Free vs Bootcamp vs Online Courses | How To Learn Cloud Tech Skills

If you want to learn cloud tech skills there are three main ways you can approach this.

You can learn through free resources, paid online courses, or paid bootcamps.

It’s important to understand these learning methods because choosing the wrong one could cost you a lot of time and money and ultimately prevent you from getting your first cloud job.

But choosing the right method could significantly accelerate your journey into the cloud.

To help you make the best decision, I’m not only going to analyse the pros and cons of each of these options, I’m also going to give each option a rating out of 10 with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest score

These ratings would be based on three important factors:

1. Price: How cheap or expensive the option is
2. Efficiency: how quickly it can get you to your goal
3. Flexibility: How easy it is to fit around your other responsibilities and commitments

At the end, I’ll tally up all the scores and give some insight on how to choose between these three options.

Before we dive in I have a quick disclaimer, all of these methods we’re going to talk about can help you get a cloud job.

My aim is simply to help you think through the benefits and downsides of each of these options so you can make the best decision that’s right for you.

At cloud career mentor we have years of experience in the cloud industry and have helped dozens of beginners get jobs in the cloud industry and so these opinions are based on deep experience in the cloud space.

Alright, Let’s dive into it.

The first learning method we’re going to explore is Free Resources.

Learning through free resources like YouTube videos and blog articles is one of the most common ways people learn cloud technologies. 

Here are some benefits of free resources.

The main benefit of this approach is that… Well, it’s free! This means that there are no barriers to getting started as long as you have a decent internet connection.

This is important because at the start of your cloud journey you might not be sure if it’s the right career path for you and now you can learn the basics with minimal costs and begin making progress

Now let’s talk about downsides….

I can already hear you wondering what could possibly be the downside of free content

I’ll break it down for you.

The first downside is that a lot of free content is unstructured.

There’s a lot of information spread out across multiple YouTube channels and blogs and it can be challenging to find the right materials for you.

This means that it becomes difficult for you to focus on any one topic.

One day you’re doing an AWS project, the next day you’re trying to learn Python, the day after that you are dabbling with Kubernetes.

This means that you never actually go deep on any topic and so you find yourself putting in a lot of effort but never feel like you’re actually learning anything.

I speak to a lot of cloud beginners and the main problem they face is not having a structured learning plan and this lack of structure increases their chances of feeling overwhelmed and burnt out.

Another downside of the free content is that it’s very difficult to judge the quality of the advice that’s being given out. 

No joke, I’ve seen people give tips on social media on how to break into the cloud industry, when they themselves have never gotten a job in the cloud industry.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Now that I’ve highlighted some of the pros and cons of free resources, let's give it some ratings.

Our first rating is on price, this rating is all about how affordable this learning method is.

When it comes to price, free resources get 10 out of 10.

By definition, free resources don’t cost anything and so it rates highly on price.

Now let’s move on to Efficiency

Efficiency is how quickly it takes you to achieve your goal, in this case, the goal is getting your first cloud job.

I’d actually rate efficiency as a 2 out of 10.

• The reason for this is that the sheer time it would take for you to find the right resources to learn is significant. You will have to sift through all the bad quality tutorials and videos before stumbling on good learning materials.
• The second reason for this low rating is that most free resources don’t come with a structured learning plan and guidance on how to achieve your goals. Without this, it could take you years to learn the right skills which reduces efficiency points as you can get a cloud job within months if you follow the right structure

The final rating we are going to give free resources is centered around flexibility, which is how easy it is for this method to fit around your responsibilities and lifestyle. I have to give free resources 10 out of 10!

You can access free resources whenever you need them and this is very valuable as most of us lead busy lives and so have to fit our learning around other responsibilities.

The next learning method we are going to analyse are paid online courses.

These are courses you can get from platforms like Udemy and Pluralsight that provide more curated learning materials.

Here are some benefits of paid online courses:

One benefit is that they usually provide more structured learning than free resources. 

There’s no need to jump between ten YouTube videos and five blog posts just to learn one topic, everything you need is in one place.

Good courses typically provide practice scenarios and assignments to help you practise your skills, this increases your hands on experience and technical abilities.

Courses are also typically taught by expert instructors and this provides some confidence in the materials you’re learning, as opposed to free resources where it can be difficult to validate the expertise of the creator of that resource.

Now let’s address some downsides.

A downside of most online courses is that they usually focus on one topic, for example a course on how to get a certification, or a course on how to learn Terraform.

This is a problem because your goal is to get your first cloud job, and to make that happen you need to learn a range of technologies like Linux, AWS, Terraform, Bash, CICD and much more.

This could lead to a fragmentation where you have to use multiple platforms to learn the different technologies, which isn’t ideal. Especially if these platforms have a subscription model which means that you need to get multiple subscriptions and this could cause your expenses to balloon up.

Another downside of most online platforms is that there is a lack of student coaching or accountability.

Most times after you buy the course, you’re kind of left to your own devices to complete it. Now if you are the kind of person who is motivated and self driven then this might not be a problem.

But what I’ve realised from mentoring dozens of cloud beginners is that most people need someone to help coach them, encourage them, and hold them accountable to achieve their goals.

This mentorship and coaching is essential for cloud beginners to be successful yet most course providers don’t offer this. The result is that a lot of cloud beginners buy courses but never complete them because they don’t have that additional support and mentoring.

Now let’s give these online courses some ratings!

When it comes to price I’m going to rate online courses a five out of 10.

Online courses are generally more expensive than free resources but less expensive than bootcamps which is why they are getting a nice average score.

There are multiple courses for different price brackets ranging from $20 courses to $5000 courses and so you can always find a course that is right for your price range.

For efficiency I’ll rate online courses a solid 7/10.

This is because buying an online course can really accelerate your learning. Let’s say you want to learn terraform for example, you could buy a course that teaches you everything you need to know and you can get through it in a couple of weeks and become really good.

Compared to free resources where you can spend months going through different tutorials and still not feel confident using terraform.

The reason this score isn't higher is because we can’t lose track of our goal. 

Our goal is to get a cloud job, and most courses will only teach you a part of that puzzle and there are very few courses that teach you all the technical and non technical skills you need to get that cloud job.

The reality is that to learn all the right skills you need to juggle multiple platforms and subscriptions which isn’t efficient. This is why it only scores a 7.

For flexibility I will give online courses a 10/10 as well, same as free resources.

This is because most of them are on-demand and self study which means that you can access them when it suits you. It provides flexibility for those who have commitments like full time jobs and families.

The final method you can use to break into the cloud industry is through bootcamps.

A bootcamp is an intensive 12 to 24 week training program that teaches students the skills they need to break into the cloud industry usually with live training and coaching.

Let’s talk about the benefits…

One of the benefits of attending a bootcamp is that they provide live training. You will usually get access to an instructor and regular classes that can help with accountability.

You will also most likely be in a cohort which means that you have other students that can help keep you accountable and motivated.

Now let’s discuss downsides.

The biggest downside with bootcamps is the cost as they can be very expensive. They can easily cost between $6,000 to $10,000, with some costing even more than that.

This cost can be quite prohibitive for many beginners and I’ve heard horror stories of people taking on a lot of debt to afford these bootcamps.

This cost could set you back financially and put you under a lot of financial strain.

I want to emphasise that just because it is expensive doesn’t mean it’s bad or that it’s not worth it. I just want to make you aware of the situation so you can make an informed decision.

Apart from the financial cost there is also a lack of flexibility. A lot of cloud bootcamps are designed to be intensive and immersive, which means they require significant time commitment.

This can be a problem because most people have full time jobs, kids, or other family responsibilities and so their time is already allocated.

Some bootcamps require you to be at the class from 9am to 5pm every day. Or they might have classes on the weekend.

Now this might not be a problem, but if you have a full time job or a family or other responsibilities then this time commitment might be an issue because you might have to quit your job or reduce your hours to be able to attend this bootcamp which means your earnings could be further reduced especially after you’ve already paid hefty bootcamp fees.

The final downside I want to address is the difficulty in assessing the quality of a bootcamp. While I know of a few bootcamps who teach their students the skills they need to be successful. 

I’ve also heard stories of unscrupulous bootcamps who promise their students the world. They promise that after the bootcamp the students will easily get 6 figure jobs as solution architects. They build up the hopes and dreams of their students, but then fail to teach their students the skills that employers are looking for.

They don’t give their students hands-on projects with technologies like Linux, CICD or Terraform.

This leaves a lot of students with high expectations, low skills and zero chance of getting a job.

It’s a real shame.

The final thing I want to caution you about bootcamps, is to be wary of those that promise a refund if you don’t get a job.

You might see this promise and think you’re safe because if you get a job after the bootcamp then that’s great! And if you don’t get a job then that’s no problem because you can easily get your money back.

I’d encourage you to read the fine print of these money back guarantees because when it comes time to ask for your money back you might find that you will be asked to jump through some serious hoops and you might find it more difficult than you imagined to actually get that refund, if you get it at all.

Again I want to emphasise that there are some great bootcamps out there, and there have been a lot of people who have gotten cloud jobs after attending bootcamps. 

Bootcamps aren’t inherently bad, but because of the high price I feel it’s important that you understand what you’re getting yourself into and make sure you are confident that the bootcamp can deliver for you before you sign up.

Alright, let's give bootcamps some ratings.

On price I’d rate bootcamps 3 out of 10 because they can be very pricey.

Now, I'm not saying these high prices aren’t worth it. 

I’m sure there are a lot of bootcamps that teach you the skills you need. 

But you also need to be aware that there are also a lot of bootcamps that teach you $50 worth of material but charge you $10,000.

I’ll leave that to you to decide if it’s worth it or not.

On efficiency I'd rate bootcamps 7 out of 10. 

If you choose the right boot camp it can be a really effective way to work on projects and pick up the skills that employers are looking for because you immerse yourself in cloud technologies.

The reason the score isn’t higher is because it can be difficult to pick the right bootcamp. I’ve spoken to a lot of cloud beginners who have been promised the world by some bootcamps only for them to be bitterly disappointed.

On flexibility, I’d rate bootcamps 3 out of 10 because most of the classes happen at a specific time on specific days and while this is good for accountability, it can be difficult for a number of people who already have life responsibilities like full time work or family care duties.

Now that I’ve gone through all the learning methods, let's tally up the scores. 

For free resources I gave it a 10 on price, 2 on efficiency and 10 on flexibility, giving it a total of 22.

For paid online courses I gave it a 5 on price, 7 for efficiency, and a 10 on Flexibility giving it a total of 22.

For bootcamps I gave a 3 on price, an 7 for efficiency and a 3 on Flexibility. Giving it a total score of 13.

Now that we’ve gone through all these options and ratings you might be wondering how to apply this new knowledge, how to use this information to guide your next steps.

Here is what I recommend for cloud beginners looking to get their first cloud job:

I recommend everyone starts with free resources, there are a lot of really good YouTube tutorials and videos to get you started with the basics.

We have made multiple free videos on the cloud career mentor channel where you can get tips and strategies on how to break into the cloud industry, I have also interviewed dozens of cloud professionals which will help inspire you to achieve your goals.

Once you are ready to take your skills to the next level then you have two options.

If you’re made of money and have a lot of disposable income and feel sure that you can tell the difference between a good bootcamp and a bad one then I think bootcamps can be a good way to learn cloud skills.

But for most of you, spending $10,000 and potentially getting into debt might not be the best move.

This is why we created The Cloud Career Acceleration program which adopts the best features of online courses and bootcamps to create a truly unique learning experience.

We have fused the flexibility and quality that online courses provide, with the efficiency and accountability of Bootcamps to create a new learning style called On-Demand Mentorship.

This means that as soon as you sign up to the program you get access to high quality cloud projects that you can work on at your own pace.

With On-Demand Mentorship, you also get access to a private community where you can ask questions, day or night and either a mentor or one of the other students will respond so you get help exactly when you need it.

To make this program even more valuable, you will also get a personalised monthly one-to-one coaching sessions with a Mentor.

That's right, no group coaching here, but personal one-to-one mentorship.

This means that once you sign up you will meet up with a mentor regularly to discuss your goals and progress to make sure you have someone in your corner cheering you on and encouraging you to achieve your goals.

With this on-demand mentorship model, you can get all the benefits of a bootcamp, for only a fraction of the cost.

If all of that sounds good, then check us out at cloudcareermentor.com

I believe you have what it takes to make it in the cloud industry, all you have to do is follow the proven process and I’m sure you’ll be successful.

Make sure you take advantage of this program to accelerate your cloud learning.