DEV Community: NawazAliShah

Focusing too much on certifications and not enough on hands-on experience.

NawazAliShah — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 17:36:22 +0000

Sharing this mistake with you will help you avoid this trap and achieve your goal of breaking into the cloud industry.

Look, I get it. Certifications are appealing, they provide a structured way to learn and give you a sense of progress.

The AWS Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect Associate certifications, for example, are great for learning the basics of cloud computing and understanding AWS services.

But here’s the reality: certifications alone won’t land you a job.

Employers don’t hire people because of their certifications, they hire people that can solve problems.

They’re not looking for someone who’s “certified”; they’re looking for someone who can:

Launch and configure an EC2 instance.

Write a script to automate a repetitive task.

Troubleshoot issues in a cloud environment.

Certifications show that you understand concepts, but real-world projects demonstrate that you can apply them. And that’s what employers care about—your ability to actually do the work.

So, what should you do instead?

Get the essentials: Start with beginner-friendly certifications like Cloud Practitioner or Solutions Architect Associate to build your foundational knowledge.

Focus on projects: Dedicate most of your time to building and showcasing hands-on projects. Create a portfolio that proves you can deploy, automate, and manage cloud infrastructure.

Learn problem-solving: Employers want people who can think critically, troubleshoot issues, and improve existing processes—not just check off boxes.

CloudComputing #CloudCareer #AWS #TechCareer #DevOps

CloudEngineer #HandsOnExperience #SkillUp

LearnByDoing #BuildProjects #ProblemSolving #Innovation

Starting AWS?

NawazAliShah — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 09:31:50 +0000

Focus on real-world projects—build a website with S3 or launch a virtual server on EC2. Use AWS Free Tier to practice hands-on. Understanding cloud basics is great, but applying them is key! Have questions? I’m here to help!

🚀 #AWS #CloudComputing #CareerGrowth #LearningJourney

If you're new to AWS, let me show you how to save your hard-earned money 💵

NawazAliShah — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 13:11:18 +0000

We all do it!

We deploy something while learning, only to discover later that it’s been running, or we have a hidden service dependency we didn’t know about, and... we get a bill.

A BILL WE DON'T WANT!

From my experience, I want to share some AWS services that can help you keep costs low, especially when learning and deploying.

AWS Free Tier
First off, make sure you are using the AWS Free Tier account and utilize AWS Free Tier resources.

Why Use It: The AWS Free Tier offers limited, free access to many AWS services for 12 months. It's a great way for beginners to explore and learn about AWS services without incurring costs, as long as you stay within the usage limits.

AWS Cost Explorer

Why Use It: AWS Cost Explorer allows you to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time. It's user-friendly and beginner-friendly and helps you quickly identify your spending patterns. Most likely, we will see abnormalities because, hey, we don’t know what we don’t know.

AWS Budgets

Why Use It: With AWS Budgets, you can set up custom budgets and receive notifications when you exceed your spending thresholds. This helps you keep track of your expenses and avoid accidental overspending. There is an Important Tip about that in the end.

Trusted Advisor

Why Use It: AWS Trusted Advisor provides best practice recommendations to optimize your AWS infrastructure. It evaluates your account to identify ways to improve security, performance, and cost-efficiency, helping you avoid unnecessary costs as well.

So now, you can open up a free account, set your budget so if you happen to use any resources that are not free tier you won’t get overcharged.

PS: When setting your budget, make sure to set it in stages of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% so that you can keep getting notifications and keep a tight track of your spending.

🌐 Why Cloud Computing is Crucial in Today's World ☁️

NawazAliShah — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:20:22 +0000

In an era where technology drives innovation, cloud computing stands out as a game-changer. Here are a few reasons why embracing the cloud is essential for businesses today:

Scalability: Cloud platforms allow businesses to scale resources up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal performance without the high costs of physical infrastructure.
Cost Efficiency: Pay-as-you-go models eliminate the need for significant upfront investments in hardware and reduce operational costs by leveraging shared resources.
Accessibility: With cloud computing, teams can access data and applications from anywhere in the world, promoting collaboration and flexibility in remote work environments.
Security: Leading cloud providers offer robust security measures, including data encryption, regular updates, and compliance with industry standards, to protect sensitive information.
Disaster Recovery: Cloud-based backup and recovery solutions ensure that data is safe and quickly recoverable in the event of a disaster, minimizing downtime and data loss.
Innovation: Cloud services offer a range of advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, and IoT, empowering businesses to innovate and stay ahead of the competition.

Embracing cloud computing is no longer a luxury but a necessity. As a professional passionate about cloud technologies, I am excited to see how the cloud will continue to transform industries and drive future growth. 🚀

AWS Cloud roadmaps should be simple. Ideally, it should be phases that one needs to travel through.

NawazAliShah — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 11:35:20 +0000

Phase 1: Basic & General

Phase 2: Basic & Specialized

Phase 3: Advanced & General

Phase 4: Advanced & Specialized

Evolve through these phases by learning and mastering:

𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟭: 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰 & 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹

ELB (Distribute incoming application traffic)
NACLs (Secure subnets with custom IP rules)
AWS Budgets (Manage cloud costs and usage)
Auto Scaling (Scale EC2 capacity automatically)
S3 Buckets and Objects (Store and retrieve data)
Internet Gateways (Connect VPCs to the internet)
EC2 Instances (Run applications on virtual servers)
Route Tables (Direct network traffic from your VPC)
Route 53 (Route end users to Internet applications)
Security Groups (Filter traffic to and from instances)
VPC (Provision a private, isolated section of the cloud)
CloudWatch (Monitor resources and applications in real-time)
Amazon RDS (Set up, operate, and scale a relational database)
AWS Global Infrastructure (Leverage global reach and availability)
High Availability Architectures (Design fault-tolerant applications)
IAM Policies (Securely control access to AWS services and resources)
IAM Users and Groups (Manage user access and security credentials)
Disaster Recovery Basics (Implement backup and recovery strategies)

#Pro-tip for beginners in AWS cloud computing.

NawazAliShah — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 07:24:57 +0000

If anyone wants to start his/her career in the cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the best choice. Let's dive in depth. In starting, he/she will start to take some free resources from Udemy, Great Learning, Coursera, exam topics, Mindluster, and many more courses available on the internet if you are too serious about the learnings, so start from the Today with Cloud Practitioner course and later move to Solution Architect Associate. I humbly request all beginners to be consistent in their dreams. Be patient. What do you want to do today? Good things take time, and never quite, I mean, never give up yourself in any situation. stay motivated.

Warm Regards,

NawazAliShah

LetsStartyourjourney #Today #Aws #Cloudcomputing #Career Amazon Web Services (AWS)