This roadmap is inspired by roadmap.sh and AWS best practices.
It’s a 6–12 month learning plan to become proficient in AWS Cloud Development, covering core services, infrastructure, deployment, and monitoring.
- Linux & Networking Basics
- IAM (Identity & Access Management)
- EC2 (Compute)
- S3 (Storage)
- VPC & Networking
- Databases (RDS / DynamoDB)
- Containers (ECS / EKS)
- Serverless (Lambda)
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Monitoring, Logging & Cost Optimization
- Final Projects & Portfolio
- Tools & Resources
- Skills Checklist
Learn:
- Linux commands, SSH, file permissions
- Basics of TCP/IP, DNS, firewalls
- Secure Shell (SSH) and remote administration
Mini-projects:
- Launch and connect to an EC2 instance via SSH
- Configure Nginx on Linux VM
- Practice file and process management
Learn:
- Users, groups, roles, and policies
- MFA, least privilege principle
- AWS Organizations and SSO
Mini-projects:
- Create IAM users with limited permissions
- Implement role-based access for S3 and EC2
- Secure account with MFA
Learn:
- Launch EC2 instances (Linux/Windows)
- AMI, security groups, key pairs
- Auto Scaling Groups (ASG) and Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)
Mini-projects:
- Host a web app on EC2
- Configure auto-scaling and load balancing
- Snapshot + backup strategy
Learn:
- Buckets, versioning, lifecycle management
- Static website hosting
- Object permissions and encryption
Mini-projects:
- Host a static portfolio site on S3
- Configure lifecycle rules for old files
- Upload files using AWS SDK
Learn:
- Subnets, routing tables, NAT, gateways
- Security groups vs NACLs
- Peering, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink
Mini-projects:
- Create a custom VPC with private/public subnets
- Deploy EC2 inside private subnet via bastion host
- Connect two VPCs via peering
Learn:
- RDS (PostgreSQL, MySQL), snapshots, read replicas
- DynamoDB (NoSQL), partition keys, indexes
- Performance tuning and backups
Mini-projects:
- Create an RDS instance and connect an app
- Store JSON data in DynamoDB
- Implement caching with ElastiCache (Redis)
Learn:
- Docker + containerization basics
- ECS (Fargate, EC2 launch types)
- EKS (Kubernetes on AWS)
Mini-projects:
- Deploy a containerized app using ECS
- Migrate an EC2-based app to ECS Fargate
- Create an EKS cluster and deploy microservices
Learn:
- Event-driven architecture
- Lambda triggers: API Gateway, S3, DynamoDB Streams
- Step Functions, SNS, SQS integration
Mini-projects:
- Build an API using Lambda + API Gateway
- Automate image resizing with S3 triggers
- Workflow orchestration with Step Functions
Learn:
- CloudFormation templates and stacks
- Terraform basics (HCL, state management)
- AWS CDK (in TypeScript/Python)
Mini-projects:
- Deploy EC2 + S3 via CloudFormation
- Use Terraform to create VPC + ECS cluster
- CI/CD pipeline with IaC deployment
Learn:
- CloudWatch metrics, alarms, dashboards
- CloudTrail for auditing
- Cost Explorer and budgets
Mini-projects:
- Monitor EC2 CPU and send alerts
- Enable CloudTrail for IAM actions
- Create a budget alert with SNS notifications
Beginner:
- Static portfolio site on S3 + CloudFront
- Simple REST API on EC2
Intermediate:
- Serverless notes API with Lambda + DynamoDB
- Dockerized app with ECS + RDS
Advanced:
- Full microservice system (EKS / Fargate)
- CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions + Terraform)
- Cost-optimized monitoring dashboard
- Compute: EC2, Lambda, ECS, EKS
- Storage: S3, EBS, EFS
- Databases: RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache
- Networking: VPC, CloudFront, Route53
- Security: IAM, KMS, Secrets Manager
- IaC: CloudFormation, Terraform, CDK
- Monitoring: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, X-Ray
- DevOps: AWS CLI, SAM, CodePipeline, CodeBuild
- Confident with Linux, SSH, and networking
- Manage IAM users, roles, and policies securely
- Deploy scalable EC2 and S3 infrastructure
- Design secure VPC networks
- Work with RDS and DynamoDB
- Deploy Docker containers using ECS or EKS
- Build event-driven systems with Lambda
- Automate infrastructure using IaC tools
- Monitor and optimize cloud costs
- Build and deploy a production-grade AWS project
- AWS Training & Certification
- AWS Documentation
- AWS Free Tier
- AWS Well-Architected Framework
- Terraform Docs
- CloudFormation Docs
- Free Training: AWS Skill Builder
- Hands-On Labs: Qwiklabs
- Certifications:
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
- AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
- Community: r/aws, AWS re:Invent videos, AWS blogs
These are portfolio-ready mini-projects to consolidate your AWS skills:
| Level | Project | AWS Services |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Beginner | Static Website | S3, CloudFront |
| 🟡 Intermediate | Serverless Notes API | Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB |
| 🔵 Advanced | Microservice System | EKS, RDS, SQS, CloudWatch |
| 🟣 DevOps | CI/CD Pipeline | CodePipeline, Terraform, GitHub Actions |
“Master AWS one service at a time. Combine them into real projects, and you’ll understand the cloud better than any certification.”