terraform · course & live cohorts
Terraform the way it works in production.
A hands-on course for software engineers: reusable modules, sane state management, and environments your team can still maintain a year from now. Not a tour of the docs: the practices that hold up under real change. Whether your team uses Terraform or OpenTofu, you'll learn the core practices they share. We'll call out product-specific differences when they matter.
modulesstateenvironmentsci-cd
Terraform will perform the following actions: + module.network.aws_vpc.main + module.network.aws_subnet.private[0] + module.network.aws_subnet.private[1] ~ aws_security_group.web # ingress tightened
Plan: 3 to add, 1 to change, 0 to destroy.
what you'll learn
The practices, not just the syntax
Every topic is exercised against realistic infrastructure: the kind with history, exceptions, and other people's decisions in it. Enrollment is planned to open in fall 2026. Exact cohort dates and the final lesson sequence are still being finalized. The waitlist hears first.
- Core workflow, done right: plan/apply discipline, project layout, and the habits that prevent 2 a.m. surprises.
- Module design: small, composable modules with clean interfaces, and tests that keep them honest.
- State in practice: remote backends, locking, moving resources, and recovering when state and reality disagree.
- Environments without copy-paste: dev/stage/prod patterns that don't drift apart.
- Drift and imports: detect drift and bring existing, hand-built infrastructure under management.
- CI/CD for infrastructure: plan on pull requests, meaningful review, and safe automated applies.
- Policy and security: scan for misconfigurations and enforce policy as code (checkov, tfsec, OPA/Sentinel) so risky changes fail before they apply.
who it's for
Built for working engineers
A good fit if you…
- Own infrastructure, or are about to inherit some
- Work on a team where one person "understands the Terraform"
- Click through a cloud console to set things up today, and want it in code before it bites you
Probably not for you if you…
- Are new to programming and the command line: start with a fundamentals course first
- Want a survey of every cloud service: this course is about Terraform practice, not provider catalogs
Before you start: No prior Terraform or cloud experience is required, but this course assumes you're comfortable writing code and working in a terminal. The course begins locally, so you can learn Terraform's core workflow without learning a cloud platform at the same time.
Cloud exercises: The main course is cloud-agnostic. Optional hands-on modules let you apply the same skills with DigitalOcean or AWS. Course-managed cloud access is provided, or you may use your own account. Provider charges may apply when you use your own credentials.
Know someone non-technical who wants practical skills? Learn, Fast also teaches Python and agentic AI for non-programmers.
live cohorts
Self-paced when you want it. Live when it helps.
Cohorts are live, remote, and kept small: around 25 learners. You get structure, momentum, and a real person answering your real questions, including the "our setup is weird" ones.
- Instructor-led sessions: live and remote, not pre-recorded.
- Hands-on exercises: you write the code during class, not after.
- Structured progression: each week builds on the last.
- Live questions: get unstuck in minutes, not days.
- Practical projects: finish with modules and pipelines you can point to.
- Feedback and peers: direct guidance, and engineers solving the same problems.
teaching approach
How the teaching works
Practical over theoretical
Concepts are introduced when you need them to build something, not as a syllabus to memorize.
Learn by building
Every exercise ends with a plan you can inspect or a change that applies cleanly. Small wins compound into real infrastructure managed by code.
Production habits
Review, testing, and incremental change: the practices that make infrastructure code safe to touch.
Skills that transfer
Exercises mirror actual work: legacy resources, changing requirements, and code your team has to maintain.
instructor
About David Stanek
David Stanek is a software engineer and educator with nearly three decades of professional experience. As a Principal Cloud Software Engineer at HPE, he works with the technologies and practices that power modern organizations.
For more than seven years, David has used Terraform to build CI/CD pipelines that deploy and manage infrastructure across AWS, DigitalOcean, Cloudflare, Namecheap, and other providers. He routinely teaches teammates how to make safe, reviewable changes to mission-critical infrastructure.
Since 2019, David has also taught at Case Western Reserve University. That combination of production experience and teaching practice shapes this course: the goal is not merely to make Terraform run, but to help you understand and maintain infrastructure your team can trust.
expertise: software engineering · cloud · automation · ai · teaching
pricing
Two ways to take it
Learn production Terraform your way. Work through the material on your own, or join a live cohort of around 25 learners for instruction and feedback on your actual infrastructure. The production-focused approach is the same either way.
self-paced
$99, regularly $199
launch price
- The complete course, yours to work through on your own schedule.
- Plan for about 25 hours of lessons, guided exercises, and projects. Take more time whenever you need it.
- Access to every lesson and example for as long as Learn, Fast continues to offer the course.
- Once enrolled, start whenever you like and learn at your own pace.
- A private Discord community where David generally responds to questions within one business day.
refund Full refund before you reach the 4th module.
live cohort
$699, regularly $1,499
launch price
Everything in self-paced, plus:
- 35 hours of live instruction in a small cohort of around 25 learners.
- Pick your schedule: once a week for 14 weeks, twice a week for 7 weeks, or four full Sundays.
- Live Q&A and feedback on your own infrastructure as you go.
- Learn alongside your cohort in the private Discord community.
- Miss a session? Every one is recorded and available to your cohort for 30 days afterward.
- Keep access to the self-paced materials for as long as Learn, Fast continues to offer the course.
refund Full refund if it's not for you: before week 4 of the 14-week schedule, before week 3 of the 7-week, or before the 2nd Sunday of the four-Sunday intensive.
Launch pricing applies to the first enrollment window; the regular price takes effect after that. Cohort dates are announced to the waitlist first. Join the waitlist to hear when enrollment opens. Bringing your team? Groups of five or more get 20% off every seat. Get in touch for a quote. Most engineering teams have a training budget: you will get an itemized receipt and a course outline to send to your manager.
waitlist
Be first to hear when Terraform enrollment opens
Join the waitlist and you'll get course announcements, cohort dates, and early enrollment access for the Terraform course. Nothing else, and you can unsubscribe any time. Joining costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Not ready to sign up? Ask a question first.