Cloud Computing

Explore & Discover

Before the cloud existed, every website ran on a computer sitting in someone's office. Now it runs on massive buildings full of servers — Utah actually has huge data centers in Bluffdale and Eagle Mountain because of cheap land and cold air. Start by watching "What is Cloud Computing?" on AWS's YouTube channel (search "AWS cloud explained animated"). Then visit aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-computing and read the overview page. Look up where Google's nearest data center to Utah is and how data travels from there to your screen. Cloud computing is how Netflix, Google Docs, and your school's website all stay online 24/7. You're ready for the next step when you can explain the difference between storing a file on your hard drive versus storing it in the cloud.

Learn the Basics

The three biggest clouds are AWS (Amazon), Azure (Microsoft), and GCP (Google). Each has a free tier — meaning you can use real cloud tools without paying. Visit each provider's free tier page: aws.amazon.com/free, azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free, and cloud.google.com/free. Read what each one offers for free. Then go to cloud.google.com/learn and take the "Cloud Computing Fundamentals" skill badge pathway — it's free and self-paced. Notice the vocabulary: instances, buckets, containers, regions. Write each new term in your notebook with your own plain-English definition. Cloud providers run "regions" — geographic clusters of data centers. The closest AWS region to Utah is us-west-2 in Oregon. You're ready for the next step when you can define five cloud terms in your own words.

Build Your First Project

Create a free AWS account at aws.amazon.com (requires a credit card for verification but the free tier won't charge you — ask a parent to help). Launch your first EC2 instance: choose the free-tier Amazon Linux option, t2.micro size, and start it. This is a real computer running in a data center, and you just turned it on. Connect to it using the browser-based terminal (EC2 Instance Connect — no extra software needed). Type "ls" to list files, "pwd" to see where you are, "whoami" to see your username. You're controlling a real server. When you're done experimenting, stop the instance to avoid any charges. AWS's own tutorial at docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EC2_GetStarted.html walks you through each step. You're ready for the next step when you can start, connect to, and stop an EC2 instance on your own.

Experiment & Iterate

Now store something in the cloud. In AWS, find the S3 service (Simple Storage Service). Create a free bucket — give it a unique name like "yourname-wasatch-test". Upload a text file you wrote, a photo, or a small HTML file. Make the file public and copy its URL. Open that URL in your browser — you just served a file to the internet from a real cloud storage bucket. This is exactly how websites host images and files. Then try Google Cloud Storage at console.cloud.google.com — create a bucket there too and compare the experience. Kaggle.com has free cloud notebooks (kaggle.com/notebooks) that run in Google Cloud — try opening one and running a cell. You're ready for the next step when you have a file publicly accessible via URL from both AWS S3 and Google Cloud Storage.

Advanced Techniques

Cloud services aren't just storage and compute — they include databases, AI tools, and serverless functions. Explore AWS Lambda: a "serverless" function that runs code without you managing any server. In the AWS Console, find Lambda, create a new function using the Python runtime, and use the default hello-world template. Click Test and see the response. Then modify it: make your function return a JSON object with your name and favorite game. Serverless functions power things like form submissions, notifications, and API calls in real apps. Read "What is Serverless?" at cloudflare.com/learning/serverless/what-is-serverless for a solid explainer. You're ready for the next step when you can trigger a custom Lambda function and explain what "serverless" means to someone who's never heard the word.

Final Project Showcase

Deploy a real website to the cloud using AWS Amplify or Google Firebase Hosting — both have generous free tiers. Build a simple personal portfolio page in HTML: your name, three things you know how to do, and links to any projects you've built in other quests. Follow AWS Amplify's quickstart at docs.aws.amazon.com/amplify/latest/userguide/getting-started.html or Firebase's guide at firebase.google.com/docs/hosting. After deploying, your site will have a real public URL you can share. Send the URL to someone outside your house and confirm they can load it. Then write a one-page comparison: which cloud provider was easier for this task and why? Post your comparison to a coding community or school project. You're ready for the next step when your portfolio site is live at a real URL and loads correctly for someone outside your network.