Hands-On Cloud Computing with AWS (Part 1)
Who is this for?
Students, developers, IT professionals, and anyone who wants a practical introduction to cloud computing with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
If you want to understand how AWS works in practice, not just theory, but real hands-on configuration, this session is designed for you.
Who is leading the session?
The session is led by Dr. Stelios Sotiriadis, CEO of Warestack, Associate Professor and MSc Programme Director at Birkbeck, University of London, specialising in cloud computing, distributed systems, and AI engineering.
Stelios holds a PhD from the University of Derby, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, and has worked on industry and research projects with Huawei, IBM, Autodesk, and multiple startups. Since moving to London in 2018, he has been teaching at Birkbeck. In 2021, he founded Warestack, building software for startups around the world.
What we’ll cover (Part 1)
This is the first session in a five-part hands-on cloud series. Part 1 introduces the core AWS services you need to understand cloud infrastructure:
Introduction to cloud computing and the AWS Management Console
Virtualised compute services (EC2 basics)
Creating, configuring, and connecting to virtual machines
S3 buckets and object storage fundamentals
Understanding security groups and firewalls
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) basics
IAM (Identity & Access Management) essentials
Building a simple cloud environment from scratch
The session focuses on hands-on AWS practice, with clear explanations and guided exercises.
AWS Academy Access
Participants will receive:
Free access to AWS Academy, including cloud labs
Temporary AWS sandbox environments
Learning materials and resources provided through AWS Academy
No personal AWS account is needed.
What are the requirements?
Bring a laptop with a modern web browser. You will receive AWS Academy login details shortly before the session.
Format
A 3-hour hands-on workshop with:
Step-by-step guided AWS exercises
Live demonstrations
Mini challenges and Q&A
Small-group support
This is a practical session, focused on AWS cloud environments.
In-person or online?
The session is in person only to ensure full support during hands-on cloud labs.
Prerequisites
Basic familiarity with computers and networking is helpful, but no prior cloud experience is required.
How many participants?
This class is limited to 15 seats to ensure personalised support during the lab activities.
Is this part of a larger series?
Yes, this is Part 1 of a four-part AWS Cloud Computing series. The next sessions will cover:
Part 2: Networking, load balancing, autoscaling, and deploying containerised workloads
Part 3: Serverless architectures (Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB) and event-driven design
Part 4: Deployment pipelines, monitoring, logging, cost optimisation, and real-world cloud architecture patterns
Part 5: Introduction to Kubernetes and EKS, container orchestration, cluster networking, deployments, scaling, and hands-on workloads on AWS EKS
Free Bonus Session (for those participating all sessions): LLMs on AWS, using Amazon Bedrock, embeddings, vector stores, and building simple generative AI applications on AWS.
Further dates will be scheduled for participants who wish to continue.
What comes after?
Participants will receive optional AWS practice labs and recommended resources for deeper study.