Deploy meteor.js apps to the cloud with a chromebook
I’m really excited about how much more accessible it is to learn these days.
Over the last few months I’ve been teaching workshops on Meteor.js and cloud infrastructure. It’s been totally amazing to see so many people learn to create apps for the first time. I love watching how excited everyone gets when they learn how to deploy those apps to the cloud in only a few minutes! The sounds of excitement around the room when everyone is visiting apps on the internet that someone just built on the other side of the room is awesome.
One of the challenges I found while teaching these workshops was the range of different laptops everyone would bring along to the workshops. They might have their own, they might bring one they borrowed… or sometimes they would come along without a laptop. We would spend a huge chunk of time explaining the instructions for Mac, Linux and Windows separately. It got me thinking about how I could make that first introductory experience more accessible.
What if I could get 15 affordable laptops and bring those along to the workshops. I could then show everyone how they could learn to code and deploy their apps to the cloud without any confusion. They wouldn’t need to have a super amazing computer. That’s a really valuable first experience and I’m sure it would be memorable! If the lower priced chromebooks cost around $149 — $169 then I could have a full 15 person workshop setup to help everyone learn to create apps and deploy them to the cloud for $2235. A few months ago I taught a workshop where everyone showed up without a laptop, and nobody owned own. This would really help in those situations!
I picked up the ASUS Chromebook C201 and gave it a go, it’s totally possible to learn how to build apps and deploy them to the cloud on a chromebook. I’m now looking into planning out my future workshops and I’m looking forward to bringing along chromebooks for everyone to try out.
What I’m planning to teach:
- Create a DigitalOcean account with $10 credit: http://do.co/tammyshark
- Create a DigitalOcean Droplet: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-your-first-digitalocean-droplet-virtual-server
- Access your droplet using the Chrome Extension ~ Secure Shell
- Build a Meteor.js ToDo app ~ See the pack below:
I’m looking forward to helping many more people to get started building apps and deploying them to the cloud in the future!
I would love to hear your feedback: tammy@digitalocean.com
❤
