O’Reilly Announces Launch of Cloud Labs to Meet Increased Demand for Cloud Computing Skills

New feature included with membership to the O’Reilly learning platform helps practitioners gain necessary cloud experience by providing access to live cloud resources with expert-guided instruction

O’Reilly, the premier source for insight-driven learning on technology and business, announced the launch of cloud labs, providing users with temporary access to a live cloud account alongside expert-guided instruction through its learning platform. Built to make cloud learning more embedded and effective in practitioners’ day-to-day jobs, cloud labs allow users to move seamlessly from learning new cloud skills to applying them on the job. O’Reilly’s initial cloud labs support Microsoft Azure, offering instruction for those who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure. Cloud labs build upon the interactive learning environments that O’Reilly first introduced to its platform in 2019, which have now grown to include nearly 1,000 interactive labs and sandboxes to build hands-on skills in everything from Python to machine learning.

With cloud computing on the rise, organizations around the world are seeking to hire cloud experts at an unprecedented rate. According to 2021 job data from Indeed, the share of cloud computing jobs per million increased by 42% from 2018 to 2021. To help meet this growing need, software developers and engineers are expected to have some level of cloud expertise.

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Authored by leading subject matter experts in cloud environments, each O’Reilly cloud lab is designed to be short, digestible, and practical. Cloud labs provide temporary credentials to a live cloud account and guide learners through real-world use cases with step-by-step instruction. Learners can follow along using either the cloud console UI or an integrated terminal (CLI), giving them the flexibility to practice applying the skills they’ll need on the job in the way they prefer to work—and do so in a safe environment that won’t endanger existing systems and doesn’t require additional setup.

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“Nearly every enterprise today relies on cloud technology. As a result, the demand for cloud talent has shot up,” said Laura Baldwin, president at O’Reilly. “However, cloud environments have notoriously steep learning curves, which makes obtaining that necessary experience no easy task. By pairing top-quality instruction with access to live cloud resources, our users gain hands-on experience with the most used cloud environments. Because they have the freedom to make mistakes without consequences, practitioners learn how to solve tangible business problems. And that adds enormous value for their organizations.”

The initial launch of cloud labs will target introductory-level job roles and high-yield certifications for those working with Microsoft Azure. Future content releases and enhancements will expand cloud labs into more intermediate and advanced areas for learners who need to add additional cloud expertise to their skill set, with cloud labs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud to follow.

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