The cohort#
Cohort 3 ran for eight weeks across cloud fundamentals, Linux, networking, Docker, basic Kubernetes, and a capstone project. 18 students, mostly career changers and recent graduates.
What we changed from cohort 2#
We dropped two weeks of theory and replaced them with a longer project phase. Students build more, read less. The completion rate went from 72% to 89% — which suggests the project-first format keeps people engaged when abstract content would have lost them.
We also introduced weekly "production problems" — real debugging scenarios I've encountered or read about, stripped of context, handed to students to diagnose. Those sessions produced the most discussion of anything we ran.
Outcomes#
- 16 of 18 completed the full programme
- 4 students landed junior cloud/backend roles within 6 weeks of graduation
- 2 students are building their own projects using the capstone stack
- 3 are continuing into the advanced cohort
What it means#
Teaching is the fastest way I know to identify gaps in my own understanding. Running three cohorts has pushed my ability to explain cloud concepts without jargon considerably further than any certification has.
Impact
4 junior engineers who weren't in the industry six months ago now are. That compounds.