Item: A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy)
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our business had strategic goals which needed us to upskill a lot of employees on emerging technologies and we wanted to do so in an engaging and efficient manner. I was particularly interested in providers with courses which aligned to certifications so that we could give the team qualifications valuable to their careers whilst having a way to give other departments and customers confidence of our capabilities.

Pros and Cons

Hands-on labs and cloud playgrounds to learn by trying.
Really engaging courses with knowledgeable presenters.
East to track progress of the team and see who may need more encouragement.

Some courses can reference acquired company resources that I'm not immediately able to find.
Learning paths were originally limited to very specific areas which didn't suit my business case.
Licenses are fairly expensive compared to some alternatives.

Return on Investment

Engagement scores around investment in L&D have increased.
There's excitement around upcoming changes to our technology instead of fear we have seen in the past.
We feel confident we will be able to deliver these new technologies - although we are at the start of our journey.

Alternatives Considered

Udemy for Business

Course choice is much smaller than Udemy but the quality feels a lot higher. There's accountability for them being accurate and you can see them being regularly updated. The labs and playgrounds are really useful for getting to grips with technical concepts.

I think the licenses for ACG are more expensive than Udemy was. There's also no material around general professional competencies e.g. time management, meeting planning that you get on a generalist platform.

Key Insights

Do you think A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy)'s feature set?

Yes

Did A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), MongoDB

Likelihood to Recommend

I think it's really well suited for training up a team from beginner level to competence with new technologies. It looks to align well to certifications which can provide confidence in the skill level of the team.

I'm not sure how it will play out long-term once we have people who come in with a high skill level in an area as it can be difficult to figure out how to plug gaps in general knowledge with the platform.

It doesn't work as well for those learners who prefer to just read the man pages and get hands on with a home lab (apart from the cloud playgrounds, but the platform is expensive if that's all a learner will use).

Great resources for upskilling teams with cloud tech

Overall Satisfaction with A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy)