Cloud
Master cloud infrastructure — from virtual machines and containers to Kubernetes and multi-region architecture.
Cloud Computing Basics — IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
What cloud computing actually is and why it won. The service model spectrum from on-prem to SaaS, shared responsibility, and how the three major providers compare.
Regions and Availability Zones
The physical geography underneath cloud computing. How regions and availability zones give you fault isolation, and how to choose where your infrastructure lives.
Virtual Machines — EC2 vs Compute Engine vs Azure VMs
The original cloud primitive. How virtual machines work, instance types, pricing models, and when VMs still beat containers and serverless.
Object Storage — S3 vs GCS vs Azure Blob
Deep dive into cloud object storage. Storage classes, security pitfalls, the egress cost trap, and how S3, GCS, and Azure Blob compare.
Managed Databases — RDS vs Cloud SQL vs Azure SQL
Why you almost certainly shouldn't run your own database on a VM. What managed databases buy you, what they cost you, and how the major providers compare.
IAM — AWS IAM vs GCP IAM vs Azure AD/Entra
The most important and most misconfigured cloud service. How identity and access management works across AWS, GCP, and Azure — and the mistakes that lead to breaches.
Billing and Cost Management
Cloud bills are a design outcome, not an accounting problem. How cloud pricing works, why costs spiral, and practical strategies to control spend across AWS, GCP, and Azure.
Containers and Docker Deep Dive
Containers are not lightweight VMs. How they actually work under the hood — namespaces, cgroups, layered images, multi-stage builds, and the security practices that matter.
Container Registries — ECR vs Artifact Registry vs ACR
Where container images live between build and run. Registry internals, lifecycle policies, vulnerability scanning, and supply chain security with signing, SBOMs, and attestations.
Running Containers — ECS vs Cloud Run vs Container Apps
You have a container image — now what runs it? The spectrum from serverless containers to managed orchestration, cold starts, scaling models, and when to graduate to Kubernetes.
Kubernetes — EKS vs GKE vs AKS
The container orchestrator that won, and the complexity tax it charges. Control planes, workload objects, scheduling, autoscaling, and how EKS, GKE, and AKS compare.
Serverless Functions — Lambda vs Cloud Functions vs Azure Functions
Code without servers — the highest abstraction that still runs your logic. Cold starts, concurrency traps, event sources, cost crossover points, and anti-patterns to avoid.
Cloud Networking — VPCs across AWS, GCP and Azure
Your private slice of the provider's network. How VPCs give you isolation, how subnets and routing work, and how security groups and NACLs control traffic — across all three major providers.
Load Balancers — ALB vs Cloud Load Balancing vs Azure LB
The system design load balancer lesson, made concrete per provider. L4 vs L7, health checks, connection draining, and why each provider's model is different.
Cloud CDN — CloudFront vs Cloud CDN vs Azure CDN/Front Door
The CDN deep dive per provider. Cache policies, hit rate optimization, edge compute, and why forwarding unnecessary headers is the fastest way to destroy your cache performance.
Message Queues — SQS/SNS vs Pub/Sub vs Service Bus
The message queues system design lesson, made concrete. Visibility timeouts, dead-letter queues, fan-out patterns, and why idempotent consumers are non-negotiable in every provider.
Multi-Region Architecture
The most expensive architectural decision in cloud, and usually premature. When multi-region actually makes sense, the DR spectrum from backup/restore to active-active, and why the database is the whole problem.
Cloud Security Best Practices
A synthesis of cloud security across all three providers. Identity as the new perimeter, network hardening, data protection, detection, and the breach patterns that keep repeating.
Infrastructure as Code — Terraform across all three providers
Infrastructure defined in version-controlled code. How Terraform works across AWS, GCP, and Azure, why state is the hard part, and how to stop people clicking in the console.
CI/CD Pipelines — CodePipeline vs Cloud Build vs Azure DevOps
Code to production, automatically and safely. Pipeline stages, deployment strategies, rollback patterns, and why your database migrations make everything harder.
Cloud Cost Optimization
The advanced counterpart to billing fundamentals. The FinOps loop, the optimization hierarchy from elimination to architecture, and the egress costs that silently eat your budget.
Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud Architecture
The topic with the widest gap between marketing and reality. When hybrid and multi-cloud actually make sense, connectivity options, the lock-in spectrum, and why Kubernetes is only partially a portability layer.
Cloud Compliance and Governance
Making security legible to auditors and executives. Compliance frameworks, governance mechanics, policy as code, and why point-in-time audits are theatre.