Understanding Cloud Computing – Demystifying the Cloud
The alarm clock goes off… and Alex prepares for a new day. A special, different day, as he is starting his first job as a cloud engineer at TRENDYCORP.
As he’s riding his bike to the main office, he feels a strong rush of memories from the last few years. Four courses at university learning about computer science, a short course on programming macros in Excel, some months looking for a first job, mixed with several crazy parties and holidays, and finally, this offer from TRENDYCORP. He honestly couldn’t figure out why he was hired. He has no experience with the cloud, but this company seemed really interested in it.
The usual first-day steps are taken: signing in at reception, security guards taking a picture for the ID badge, taking the picture again because he doesn’t like how it looks, getting a new laptop with all the software preinstalled, connecting to the intranet, and waiting for the initial meeting.
Finally, Alex is pushed into a small room, where some other people are already gathered around a big table. Yes, these tables always seem bigger than the room. While Alex finds the only empty seat, a serious-looking woman stands up and begins to talk:
Figure 1.1 – The meeting room (Source: Photo by Amanda Mills, USCDCP, at https://pixnio.com/people/seven-people-at-meeting-on-office#, used under Free to use CC0 license.)
Eva: Welcome to TRENDYCORP. My name is Eva and I’m the HR manager who hired most of you. Alex, please sit down immediately. TRENDYCORP, as you all should know by now, wants to continue to be the leader in the Filiburths market – and for that, we have to modernize most of our old-fashioned processes, change most of our technology, and move to the cloud. That is the key – the cloud. To be honest, all I know about the cloud is... well, that’s where rain is produced, but as all our competitors have decided to go for it, we’ll do the same. And that’s why many of you were hired; we have to move to the cloud, and I want it yesterday!
She makes a sign to the young woman sitting beside her, who stands up.
Gloria: Welcome, all of you. I hope you’ll feel comfortable here. My name is Gloria, and I’m the manager of this IT team. First, I’d like to welcome Alex, Berta, and Raj, who are joining the team today. As it is their first day, I’ll ask everybody to introduce themselves – but first of all, some technical context for all of you. As Eva said, we have to migrate all our servers to the cloud. I’ve recently taken some training from our cloud provider, something called Cloud Essentials, and I think I have an initial idea of how we should proceed – but of course, I’ll need all your collective experience to help us move our projects to the cloud. That said, let’s go with your introductions.
Alex: I’m Alex. It’s my first day here. I’ve just finished my IT studies at university. Lots of theoretical things, but I have no real working experience. As for this cloud thing, I imagine it’s that place where you store your personal photos.
Berta: Hello, this is Berta. Like Alex, it’s also my first day. I’ve worked in several companies, some of them our competitors, as a developer and database administrator, for more than 7 years. I can query you using different SQL dialects, in multiple languages. I have also done some basic training on the cloud and read some documents, but I hope I can learn more and be useful to the team.
Raj: I’m Raj. Like Alex and Berta, it’s my first day here. I know a bit about networking, protocols… in general, communicating between multiple networks no matter where they are. As for the cloud, I’ve got a collection of scripts to download files; I hope they can be useful.
Charles: I’m Charles. I’ve been in TRENDYCORP for many years, maybe more than 10, and am in charge of network security. Other employees call me Change-No-Rules Charly. I’ll, of course, help you with every technical aspect you might encounter, but it has to be related to cables, routers, and firewalls. I’ll probably ask you lots of questions about that cloud thing. I imagine you studied it at university, didn’t you?
David: My name is David. I don’t work directly for TRENDYCORP; I’m your technical contact for my company BrandXCloud. We are specialized in cloud migrations. We have a team of cloud experts working for you, so if you need any technical help, please describe your issue accurately, send it to me, and I’ll forward it to the right person.
Harold: I’m Harold. I’ve been in this company for more than 20 years, in all of the important projects. If you need help, tell me, but only if I’m not busy with some tasks. I like discussing solutions, not problems. Over.
After the introduction, Gloria presents a list of applications they run at TRENDYCORP, and it mostly devolves into a conversation between David and her. Everyone slowly fades away, and soon the meeting ends.