How do you explain the benefits and features of cloud computing to someone who maybe doesn’t know so much about the technology? At Shift, our annual conference, we’re organizing an introductory workshop to the cloud this year. We have long thought about how we can explain cloud technology in an original way, and we think we found the perfect solution: by playing a game.

The card game explains in an intelligible way, among other things, the components and services used in cloud computing. The card game comes with a web app to validate your result and a real-time dashboard.

The workshop at Shift will start with a theoretical introduction of a small hour. In this part we, for example, explain the difference between Managed SQL and Managed NoSQL databases, or tell you the best use for Function-as-a-Service. We also explain how and why real-life applications, such as Spotify and Pokémon Go, make use of the cloud.

Afterwards it’s up to you! You’ll use the cards to compile the best cloud strategy for different use cases. Which components and services would you use, for example, when an online service wants to allow users to upload photos, after which a program has to analyze them and this information must be structured in a database?

From the 25 different cards, you choose the ones that you think are necessary. Then you take a picture of the result, which you upload on our mobile site. You immediately see if your answer is right or wrong.

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