Tier 2 · Elite Diploma
Cloud Computing
The engineers who run the internet. Now trained in West Africa.
- Code
- CLD 200
- Tier
- Elite Diploma
- Duration
- 33 months · 130 weeks
- Cohort 01
- 02 November 2026
- Delivery
- On-Campus · Waterloo
- Credential
- Elite Diploma in Cloud Computing
A three-year elite diploma engineered to produce the kind of cloud engineer Africa has been importing — and the world has been competing for. CLD 200 assumes the foundations are already in place and operates at production depth from Week 1, training graduates to design, deploy, secure, and operate production infrastructure at the standard teams at AWS, Microsoft, and Cloudflare hold themselves to.
What you'll become
- Cloud Engineer
- DevOps Engineer
- Site Reliability Engineer
- Platform Engineer
- Cloud Architect
- Infrastructure Engineer
- Cloud Security Engineer
- Kubernetes Engineer
- DevSecOps Engineer
- FinOps Engineer
- Solutions Architect
- Founding Infrastructure Hire
§ 01 · The difference
What sets this programme apart.
No Vibe Engineering
Every Terraform module a graduate writes, they can defend. Every IAM policy they ship, they understand. Every Kubernetes manifest they apply, they can debug from first principles. We produce engineers who hold up under pressure, not copy-paste operators who fall apart in incidents.
Production from Day One
Graduates do not learn cloud on screenshots. From the first semester, every concept is applied against live infrastructure. By Year 2, students run multi-region deployments; by Year 3, production residencies that simulate real on-call rotations.
Networking Depth, Already in Place
Networking fluency is established at the Tier 1 floor, so the diploma goes further — load balancers, CDN architecture, edge computing, and BGP — until students read a packet capture the way an accountant reads a balance sheet.
Automate or Be Replaced
Manual infrastructure is an admission of failure. Students stop clicking buttons in Year 2. Everything is version-controlled, reproducible, and built through Terraform, Ansible, and CI/CD pipelines.
Incident-Tested
Real cloud engineers are forged in incidents. We simulate outages, traffic spikes, and security breaches. Postmortems are graded and root-cause analysis is rehearsed until students respond with practised calm.
Cost is an Engineering Concern
An architecture that bankrupts the business is a failed architecture. Graduates think in dollars per month the way other engineers think in milliseconds, with FinOps as a core discipline alongside reliability and security.
§ 02 · Who this is for
Built for engineers ready to operate at depth.
◆ The Ambitious Graduate
Completed secondary or tertiary studies in any quantitative field, comfortable thinking in systems, and willing to spend three years to emerge as a cloud engineer who commands international hiring attention.
◆ The IT Professional
Currently working in IT support, sysadmin, or junior infrastructure roles, and ready to move from the person who reboots servers to the person who designs the systems those servers run on.
◆ The Self-Taught Engineer
Already running personal VPS instances, deploying Docker, and reading AWS documentation on weekends — and needing the depth, structure, and credential to turn that hobby into an international engineering career.
◆ The Career-Changer
Coming from networking, software development, or systems engineering, and wanting to be on the right side of where the industry is heading.
§ 03 · The Tier 1 floor
What you need before you start.
This is an advanced programme that begins above the foundation floor. Clear it by passing the WIATech technical assessment — or by completing the matching Tier 1 Foundations courses. The assessment is a placement instrument, never a rejection.
Required foundations
Modern infrastructure is Git-managed — Terraform repositories, GitOps workflows, CI/CD triggers, infrastructure pull requests. CLD 200 operates GitOps and infrastructure-as-code from Day 1.
Cloud is virtualised hardware. Engineers must understand CPUs, memory, storage, and the boot chain to reason about VM sizing, performance bottlenecks, and kernel-level issues in production.
Every production cloud workload sits on top of a database — RDS, Aurora, Cloud SQL, DynamoDB, BigQuery. CLD 200 operates managed databases at depth; it does not teach SQL.
Linux is the operating system of the cloud. CLD 200 teaches Linux at infrastructure depth — LVM, RAID, SELinux, kernel tuning — but does not teach the shell.
Networking failures are the single biggest cause of cloud outages. OSI, TCP/IP, DNS, subnetting, and routing must be known cold; CLD 200 layers VPC design, load balancers, CDNs, BGP, and edge networking on top.
Python is the cloud automation language — Boto3, gcloud SDK, Azure SDK, Lambda functions, deployment tooling. CLD 200 builds production automation on this foundation; it does not teach Python.
Universal parallel co-requisite
Taken in parallel throughout the diploma by every WIATech student. It underwrites every architecture review, RFC, operations runbook, and postmortem.
CLD 200 is an advanced diploma that begins above the foundation floor. Every student arriving in Semester 01 must have cleared the six Tier 1 foundations — by passing the technical assessment or completing the specific Tier 1 courses their results indicate. The portal is placement, not rejection. CLD 200 does not require FND 35 (DSA), MTH 85, or DAT 45.
Direct entry
Applicants who can demonstrate the six required foundations sit the CLD 200 technical assessment directly. A pass — calibrated to the exit standard of the Tier 1 foundations — routes the candidate straight into Semester 01.
Routed entry
Applicants who do not pass all sub-scores are not rejected; they are routed to the specific Tier 1 foundations their results indicate. Completing those exit assessments certifies readiness for CLD 200 entry in the next cohort window.
§ 04 · The architecture
6 semesters. One graduating engineer.
Year 01 · Infrastructure · Semester 01
Linux & Infrastructure Engineering
The semester students become infrastructure professionals — Linux administration at production depth, Windows Server and Active Directory, virtualization, and storage, backup, and disaster recovery.
Linux Administration at Production Depth
Linux as production infrastructure, building on the command-line fluency students arrived with — systemd, advanced user administration, SSH hardening, advanced storage, security modules, performance tuning, and boot internals.
Ubuntu · Debian · Rocky · Systemd · LVM · RAID · SELinux
Windows Server Administration
Enterprises run hybrid environments, so students stand up an enterprise Windows domain and integrate it with Linux infrastructure.
Active Directory · Group Policy · Hyper-V · PowerShell · IIS
Virtualization & Hypervisors
Cloud computing is virtualization at scale. Students master virtual machines, hypervisors, virtual networking, and storage virtualization from the ground up.
VMware · KVM · Hyper-V · Virtual Networking · Snapshots
Storage & Backup Engineering
Production systems die without storage and backup discipline. Students design and execute a full disaster-recovery exercise and prove it works.
SAN/NAS · Object/Block/File · Replication · Backup Strategy · DR
Capstone
The Infrastructure Project
Students build a complete on-premise data-centre simulation — a Linux fleet, a Windows domain, a virtualization layer, storage and backup infrastructure, and a tested disaster-recovery plan.
Deliverables: Production Linux fleet · Windows Server domain · VMware/KVM cluster · Storage architecture · Backup & replication system · Executed disaster-recovery drill
Year 01 · Cloud Core · Semester 02
Cloud Foundations & AWS Engineering
The semester the cloud arrives — cloud economics, the IaaS/PaaS/SaaS model, the shared responsibility model, and AWS as the first deep platform. Students stop talking about the cloud and start operating it on real production-grade architecture.
Introduction to Cloud Engineering
The conceptual framework every cloud engineer carries — IaaS/PaaS/SaaS, deployment models, cloud economics, the shared responsibility model, and cloud-native principles, touching AWS, Azure, and GCP.
AWS · Azure · GCP · IAM · Cloud Economics · Shared Responsibility
AWS Core Engineering
AWS taught as the platform graduates will be paid to operate — compute, storage, networking, and identity at production depth.
EC2 · S3 · VPC · IAM · Auto Scaling · Security Groups · Route Tables
Capstone
The First Production Cloud System
Students design and deploy a complete AWS production architecture for one of three enterprise scenarios — a SaaS startup, a banking platform, or an e-commerce application — multi-tier, secured, scaled, and monitored, then defended in a full architecture review.
Deliverables: VPC architecture with public/private subnets · EC2 fleet with Auto Scaling · S3 storage with lifecycle policies · IAM design with least-privilege roles · CloudWatch monitoring · Architecture review presentation & defence
Year 02 · Advanced Cloud · Semester 03
Advanced Cloud Architecture
Advanced AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, plus system architecture for cloud-scale problems — distributed systems, multi-region, multi-cloud, high availability, and fault tolerance. The semester graduates become multi-cloud fluent.
AWS Advanced Engineering
Where AWS gets serious — advanced compute and scaling, managed databases, serverless and event-driven services, security tooling, and observability.
Auto Scaling · RDS · Lambda · CloudTrail · KMS · CloudWatch
Microsoft Azure Engineering
Hybrid Microsoft environments are unavoidable in enterprise. Students operate Azure compute, networking, identity, storage, and monitoring.
Azure VM · Azure AD · VNet · RBAC · Azure Monitor
Google Cloud Platform Engineering
GCP compute, storage, networking, build, and identity, leaving graduates genuinely multi-cloud fluent.
Compute Engine · Cloud Run · Cloud Build · Service Accounts · IAM
Cloud Architecture & System Design
The module that separates engineers from architects — architecture patterns, scalability, HA, fault tolerance, DR, multi-region and multi-cloud design, cost optimisation, and distributed-systems fundamentals.
Architecture Patterns · HA / DR · Distributed Systems · CAP Theorem
Capstone
The Multi-Cloud Architecture Review
Students design a production-grade enterprise architecture spanning two cloud providers — typically AWS & Azure or AWS & GCP — and defend it before faculty and external industry evaluators.
Deliverables: Multi-region architecture diagrams · DR & failover strategy · Cost analysis & FinOps model · Security & compliance documentation
Year 02 · DevOps · Semester 04
Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD & Containers
The DevOps revolution, built on the Git fluency students arrived with — Terraform until manual infrastructure feels foreign, Ansible, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, and containers as the unit of modern infrastructure.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
The module that ends manual infrastructure forever — HashiCorp Terraform in depth, Ansible for configuration management, CloudFormation, reusable modules, and environment separation.
Terraform · Ansible · CloudFormation · Pulumi
CI/CD Engineering
How modern engineering teams ship — build and deployment pipelines, blue/green and canary releases, rollbacks, artifact and secrets management, pipeline security, and GitOps patterns.
Jenkins · GitHub Actions · GitLab CI/CD · ArgoCD · Tekton
Containerization & Docker
Containers as the unit of modern infrastructure — Docker architecture, images, registries, networking, volumes, multi-stage builds, and security scanning.
Docker · Podman · Docker Compose · Harbor · Multi-Stage Builds
Capstone
The DevOps Platform
Students build a complete DevOps platform from scratch — a Git-based source of truth, Terraform-managed infrastructure, Ansible configuration, CI/CD pipelines, and containerized application delivery.
Deliverables: Multi-environment Terraform codebase · Ansible automation layer · CI/CD pipeline with deployments · Containerized application stack · Documentation & operations runbook
Year 03 · Kubernetes · Semester 05
Kubernetes & Reliability
Production Kubernetes — pods, services, ingress, Helm, operators, RBAC, autoscaling, and service mesh — plus observability, cloud security and DevSecOps, and Site Reliability Engineering.
Kubernetes Engineering
The hardest module in the programme and the one that defines a senior cloud engineer — core and advanced Kubernetes through to production-grade clusters with HA, upgrades, security hardening, and observability.
Kubernetes · Helm · EKS · AKS · GKE · RBAC · Service Mesh
Observability & Monitoring
The three pillars — metrics, logs, and traces — plus SLIs/SLOs/SLAs, alerting, and incident detection, building observability platforms a production team would actually trust.
Prometheus · Grafana · Loki · ELK · Jaeger · SLO Engineering
Cloud Security Engineering
Security as a discipline that runs through everything — IAM architecture, zero trust, network/container/Kubernetes security, secrets management, encryption, vulnerability scanning, and threat modelling.
Vault · Trivy · Falco · Wazuh · Zero Trust · DevSecOps
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
How elite companies operate production systems — reliability engineering, error budgets, incident response, postmortems, chaos engineering, and capacity planning. Students leave able to run a production on-call rotation.
SLOs / Error Budgets · Incident Response · Postmortems · Chaos Engineering
Capstone
The Production Kubernetes Platform
Students build, harden, monitor, and operate a complete production-grade Kubernetes platform, then run a simulated outage with graded recovery.
Deliverables: HA Kubernetes cluster · Helm-managed services · Prometheus + Grafana + Loki stack · DevSecOps CI/CD pipeline · Incident-response runbook · Live outage drill & postmortem
Year 03 · Elite · Semester 06
Platform Engineering, FinOps & Industry Launch
The final semester — platform engineering and internal developer platforms, FinOps, multi-cloud, advanced internet systems, and AI for cloud — culminating in a production residency, the flagship capstone, and the mandatory 3-6 month industry placement.
Platform Engineering
Internal Developer Platforms as the new standard — Terraform modules at scale, Kubernetes platform layers, API-driven infrastructure, GitOps systems, self-service environments, and golden paths.
Backstage · Terraform at Scale · K8s Platform Layers · GitOps · IDP
FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering
Cost as engineering — cloud pricing models, reserved/on-demand/spot, resource rightsizing, cost allocation tagging, budget alerts, and unit economics, analysing and optimising real cloud bills.
Cloud Pricing · Rightsizing · Reserved/Spot · Cost Allocation · Unit Economics
Multi-Cloud Engineering
Operating across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud simultaneously — multi-cloud architecture design, vendor neutrality, cross-cloud networking, identity federation, and failover across providers.
AWS · Azure · GCP · Cross-Cloud Networking · Identity Federation
Advanced Networking & Internet Systems
Senior-level networking layered on the foundation — BGP, global routing, CDN architecture, edge computing, anycast, latency engineering, and DDoS mitigation, modelled on real internet-scale systems.
BGP · CDN · Anycast · Edge Compute · DDoS Mitigation
AI for Cloud Engineering
The edge skill defining the next decade of cloud operations — AI-assisted DevOps, infrastructure anomaly detection, predictive scaling, log intelligence, and AI-driven incident response as a working capability.
AI-Assisted DevOps · Predictive Scaling · LLM Tools · Anomaly Detection
Production Residency Simulation
Students are assigned production engineering roles and run a simulated company's infrastructure — 2 AM outages, database crashes, 10x traffic spikes, security-breach drills, deployment rollbacks, and cost explosions.
On-Call Rotation · Incident Drills · Postmortems · Architecture Redesigns
Enterprise Flagship Capstone
The graduation requirement — each student or team builds a full production cloud system (fintech, e-commerce, streaming, SaaS, government, or banking) spanning Kubernetes, CI/CD, IaC, monitoring, security, autoscaling, DR, and multi-region.
Full Production Stack · Multi-Region · Oral Defence
Industry Placement & Career Launch
Every graduate completes a real industry placement (minimum three months) with real production responsibilities, alongside a career-launch programme covering technical leadership, RFC writing, and system-design interviews.
Production Maintenance · Incident Handling · Deployments · System-Design Interviews
Capstone
The Flagship Capstone — A Complete Production Cloud System
A complete production cloud system — multi-tier architecture, Kubernetes cluster, CI/CD pipeline, infrastructure as code, monitoring and logging, security, load balancing, autoscaling, disaster recovery, and multi-region deployment — defended before faculty and external industry evaluators.
Deliverables: Multi-tier production architecture · Kubernetes cluster · CI/CD & IaC pipelines · Monitoring & observability stack · Security & compliance documentation · DR & multi-region · Oral defence before external evaluators
§ 05 · The toolkit
The stack you'll master.
§ 06 · Grading
How the work is measured.
§ 07 · Credentials & career
What you walk out with.
A Tier 2 Elite Diploma in Cloud Computing, issued by WIATech and marked with the graduate's specialisation. It is accompanied by a verified portfolio of production systems and the institute's written commitment that the bearer meets the operational standard WIATech sets.
The portfolio
- Twenty-five-plus production-grade projects, all publicly defensible
- Six major capstones, culminating in the flagship production cloud system
- Certification preparation for CompTIA Linux+
- AWS Solutions Architect — Associate & Professional preparation
- Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) preparation
- Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect preparation
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) preparation
- HashiCorp Terraform Associate preparation
Career acceleration
- A mandatory 3-6 month real industry placement with verified employer reference
- An in-house production-residency simulation of real on-call engineering work before graduation
- Portfolio engineering and GitHub polishing
- System-design and architecture interview preparation
- LinkedIn optimisation and technical brand-building
- Guidance on remote work, freelancing, and international engagement
- Direct introduction to partner organisations
- Alumni network access for life
§ 08 · Admissions
Who we admit. How we admit them.
Admission is highly selective with capped cohorts, and does not depend on credentials — no specific WASSCE results, university degree, or IT certifications are required. What is required is demonstrated capability, cleared either by passing the WIATech technical assessment or by completing the gated Tier 1 foundation courses. Prior tertiary education, an IT or computer-science background, support/sysadmin/networking experience, a self-directed portfolio, or completed Tier 1 certificates all help, but none are required. Admission is on demonstrated capability, not credentials alone.
Application
Online application form, academic records, and a 300-word statement of intent.
Technical Assessment
A WIATech-administered assessment covering the six Tier 1 floor domains — computer systems, SQL, Python, Linux, networking, and Git — plus quantitative reasoning, problem-solving, systems thinking, and written communication. Results route the candidate to direct entry or a specific Tier 1 path.
Technical Interview
A structured interview with faculty, evaluating discipline, intent, and engineering fit — not existing credentials.
Offer & Enrolment
Successful applicants receive a formal offer indicating their entry route (Direct or Routed), an enrolment package, and an onboarding schedule.
Starting from the foundations, via the Cloud Computing Foundations Pathway: NLe 102,500 total (NLe 17,500 foundations + NLe 85,000 diploma). Tier 2 Elite Diploma tuition is set in advance and paid in monthly instalments after a seat deposit. Full tuition & payment →