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AWS Cloud Engineer Roadmap
Complete AWS learning path from IAM basics to advanced EKS, serverless, and multi-account architectures. Covers Solutions Architect and DevOps Engineer certification prep.
5–8 months
8 phases
FoundationIntermediateAdvancedExpert
Phase 1
AWS Fundamentals & IAM
Identity, access, and the AWS console
Foundation2–3 weeks
What to learn
- AWS global infrastructure — regions, AZs, edge locations
- IAM users, groups, roles, and policies
- Policy language — Effect, Action, Resource, Condition
- MFA, password policies, and access keys
- AWS Organizations and multi-account strategy
- AWS CLI and SDK setup
Key tools
AWS ConsoleAWS CLIIAM Policy Simulator
Phase 2
Networking — VPC Deep Dive
Build secure, scalable networks
Foundation3–4 weeks
What to learn
- VPC, subnets (public/private), route tables
- Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway, VPC Endpoints
- Security Groups vs NACLs — stateful vs stateless
- VPC Peering and Transit Gateway
- AWS PrivateLink for service connectivity
- VPN and Direct Connect basics
Key tools
VPCRoute 53CloudFront
Phase 3
Compute — EC2 & Auto Scaling
Run and scale applications
Intermediate2–3 weeks
What to learn
- EC2 instance types and pricing models (On-Demand, Spot, Reserved)
- AMIs, user data, and launch templates
- Auto Scaling Groups — policies, lifecycle hooks
- Application Load Balancer and Network Load Balancer
- Target groups and health checks
- Placement groups and Elastic IPs
Key tools
EC2ALB/NLBASGLaunch Templates
Phase 4
Storage & Databases
S3, RDS, DynamoDB, and beyond
Intermediate3–4 weeks
What to learn
- S3 — buckets, versioning, lifecycle, replication
- S3 storage classes and cost optimization
- RDS — setup, Multi-AZ, read replicas, backups
- Aurora — serverless, global database
- DynamoDB — tables, indexes, capacity modes
- ElastiCache — Redis/Memcached for caching
- EFS and FSx for shared file systems
Key tools
S3RDSDynamoDBElastiCacheAurora
Phase 5
Containers — ECS & EKS
Run containers on AWS
Intermediate4–5 weeks
What to learn
- ECR — build, tag, push container images
- ECS — task definitions, services, Fargate vs EC2
- EKS — managed Kubernetes on AWS
- EKS networking — VPC CNI, ALB Ingress Controller
- IRSA — IAM Roles for Service Accounts
- EKS node groups — managed, self-managed, Fargate
- App Mesh and service discovery
Key tools
ECRECSEKSFargateeksctl
Phase 6
Serverless
Lambda, API Gateway, and event-driven architecture
Advanced3–4 weeks
What to learn
- Lambda — runtimes, layers, concurrency, cold starts
- API Gateway — REST, HTTP, WebSocket APIs
- Step Functions for workflow orchestration
- EventBridge for event-driven architecture
- SQS, SNS, and event filtering
- SAM and Serverless Framework for IaC
Key tools
LambdaAPI GatewayStep FunctionsEventBridgeSAM
Phase 7
Infrastructure as Code
CloudFormation and Terraform on AWS
Advanced4–5 weeks
What to learn
- CloudFormation — stacks, nested stacks, drift detection
- Terraform AWS provider — resources, modules, state
- CDK — write infrastructure in TypeScript/Python
- Remote state with S3 + DynamoDB locking
- CI/CD for infrastructure (Terraform in pipelines)
- Tagging strategies and cost allocation
Key tools
TerraformCloudFormationCDKAWS SAM
Phase 8
Monitoring & Security
CloudWatch, GuardDuty, and compliance
Advanced3–4 weeks
What to learn
- CloudWatch — metrics, alarms, dashboards, Logs Insights
- CloudTrail — audit logging and compliance
- GuardDuty — threat detection
- Security Hub — centralized security posture
- WAF and Shield for DDoS protection
- KMS and Secrets Manager for encryption
- Config Rules for compliance automation
Key tools
CloudWatchCloudTrailGuardDutyKMSWAF
Interview Prep
DevOps Interview Prep Bundle — 1000+ Q&A
Every topic on this roadmap has interview questions in the bundle — Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, CI/CD, Linux, SRE, FinOps, System Design. Grab it before your next interview.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the AWS Cloud Engineer roadmap
1Which AWS certification should I get first?
Start with AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03). It covers core services — EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, RDS, Lambda — and is the most recognized AWS cert for DevOps and cloud roles.
2How long does it take to learn AWS?
Core AWS services can be learned in 6–8 weeks. The full roadmap covering compute, networking, security, serverless, containers (ECS/EKS), and DevOps automation takes 4–6 months.
3Is AWS harder than Azure or GCP?
AWS has the most services (200+), which can feel overwhelming. But it has the best documentation and largest community. For DevOps roles, AWS is the most commonly required cloud platform.
4What AWS services should a DevOps engineer know?
Core services: EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, RDS, Lambda, ECS/EKS, CloudFormation, CodePipeline, CloudWatch, Route 53, ALB/NLB, Secrets Manager, and Systems Manager.
5How much does AWS cost to practice?
AWS Free Tier covers 12 months of t2.micro EC2, S3 (5GB), Lambda (1M requests), and more. For hands-on labs, budget $20–50/month and always set billing alerts.