IT Fundamentals

Do you work with IT teams or are you involved in IT projects, but sometimes find that technical concepts, architecture and terminology are not fully clear?

This IT Fundamentals training (formerly IT Essentials, fully updated) gives you a practical and structured understanding of how modern IT systems really work — without requiring any programming knowledge.

You will learn how applications, infrastructure and cloud platforms come together to form working systems, how data and APIs flow between systems, and how architectural, security and integration choices impact performance, reliability and scalability. The focus is not on theory, but on how IT systems are designed, built and operated in real-world environments.

From cloud and security to microservices and integrations, you will develop a complete overview that helps you better understand IT decisions and collaborate more effectively with engineers and architects.

This training is available as classroom training and as e-learning. Classroom sessions can be attended on-site or virtually (via Microsoft Teams or Zoom). The e-learning is fully in English and includes English subtitles. The course material (slides) is also in English and reflects real-world practices in modern IT organizations.

Our training is also delivered through selected international training partners, allowing participation outside the Netherlands. Contact us for current availability and locations.

Who should attend:
This training is designed for professionals who work with IT or are involved in IT projects, but do not have a deep technical background.

Typical participants include:

• Product owners and project managers
• Business stakeholders and management
• Consultants and analysts
• IT support and helpdesk staff

It is also suitable for anyone who wants to build a solid foundation in IT to communicate more effectively with technical teams.

What you will learn:

• How applications, infrastructure and cloud form a modern IT landscape
• How systems, APIs, databases and networks communicate and depend on each other
• The fundamentals of cloud, security, data and integrations in practice
• How modern architectures such as microservices, containers and platforms are used
• How Agile, DevOps and CI/CD influence the way IT systems are built and delivered
• How systems are operated, monitored and supported in production environments
• How to better understand and interpret technical decisions and architectures

Results:
After this training, you will be able to:

• Follow and actively participate in IT discussions
• Better understand IT architectures and solutions
• Collaborate more effectively with engineers and architects
• Contribute with confidence to IT projects and decision-making

Agenda IT Fundamentals Training

1. IT fundamentals and a shared language: Start with the basics: data, information, bits and bytes, and core IT concepts. Build a shared vocabulary to better understand IT and communicate effectively with technical professionals.
2. Hardware, software and operating systems: Understand how computers, servers, operating systems and IT components work together, and how applications run on top of infrastructure.
3. From code to application: Learn how software is built using programming languages and how applications are structured. Understand requirements, non-functional requirements and key trade-offs.
4. How a web application really works (end-to-end demo): Follow a real web application from browser to backend. Understand HTTP, request/response flows, sessions, cookies, and how frontend, backend and APIs interact.
5. Networking and the internet: Explore IP, DNS, TCP/IP, routing, firewalls and load balancers. Understand how systems communicate within networks and across the internet.
6. Inside the data center: Discover the infrastructure behind applications: servers, virtualization, storage and middleware. Understand how modern IT environments are built and operated.
7. APIs, messaging and modern architectures: Learn how systems communicate using APIs and messaging patterns. Understand monoliths, microservices and service-based architectures.
8. Cloud, containers and modern platforms: Understand cloud computing (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and technologies such as containers, Docker and Kubernetes. See how applications are deployed and scaled.
9. Reliability, availability and data protection: Learn how systems remain available and reliable. Understand failover, backups, replication and disaster recovery.
10. Operations, monitoring and IT management: Understand how IT is operated in practice — including monitoring, logging, observability, IT service management and complex environments.
11. Security, encryption and certificates: Learn how security works in IT systems: authentication, authorization, encryption, SSL/TLS and certificate management.
12. Data, AI and the future of IT: Explore Big Data and AI, including machine learning and LLMs. Understand opportunities, risks and the impact of data-driven systems.