🟢 1. Cloud Fundamentals
Before diving into AWS, understand:
- What is cloud computing?
- IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS
- Regions and Availability Zones
- Shared Responsibility Model
Recommended: AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
🔵 2. Core AWS Services
Start with the building blocks:
| Category | Services |
|---|---|
| Compute | EC2, Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk |
| Storage | S3, EBS, Glacier |
| Databases | RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora |
| Networking | VPC, Route 53, CloudFront |
| Security | IAM, KMS, Cognito |
🟣 3. Hands-On Projects
- Host a static website on S3
- Deploy a serverless function with Lambda
- Launch a WordPress site on EC2
- Build a REST API with API Gateway + Lambda + DynamoDB
🟠4. DevOps & Automation
- Infrastructure as Code: CloudFormation, Terraform
- CI/CD: CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy
- Monitoring: CloudWatch, X-Ray
- Containerization: ECS, EKS, Fargate
🟡 5. Security & Identity
- IAM: Users, Roles, Policies
- MFA and access keys
- Encryption with KMS
- VPC security groups and NACLs
- Compliance and auditing with AWS Config and CloudTrail
🟤 6. Advanced Architecture
- Auto Scaling and Load Balancing
- Multi-tier architecture
- High availability and fault tolerance
- Disaster recovery strategies
- Hybrid cloud and VPNs
⚪ 7. Specialized Services
Explore based on your goals:
| Goal | Services |
|---|---|
| AI/ML | SageMaker, Rekognition, Comprehend |
| Big Data | EMR, Athena, Glue, Redshift |
| IoT | AWS IoT Core, Greengrass |
| Mobile/Web Apps | Amplify, AppSync |
🚀 8. Certifications Path
| Level | Certification |
|---|---|
| Beginner | Cloud Practitioner |
| Associate | Solutions Architect, Developer, SysOps Admin |
| Professional | Solutions Architect Pro, DevOps Engineer |
| Specialty | Security, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, etc. |
📚 Recommended Resources
Type Resource
Docs AWS Documentation
Interactive AWS Skill Builder
Courses A Cloud Guru, freeCodeCamp, Coursera
Practice AWS Labs on GitHub, Qwiklabs
Top comments (2)
Great roadmap. One thing I'd add: don't learn AWS services in isolation.
The fastest way to understand AWS is by building real products. You'll learn more deploying a startup MVP on EC2, S3, RDS, and CloudFront than by memorizing service documentation.
At foundersbar, we've seen that combining cloud fundamentals with hands-on product development helps teams understand not just how AWS works, but when to use each service based on business needs, scalability, and cost.
Build first. Optimize later.
I build projects that helps me with struggling and using different tools for different projects