiting for a month, I got my acceptance email on the 23rd of June and I was happy as previously I had been rejected from two nanodegrees, I was interested in. Once I got the email, I got my badge and went on LinkedIn to share this news with my peers.

So, the course began and just like the previous nanodegree, I had my classroom open and a part of the nanodegree was open for me to learn. I was excited to get started and I did not have much information about cloud so I wanted to see how we are going to learn and what all is there to learn even if we are not selected for Phase 2.

We got our slack group invites for Phase 1, and once again there were many beginners like me and it was great to get started with a group of highly motivated learners. We had many webinars and I got to learn a lot about cloud from my peers and some were experienced too. After completing the video lectures came the part to start the project.

Project 1 was great as for the first time, we were seeing the Nutanix Platform from inside, and it's really good, that's all I can say. We had to create a Private Cloud Web Infrastructure Application where we were provided with a solution statement and using the Platform we had to design and implement the requirements and submit them.

Project 1 was tough but I completed it with ease and it was a great learning experience. Post completion, I was active in the Slack community and learning what all others were sharing and helping others out wherever possible. We even received an extension to complete the Foundation part as some people needed a little extra time and Udacity always helps.

On 13th October 2020, I received the acceptance for Phase 2 of Nanodegree and I was excited as this part is the real deal and we finally get to learn how to deploy applications using Hybrid Cloud. In my first phase, to be motivated all the time, I also ended up doing a #30daysofUdacity challenge where I started working daily on my lectures and learning something new about cloud every day and posting about it on LinkedIn. This initiative helped me to get a lot of reach on LinkedIn as well.

For Phase 2, we had access to Knowledge Portal and internal messaging platform to get connected with our peers. The knowledge portal was a lifesaver as my mentors were always very quick to answer my queries and it was great to get so much support.

Project 2 was different from the first one. In this project, we had to implement a 3 Tier Web Application on a Private Cloud, configure it and deploy it. The exercises were a major help as I had paid a lot of attention while trying those out. So, when I started my 2nd project, I was able to pass the review with flying colours as everything was to the point and precise.

While completing the nanodegree, the only issue was that I had some family issues to take care of which caused a tremendous delay and I finally got started with my 2nd project around 4th February 2021. It was an issue because we had a deadline of 14th February and I had two projects in hand to complete and I was not going to throw the travel. I like a challenge and it gives me the required motivation to compete.

What I did is that I completed the exercises as quickly as possible and started the project and also scanned the Knowledge portal for issues that might come my way as I was already late and could not afford a roadblock. It was around 7th February 2021 that I had finished my project and I had about a week to do the exercises and project.

The last week of nanodegree was hectic for me as I was late and had to complete everything so that my efforts of almost a year won't get wasted. I am also working full-time so I have a workday of 8-9 hours. So, I had to let go of some sleep and invest that time in completing the exercises. Only this time, exercises were longer and more in number and I was in deep trouble. Around Friday I got stuck on an exercise where I was not able to configure AWS cloud to work with Nutanix and my deployments were failing and I was very stressed so I sat down for 3 hours, cleared again, and started again.

On Saturday, I started with the project but hit a roadblock as the same thing I had completed in my exercise was not working now and I had no time. So I left it for some time and went out to meet my friends and get some air. Once I returned around dinner, I started again and this time in 2 and a half hours, I had finished the configuration and deployment and submitted my project. Only if this was so easy to complete, I got my review as some specifications were not meeting. Post-midnight, I started working again and resubmitted the project.

Waiting for my final approval, I got the review for my submission and it was still lacking some specs. I was agitated as I was constantly making mistakes but this time I remained calm and solved the issues and resubmitted. By this time, it was around 5 in the morning so I went to bed and slept. Next day, I got up and the first thing was to check my mail if there is a review email and it was there. I was scared to open it as I would have to work again if it lacked something. Irrespective of that I opened it and I finally met the specifications required and my final project was finished, at least that's what I thought.

There was a project for a LinkedIn review pending so I submitted my profile for review and waited for the result. One good thing was that for this project there is no specification so you will pass for sure. Once done by night, I sat down at night before dinner to complete my ID verification for getting the nanodegree and later that night posted my 2nd Nanodegree under the education section of my LinkedIn.

Conclusion

My learning from these experiences is priceless and the reason I choose to share it with you is because I know there is someone like me who wants to learn things but might not be able to afford these courses but that doesn't mean there is no other way. There are ways and you just need to find it. That is the reason I call myself a Software Developer as I try and solve all the problems which I face from a technical view and it helps to solve around 80% of my problems.

So my advice to all the beginners is that Udacity is a great platform and if you can do a course on this platform, do it. The experience is worth it!