New Feature
Behind-the-Scenes Performance Updates
Today, I’d love to tell you about some work going on under the hood to improve the performance and security of CourseStorm for all of you. It may get a bit nerdy, but I’ll try to keep things brief!
For those who don’t know, CourseStorm is a web application that runs on a system called AWS. AWS is the cloud-computing arm of Amazon – so the same company that sells socks, also sells computing power and helps you serve more students!
By building on top of Amazon’s infrastructure, we get a ton of great stuff behind the scenes. We get to leverage the power of Amazon’s multi-billion dollar data centers, we have great tools for backups and security, and we can even scale up and down our resources depending upon the traffic going to the site at any given time. Pretty cool!
Beyond AWS, there are other technologies in play that affect the performance and security of CourseStorm. And, just like with any technology, they’re always moving forward, offering new updates and improvements. This month, we’re going to upgrade two of these behind-the-scenes technologies: PHP and MySQL.
Now, you don’t have to know what PHP and MySQL stand for, or even do. All you have to know is that these upgrades are going to provide several performance and security updates so that you can process registrations more quickly and more securely than ever before.
The best part is that we’ll be performing all of these upgrades backstage so that, ideally, neither you nor your students will feel any impact beyond the improved speed that they offer!
Upcoming Features
As promised in my previous post, I’ve spent the last several weeks reaching out to you all to get feedback on how we’re doing as a company and a service. Thanks to everyone who has filled out our survey and taken the time to meet with us over Zoom. Your feedback is incredibly important and will ensure our team stays laser-focused on the most important things for you!
If I haven’t had a chance to speak with you yet and you’re interested in joining the conversation, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at matt@coursestorm.com.
We’re still digging through the data and have even more conversations planned, but we’re already starting to see feedback collecting in a few areas that we know we can address this year. Speaking for myself and the team, we can’t wait to get started on prototyping these great new ideas!
Matt James
Matt has over 20 years of experience in the software industry. As the founder or co-founder of four software companies, he comprehensively understands technology, design, operations, finance, sales, marketing, and customer service. Matt co-founded CourseStorm to connect learners to classes where they can gain education a la carte to enrich their lives through art classes, prepare for a new job, or level up their existing skills.