How I Made My Own AWS For Students To Learn Cloud

john githiyon — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:26:04 +0000

Cloud computing is one of the most important skills for developers today, but I noticed that many students learn it mostly through theory. Getting hands-on experience with servers, containers, networking, and deployment can be difficult and expensive.

So, I decided to build Nodefy — an open-source cloud platform designed specifically for students.

Nodefy provides students with real Linux environments where they can create and manage instances using operating systems like Ubuntu, Kali, and Fedora. They can start, stop, and delete environments and experiment with Linux just like they would on a real cloud platform.

Students can also create multiple instances and connect them using Docker networking to understand real-world architectures such as:

Nodefy also makes application deployment simple. Students can provide a GitHub repository, and Nodefy handles the deployment process, including installing dependencies, building the application, and starting the server. They can then assign a custom domain to their application and make it publicly accessible.

The platform is built using:

Go – Backend
HTML, CSS, JavaScript – Frontend
Docker – Containerization
PostgreSQL – Database
Redis – Caching
SSH & Domains – Access and deployment

The main idea behind Nodefy is simple:

Don't just learn how cloud works. Build, experiment, and experience it.

I built Nodefy to bridge the gap between theoretical cloud knowledge and real-world experience, giving students a place to experiment with infrastructure without needing to set up everything themselves.

GitHub: https://github.com/johngithiyon/Nodefy

DEV Community: john githiyon

How I Made My Own AWS For Students To Learn Cloud