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AI Academy Platforms 2025

Learning for select Platform Engineering concepts, practices, and hands-on implementation using modern cloud-native technologies.

This repository contains a structured learning path to take you from containerization basics to building platform engineering solutions on Azure.

It focusses on Docker, Terraform and Azure, using GitHub Actions.

Content built using Marp to generate PDF slides from .md files.

Structure

Introduction - Platform Engineering Fundamentals

• What is Platform Engineering and why it matters
• Core principles: Developer Self-Service, Golden Paths, DevEx
• High-Level Design (HLD), Low-Level Design (LLD), and Requirements
• Understanding cloud computing and major vendors

Part 1: Containerization - Building Blocks

• Concepts: Docker fundamentals, containers vs VMs, registries
• Tasks:
  • Build Docker images for applications
  • Optimize image size and security
  • Push to Azure Container Registry
  • Implement proper image versioning strategies

Part 2: Infrastructure as Code - Automated Infrastructure

• Concepts: Terraform basics, state management, modules
• Tasks:
  • Create first Terraform deployment
  • Implement remote state and modules
  • Learn deployment options (ACI, App Service, Container Apps, AKS)

Part 3: CI/CD Automation - Continuous Delivery

• Concepts: CI/CD principles, GitHub Actions, pipeline security
• Tasks:
  • Build first CI pipeline with automated testing
  • Create CD pipeline with conditional deployments
  • Integrate container registry and infrastructure automation

Part 4: Observability - Monitoring & Operations

• Concepts: Three pillars of observability (metrics, logs, traces)
• Monitoring strategies, alerting, and health checks
• Structured logging and correlation

Part 5: Azure Platform - Cloud-Native Architecture

• Concepts: Azure networking, security (IAM, NSGs), PaaS vs IaaS
• Tasks:
  • Deploy Container Apps with Terraform
  • Configure virtual networks and subnets
  • Connect isolated VNets with peering
  • Stretch goals for advanced implementations

Stretch Goals - Make it awesome

• Add value to your solution
• Add as much as you can to make this "production ready" in the time you have

Demo - Showcase Your Work

• Presentation guidelines and demo day preparation
• Documentation standards for production handoff

Technologies Covered

• Containerization: Docker, Azure Container Registry
• Infrastructure: Terraform, Azure (Container Apps, VNets, Key Vault), RBAC, Azure Entra
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions, automated testing and deployment
• Security: Azure IAM, Service Principals, Managed Identities, Azure Key Vault
• Monitoring: Azure monitoring, structured logging, health checks

Prerequisites

• Basic understanding of web applications
• Git and GitHub familiarity
• Docker Desktop installed
• Azure subscription access
• Terraform installed
• VS Code with recommended extensions

🎓 Learning Outcomes

By completing this curriculum, you will:

• Build and optimize containerized applications
• Implement Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
• Create automated CI/CD pipelines
• Design secure, scalable cloud architectures
• Understand the trade-offs between perfect and realistic, based on requirements
• Apply observability and monitoring best practices
• Present technical solutions effectively
• Have something running in the cloud!