From Day One to Now: A Look Back at Our Bootcamp Achievements

As the AWS Cloud Club captain at the University of Ilorin since 2023, I was thrilled to kick off the Introduction to Cloud Computing Bootcamp on April 20, 2024.

The boot camp - a hybrid model- aims to give students the chance to kickstart their cloud computing journey with valuable knowledge and hands-on labs from experts in the field. Below is a quick rundown of what we have achieved so far:

20th April 2024: I kicked off the boot camp with an info session after a thorough screening process to choose the most serious candidate ready to learn.

We received approximately 120 student applications during the initial phase, but we understand that not all applicants will show commitment; last year's statistics were eye-opening. Last year, we accepted 70 students for the virtual boot camp, with only 15 completing the course. Because of this, I decided to make it a hybrid this year. This year, following a screening session—a presentation task based on Stephen's introductory cloud talk— 50 students who presented their papers were accepted into the program.

27th April 2024: Yusuf Adeyemo, an AWS community builder, walked the participants through the introduction to cloud computing and the AWS Cloud, which is the content in modules 1-3 of the course we are utilizing for the boot camp—a course in the University's AWS Academy suite. The session was held at LR5, Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, where all physical sessions will be held.

The session was amazing. Participants saw the lecturer work on Amazon EC2 and various quick demos, including Amazon S3. We were also thrilled with the presence of the faculty sub-dean, Dr. Amos Bajeh, who gave the participants great confidence in the program.

4TH May 2024: I held a follow-up session virtually. This was to check if the participants thoroughly understood the basic concept of cloud computing before we moved on to the core concepts of the boot camp. It was also an opportunity to interact with and get to know them.

11th May 2024: Abdulbasit Olanrewaju, an AWS community builder, introduced the participants to everything they needed to know about Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, DNS, and Content Distribution. The session ended with a lab on how to deploy a static website on Amazon S3, which allowed the participants to harness the full power of Amazon S3.

18TH May 2024: This was a fantastic day as we held the first workshop of this program. Stephen Howell, an Academic Developer Advocate for the UK and Ireland at AWS, led the Amazon EC2/Linux Camp. The participants got their hands on Amazon EC2 and many Linux commands and how to use it; I was so happy.

Explore the boot camp moments here.

We had a break last weekend because the University starts its CA this week. The break gave the participants breathing space to prepare for the test. The boot camp continues this Saturday, June 1st, 2024, at LR5, Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin. We will look into Amazon EBS, Amazon EBS Use Cases, and an Overview of IAM, Cybersecurity, and Society.

Even though you are not registered for the boot camp and will not have access to its various benefits, you can still come around to gain valuable knowledge. The AWS Cloud Club at the University will continue to bring more students to the cloud through its activities.

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Let's soar high into the cloud 🚀🥳