Shakespeare, quantum theory, all I wanted was a burger. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, please support by following @pexel.com
Balancing Acts
So many times, we are asked interesting questions. Which one is better, Xbox or PC? How often do frogs think about the sun? How does Super String theory apply to geopolitics? Or, and the most challenging and controversial question, “Peanut butter or jelly, which is better?”
Comparing apples to oranges aside, the latest question that made us question life and its meaning. We were asked if we consider ourselves to be leaders or followers. That’s an interesting question and kind of a mixed bag to answer. But here at Scriptingthewhy, we like spicing things up so here we go.
I think our leader is a little dingy. Photo by Miguel A. Padrinan, please support by following @pexel.com
To lead or not to lead, that is the question. To answer this question, we are both. It depends on the situation. Many would argue they’re a leader because there are a lot of perks to being a leader.
What are the perks? Don’t worry, we have you. The perks are but are not limited to instructing others, being the standard for others, and basking in the praise for good decisions.
However, if someone had an input that led to things working out for the better, give them the credit. There have been too many times when leaders take credit for someone else’s idea. This makes a bad leader, don’t be this person.
A quick side note, we know this generation ties their whole existence on people “hitting that like button” and seeing the followers count pile up, but having followers does not makeup who you are. Find out who you are, improve yourself from there, and cherish that. We spent weeks, months, a year even, with no followers. If we wrote only for the follower count, this question would not be getting an answer. Seeing that you’re important and supporting yourself first before seeking approval from others is all we’re saying.
Detouring aside, what are the perks of being a follower? The list isn’t as extensive or appealing, but some perks are, not being responsible for most things, not being in the spotlight, participating in teamwork, and reserving the right to say “Hey, I saw our leader grazing on grass. Uh, I think they’re unfit to lead.”
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Life, the final frontier. Let’s enjoy it this go-round. Photo by saifullah hafeel, please support by following @pexel.com
As mentioned earlier, we’re considering to be both. Why? Well, both are equally important. You can’t be a good leader if you’ve never followed, and you can’t be a good follower if you never led.
The most important positioning is having the flexibility to be either or. No one is ever truly one thing. This is because we all have something to offer.
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We’re years into the future and we’re still not living like this, uh humans. Photo by Aleksander Pasaric, please show support by following @pexel.com
Have you ever had that moment where you’re seated at your computer and thought to yourself, “there’s a lot of news on cloud computing. Seems like it’s a big deal. I wonder who puts everything in the cloud together.”
Well let me tell you, there are a certain group of people that have set things in place for any data you send to be able to reach your cloud (it may go to someone else’s cloud if you got hacked) and they even have contingency plans just in case something was to go awry.
Yes, these people have a particular set of skills (had to make a Taken reference, sorry), some of which may surprise you that you already have. Looks like after reading this, it might be time for that career change you were always thinking about.
So, we’ll be going over the mysterious shadow group in the sky, the masterminds powering your crippling addiction, and as usual, we’ll tackle what, who, how, and if you can join the ranks without having to live off a steady diet of ramen noodles to get a degree.
Sir, I do cloud computing, that does not mean I have control over the weather. Photo by energepic.com, please show support by following @pexel.com
Sky of Architects
To answer the question, you may be asking about the big group of people in the sky (where again your information does not go) the people that make like Scarface and put this thing together are the all-mighty Cloud Architects (I’m going to refer to them as CA for short).
But before you can understand what they are, you first have to understand what cloud architecture is. Cloud architecture is a group of resources and services provided by a cloud provider that is structured in such a way as to work in tandem with one another.
These professionals handle everything running in the cloud and at times handle everything running around it. There are times when they may have to be the developer, negotiator, and consultant so in short, this role wears many hats, again at times they might be wearing several at once.
This role is not to be confused with Cloud Engineers, the difference is engineers focus on the day-to-day operation of the cloud architecture, and the architects focus on the creation of the infrastructure and providing possible solutions for the future of the organization’s cloud.
With so much on the line, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a CA who doesn’t like to have a little coffee in their system to keep focused. A little Java anyone?
The one to overview the many…a six-figure salary just means I’m never off the clock. Photo by RF._.studio, please show support by following @pexel.com
Jack of all Clouds
Who uses these Jack of all trades players? Almost everyone, thing, or company you can think of is using a Cloud Architect to build, manage, monitor, and even keep up to date their cloud operation.
There’s not one business (unless it’s brand new and does not have the capital) that isn’t or hasn’t moved to the cloud. Being a CA is such a hot career that its demand is the highest in the world.
This makes sense seeing the number of skills you must have in your toolbox and the number of interactions that you must have throughout the creation and maintenance of the architecture. What are some of these interactions you ask?
Well, if you could imagine going back and forth with DevOps engineers, software developers, and whatever third-party vendor brought on to help deliver final projects that solve organizations’ cloud computing needs.
So, yeah CAs talk to and are wanted by a lot of people. Pimping out that cloud baby.
After five cups of coffee, three bathroom breaks, and screaming match between me and the monitor, the EC2 instance is finally connects. Photo by cottonbro studio, please show support by following @pexel.com
Cloud Before and After
Let’s take a trip back in time before the cloud was even thought of (fun fact, the cloud has been around since the 60s, just not to the extent that we have today), before if you were to start or have a business running, you would have to go out and acquire a space then get your hands on the hardware, software, and accessories.
Not only with making those large purchases you would also have to hire someone or a team to come in and set up everything for you in order to even get your business to run virtually. You would have to worry about how large of a space you could rent and where you were going to be able to have your setup.
Then you would have to worry about ventilation to keep your machines cool and running, and storage for when your business becomes larger and starts to house more data. Eventually, you would either have to expand your space which would see you making more purchases or be forced to stall until something comes along.
This is called on-premises or on-prem for short, since cloud computing is around now, there’s no longer a need to seek out hardware or even software. CAs can simply plan and design a cloud adoption strategy that suits your needs.
So, basically, a CA had a hand in everything you use that connects to the cloud.
I just connected a load balancer to my instance, why is it still cloudy out here? Photo by Nothing Ahead, please show support by following @pexels.com
Architect Skyward
So, now you’re probably pondering,” can I get into this job without a degree?” Well, yeah of course if you’re willing to go out and obtain one or more certifications, again multiple held certs better your odds.
This is a grey area and not sure how much I trust it but if someone had any luck with this please feel free to script a comment below about your experience, it is possible for you to get a cloud computing job with no experience.
Again, I haven’t had any luck and I hold a cert with AWS with little experience. Things you’re going to want to know are networking (both computing and actual networking), working knowledge of operating systems, security, and as you could guess a fundamental knowledge of programming language.
Another thing to consider is that being a CA is a challenging and stressful career, I mean you’re dealing with your fellow humans, and humans are stressful enough without the presents of being on the job.
These humans’ human too hard. Photo by Brett Sayles, please show support by following @pexels.com
Made it this far and found this to be entertaining? Then a big thanks to you and please show your support by cracking a like, scripting a comment, launch a share, or plug-in to follow.
Would like to give sincere thanksto current followers and subscribers, your support and actions mean a lot and has a play in the creation of each script.
Think you have what it takes to be a Cloud Architect?
Script a comment below on what you find interesting about cloud architecture.
Also, if you found this script on cloud to be interesting and would like to read more then check out my script on things I wish I knew before jumping to the cloud.
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Sarah: Tom, did you read the latest script on Scriptingthewhy? Tom: No, I don’t find any of them funny. Sarah: Oh really…it’s over. Photo by KoolShooters, please support by following @pexel.com
You are on the bow of the titanic with your version of Jack and you’re feeling like you’re the queen, king, it, them, they, infinite letters and symbols of the world. For those who have seen the titanic, you know the ending, despite there being enough room on the floating door Jack chooses the “Irish exit” over dealing with possible child support cases.
Since the movie The Titanic’s release which seems like it has been forever, this isn’t much of a spoiler; people get on a boat, party hard, the captain sucks at captaining, and the boat finds that icebergs have a deeper meaning to them.
The symbolism in all of this, what is it? Well, after figuring out what gender you land your spinning wheel on, the breakdown is as follows; clearly, your character is Rose, Jack is your virtual private network the titanic is your computer, and finally, the iceberg is the internet.
Why is it that the iceberg is considered to be the symbol of the internet and not the ocean? It may be attributed to depth and not width, but I didn’t coin the idea so don’t ask me.
The captain of the titanic saw this and kept sailing forward. Photo by Jean-Christophe Andre, please support by following @pexel.com
Web in Layers
I’m just going to make the assumption that everyone in the world has some point or another in their life spent some time on the internet. Rather it is shopping online, checking emails, looking for that special someone, or…filtering through their list of pronouns.
We have all spent time on this portion of the internet which is called the “surface web” due to it being readily available to the public. Making this portion of the internet or the iceberg to be considered “just the tip”. What are the other portions I can hear you ask? They are deep and dark web.
What’s the difference between the two? The deep web is the middle of the iceberg that includes everything that search engines cannot identify because they are protected with a password or stored behind internet services, so for example, you may have been spending a good portion of your time perusing on the deep web if you have an Amazon or Netflix account.
And for our main event at the bottom of the iceberg which is every emo kid’s wet dream, the dark web, is the hidden collective of internet sites only accessible via a specialized web browser (Tor) used to keep internet activity anonymous and private.
A brief history of the dark web according to the International Monetary Fund, the dark web or also known as “darknet” was created back in the late 90s by two organizations in the US Department of Defense to create an environment of anonymized and encrypted networks that would protect the sensitive communications of US spies.
Bob: Did anyone bring the E? Eric: I got you bro, there’s some ecstasy in my bag. Bob: I was talking about the Ethernet cord. Photo by Edoardo Tommasini, please support by following @pexel.com
Darknet Clubbing
Aside from protecting America’s greatest spies and turning into a nightclub for hackers, what can be done on the dark web you may be asking? Well, pretty much anything you can think of.
The list is as follows but is not limited to; conducting black markets for stolen identity, selling of weapons, prostitution, sex trafficking, and the last thing you thought the internet would be used for since we still have corners on the block, the slinging of dope.
Do you want to perform a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)? Purchasing botnets on the dark web will help you perform this form of cyber-attack. You can also download files from the dark web however, they are more likely to come with a nasty array of surprises in the form of a virus, malware, spyware, ransomware, trojans, and many other devious files that could harm either your computer, bank account or just your life in general.
Now while being on the dark web sounds like a normal day in Camden New Jersey, just know, being present there is legal however, the activity you take part in begs the question if you’re joining the dark side or not.
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Sailing would be so much easier if I had a boat. Photo by Vladimir Kudinov, please support by following @pexel.com
Freedom not Allowed
So, having access to the dark web, why is this part of the iceberg so important? Well, as mentioned before, joining the dark side because they have candy, will grant you anonymity making you and your activities harder to trace.
This helps you avoid government censorship if you live in a country where freedom is a no-no and provides you with some privacy. An example of this would be if you wanted to watch a movie or show that you don’t have access to within your country, you could simply “sail the seas to find your booty”.
Translation: you would have a VPN to change your location to the region where you would have access to said viewing. Finding out all this information may have you terrified and asking if your information is being sold on the dark web and Buddha only knows what people are looking to do with it. If that is the case, then you can venture to the “Have I been Pwned”(HIBP)website to see if your information is doing the cupid shuffle.
Not every hacker wears a hoodie…it’s only the serious ones. Photo by mohamed faramawy, please support by following @pexel.com
Hacking Above to Depth Below
Now, if all this being on the dark web has you in Mr. Robot mode and you want to catch the bad guys or even play one part-time, there are careers in cyber security that can land you in the dark web.
Getting a degree helps but is not required since you have to display the ability to handle given situations versus sitting in a lecture hall letting valuable hacking time pass you by. Obtaining Security+ and acquiring certificates via online courses or boot camps will get you to depth faster.
Made it this far and found this to be entertaining? Then a big thanks to you and please show your support by cracking a like, scripting a comment, or plug-in to follow.
Would like to give sincere thanksto current followers and subscribers, your support and actions mean a lot and has a play in the creation of each script.
Do you feel like I may have missed something about the dark-web? Script a comment below.
