The first thing students entering the tech industry usually hear is the importance of building side projects and maintaining a portfolio. University and technical boot camp curriculums often provide step-by-step rubrics for coding projects, but when it comes time to start a project from scratch many students are not exactly sure what tools to use or where to start. That's where Bit Project comes in!

Bit Project’s Introduction to Serverless Bit Camp, cohosted by Microsoft, serves as exciting introduction to the world of Serverless Architecture, Azure Functions, JavaScript, and API documentation.

What’s Serverless?

Serverless Architecture provides a way to build and run applications without having to worry about how to manage infrastructure. It gives developers a chance to focus more on building an awesome product and less on managing the server it will run on. Serverless Architecture with Azure functions connect to other exciting and rapidly growing tech fields like building APIs, microservices, integrating systems, or working with IoT (Internet-of-things).

So, how does the 8-week Bit Camp work?

Week 1-3: The first 3 weeks of the course closely follows an open-source GitHub learning lab tutorial where students learn everything from setting up a development environment on VS Code and Azure to creating a function application that they will eventually deploy as their very own static web app from end to end.

We understand that it is not always easy learning new technologies without a little guidance from others! The Serverless Instructors are comprised of students who have successfully mastered the course from past iterations of the camp, and they hold office hours every week to help students understand the course work and navigate any bugs. Additionally, each week of the camp there are live lecture livestreams on Twitch hosted by Chloe Condon, a cloud advocate at Microsoft!

Week 4-8: The last 5 weeks of the camp are more of a free for all where students are paired with an industry mentor with whom they can create their own Serverless application and apply the knowledge of Node, CSS, HTML, JS, and external APIs concepts they were introduced to in the learning labs. The 1:1 student mentorship opportunity offered by this Bit Camp provides students the unique opportunity to work with a seasoned engineer to bounce ideas, debug any issues, and learn more about services provided by Azure! Mentor-mentee meetings are generally super casual and serve as a great networking opportunity for both parties who become super invested in making sure each student’s passion project comes to life.  

The best part about Serverless is the versatility to create projects that truly cater to whatever interest you want to pursue… whether that’s finding new Spotify recommendations or keeping track of Earthquake warnings. Don’t believe me? Check out the super cool projects from past iterations of this camp!
https://dev.to/azure/get-inspired-by-these-bitcamp-final-projects-by-high-school-students-5c30

Next Steps

The next Serverless Bit Camp is set to start this upcoming June! The open-source curriculum is open to anyone, but if you are interested in a mentorship opportunity be sure to apply by {deadline here}.