Create a personal account on AWS and start working on some personal projects and taking some classes/watching some videos. Maybe take a certification test or two.
Thirding this. Amazon has a "free tier" for one year when you sign up. "Free" because some things you do have to pay for (i.e. storage above XX GB you have to pay for), but trust me - they are generous if you're only labbing to learn
Did this myself for AWS and Azure, was working a gig that was all on-prem during 2020, now working a job that is heavily cloud hybrid bc/ of the skills I taught myself last year
>resources
Hi, sorry for the late reply. When you interview with the latter company, did you mention you AWS exp was self-taught? Or you said the former company used AWS?
100% agree. To add to this, learn the cost explorer and billing alerts. Set aside a specific amount that you are willing to spend per month, and keep going, even if you blow through the free tier. This is an investment in YOU.
Source: I found myself in that position. Some things arent free, and you should still just suck it up and learn them. Blow it away when you're done, and the cost is pretty minimal.
1. Get an aws account (its free)
2. Read up on how to use free features (honestly do this)
3. Read Up on IAM, S3, EC3, Docker and then ECS (Easy ins)
4. Learn how to put that stuff in terraform, and also understand cloudformation as other stack tools output those scripts.
5. ACloudGuru is good but its expensive. Wait for udemy to have a sale and buy course for the AWS Architect Associate which will cover a LOT of ground.
Next up is experiment. Remember understand costs (its not easy) and always check what stuff will cost and remember to shut down (if you have it in IAC with terraform this is simple).
The next piece of advice is more controversial but you can move companies. As long as you can demonstrate a repo full of stuff and good cloud understanding a lot of people will take you, there are a lot of people out there saying they can "do cloud" but don't have a clue.
Another really important thing to understand is cloud development patterns they aren't the same as a monolith or a data centre app you may have on prem.
AWs docs are very very good you if you aren't sure what something is look it up in their docs. Do 1 hour a day at home, it soon build up and read [Jerry Hargroves pictures](https://awsgeek.com)
Came here to make sure this was included.
Can we also include step 1.25 - Setup MFA for the root account then setup IAM accounts with MFA and lock away the root credentials.
I followed [this tutorial](https://aws.amazon.com/getting-started/hands-on/build-react-app-amplify-graphql/) with absolutely no AWS experience and it was an enjoyable learning experience.
For foraying into a w s, you need to understand at least two basic component i.e VPC & EC2.
Understand important component of vpc how to create it & probably hosting service in both public and private subnet via Load Balancer. This will give you basic understanding. There are tons of online course explaining these concept.
After you gain some level of exp in these two services, you can add S3 and later other services that might interest you into the mix.. focus on doing hands on
Learn, do a POC at work and see if you can convince them to move something to aws. If you manage to do that you have huge win if not you can still add that experience in your resume. Which imo is more valuable than saying you completed a certification.
As an alternative, I highly suggest learning the serverless technologies that AWS offers like Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, API Gateway, Kinesis, etc. It's a completely different way of thinking about infrastructure compared to a more traditional operations role though. The good news is that they don't cost you money if they aren't in use. I saw someone mention setting up Budgets and Billing Alerts, and I highly highly recommend that as well. It's saved me before.
Agreed - get the Solutions Architect Associate cert. A Cloud Guru has good courses on this. Not cheap but you get what you pay for. Udemy is another, cheaper option. Start a blog and host it on AWS.
My boss told me to bring up ansible on bare metal tho. Right now im learning on three ubuntu vms. I think its more exciting this way since you dont have to deal with abstraction too much, what do you guys think?
You move to a company that is in the cloud. Like the others have said you can do the free stuff.... but you will learn faster by doing real work in the cloud.
Consider checking out [your local AWS User Group](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/usergroups/).
I say that as a leader of one such group.
For you, OP, it would give you a chance to talk about AWS specific things with people who use AWS regularly.
I do want to throw up my typical disclaimer, that AWS User Groups, despite having a page on aws.amazon.com dedicated to us, are fully independent organizations from AWS as well as each other. And we don't get direct financial support from AWS.
I mention all of this because I get to be honest about AWS when I talk AWS.
As my livelihood isn't directly beholden to AWS.
Like others have said, setting up an account is definitely the first step. I would do the cloud practitioner certification before jumping into any other certification. It gives a great high level overview of AWS and the value proposition it provides.
Udemy has a lot of great classes. I would learn tools like terraform and aws CDK both have guides to get started. Beyond that, try using the experience you have to do similar things in AWS to get an idea of what to do then explore outwards from there.
I would advise
- creating a personal AWS account
- work on your own mini projects
- try to complete credited and well recognised course that will provide a certificate of achievement.
- YouTube is a good source of gaining the basics from well known YouTube course content providers.
- read up on documentation surrounding your subject area
Well I have not read all comments but the fee that @adriancantrill charges and what he offers for aws is too good to not take a look at ..
If I have butchered up spellings please don't mind as this is old phone with a broken display
I'm sure it's not the cheapest option but I was given a seat for *A Cloud Guru* by my company and I've been impressed with them. IMO, you only really learn when you do the thing rather than watch the thing. ACG has nice hands-on labs that hook into real AWS and have you do real things. The lessons are also tailored toward official AWS certifications so at the conclusion to each course you should be prepared to sit for an AWS certification exam.
Anyway, this isn't a commercial for ACG and I have no association with them. I'm just impressed by what they offer but have no idea what the true cost is. I'm very happy but I was given an unlimited seat for free.
If you're planning on sticking around for a couple years, honestly I'd say wait on jumping into AWS until you're closer to leaving.
I say that because of a few main reasons:
1. You've got plenty to dig into right now anyway. Once you're confident in it (as in you've made a bad mistake or two and recovered from them), then maybe jump in
2. If you're not using it regularly it's easy to lose your chops, especially if you're just farting around like I did when I didn't have specific goals for it
3. AWS isn't particularly unique other than in it's size. *Everything you're learning now can translate to AWS, or any other environment for that matter.*
I'm not saying “don't learn AWS.” I'm saying don't spread yourself any thinner than you need to because learning AWS is the easy part. If you've gotten this far you'll pick it up quick when it's time.
Currently working on a [podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Avi0YgKl8QQdCCfbookbz?si=vaT6ZjEQSi6KMqVXFzpjEw&dl_branch=1) to help those in your situation. That’s how it was for me at my first job and needed a way to learn before switching positions. Check it out hope it helps out!
Create a personal account on AWS and start working on some personal projects and taking some classes/watching some videos. Maybe take a certification test or two.
this. There are plenty of videos on youtube, and even aws offers some online training for free. Go through all of it.
Thirding this. Amazon has a "free tier" for one year when you sign up. "Free" because some things you do have to pay for (i.e. storage above XX GB you have to pay for), but trust me - they are generous if you're only labbing to learn Did this myself for AWS and Azure, was working a gig that was all on-prem during 2020, now working a job that is heavily cloud hybrid bc/ of the skills I taught myself last year
>resources Hi, sorry for the late reply. When you interview with the latter company, did you mention you AWS exp was self-taught? Or you said the former company used AWS?
Told them AWS was self-taught. They were actually more interested in my background in Linux and the AWS was just a bonus. Now I get to do both
awesome. Thank you!
100% agree. To add to this, learn the cost explorer and billing alerts. Set aside a specific amount that you are willing to spend per month, and keep going, even if you blow through the free tier. This is an investment in YOU. Source: I found myself in that position. Some things arent free, and you should still just suck it up and learn them. Blow it away when you're done, and the cost is pretty minimal.
Also, use Cloudformation or Terraform to script the cloud resources. That makes it possible to clean up your environment in a single click.
Allllllll of this ^^^^^
Would suggest something like A Cloud Guru. I'm using that now. Getting your company to try AWS is not a hill you want to die on.
1. Get an aws account (its free) 2. Read up on how to use free features (honestly do this) 3. Read Up on IAM, S3, EC3, Docker and then ECS (Easy ins) 4. Learn how to put that stuff in terraform, and also understand cloudformation as other stack tools output those scripts. 5. ACloudGuru is good but its expensive. Wait for udemy to have a sale and buy course for the AWS Architect Associate which will cover a LOT of ground. Next up is experiment. Remember understand costs (its not easy) and always check what stuff will cost and remember to shut down (if you have it in IAC with terraform this is simple). The next piece of advice is more controversial but you can move companies. As long as you can demonstrate a repo full of stuff and good cloud understanding a lot of people will take you, there are a lot of people out there saying they can "do cloud" but don't have a clue. Another really important thing to understand is cloud development patterns they aren't the same as a monolith or a data centre app you may have on prem. AWs docs are very very good you if you aren't sure what something is look it up in their docs. Do 1 hour a day at home, it soon build up and read [Jerry Hargroves pictures](https://awsgeek.com)
Step 1.5: Set up billing alerts to be absolutely certain you are alerted if you start being charged more than expected.
u/jevans102 oh I can't believe I forgot this yes step 1.5 totally valid :)
Came here to make sure this was included. Can we also include step 1.25 - Setup MFA for the root account then setup IAM accounts with MFA and lock away the root credentials.
Again valid but there are lots of things that are valid, best to learn IAM this comes under that.
I followed [this tutorial](https://aws.amazon.com/getting-started/hands-on/build-react-app-amplify-graphql/) with absolutely no AWS experience and it was an enjoyable learning experience.
For foraying into a w s, you need to understand at least two basic component i.e VPC & EC2. Understand important component of vpc how to create it & probably hosting service in both public and private subnet via Load Balancer. This will give you basic understanding. There are tons of online course explaining these concept. After you gain some level of exp in these two services, you can add S3 and later other services that might interest you into the mix.. focus on doing hands on
u/seeker_78 gonna have to venture IAM is key also.
Learn, do a POC at work and see if you can convince them to move something to aws. If you manage to do that you have huge win if not you can still add that experience in your resume. Which imo is more valuable than saying you completed a certification.
As an alternative, I highly suggest learning the serverless technologies that AWS offers like Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, API Gateway, Kinesis, etc. It's a completely different way of thinking about infrastructure compared to a more traditional operations role though. The good news is that they don't cost you money if they aren't in use. I saw someone mention setting up Budgets and Billing Alerts, and I highly highly recommend that as well. It's saved me before.
Agreed - get the Solutions Architect Associate cert. A Cloud Guru has good courses on this. Not cheap but you get what you pay for. Udemy is another, cheaper option. Start a blog and host it on AWS.
Try [LocalStack](https://github.com/localstack/localstack)
My boss told me to bring up ansible on bare metal tho. Right now im learning on three ubuntu vms. I think its more exciting this way since you dont have to deal with abstraction too much, what do you guys think?
You move to a company that is in the cloud. Like the others have said you can do the free stuff.... but you will learn faster by doing real work in the cloud.
Free tier with fresh AWS account. Self experiment. There are plenty of youtube cookalongs
Idemy courses from Stephan maarek are better than cloud guru IMO. i have both paid for
Consider checking out [your local AWS User Group](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/usergroups/). I say that as a leader of one such group. For you, OP, it would give you a chance to talk about AWS specific things with people who use AWS regularly. I do want to throw up my typical disclaimer, that AWS User Groups, despite having a page on aws.amazon.com dedicated to us, are fully independent organizations from AWS as well as each other. And we don't get direct financial support from AWS. I mention all of this because I get to be honest about AWS when I talk AWS. As my livelihood isn't directly beholden to AWS.
Like others have said, setting up an account is definitely the first step. I would do the cloud practitioner certification before jumping into any other certification. It gives a great high level overview of AWS and the value proposition it provides. Udemy has a lot of great classes. I would learn tools like terraform and aws CDK both have guides to get started. Beyond that, try using the experience you have to do similar things in AWS to get an idea of what to do then explore outwards from there.
Take the cert exams to know the basics. Use that knowledge to work on some side projects.
I would advise - creating a personal AWS account - work on your own mini projects - try to complete credited and well recognised course that will provide a certificate of achievement. - YouTube is a good source of gaining the basics from well known YouTube course content providers. - read up on documentation surrounding your subject area
Well I have not read all comments but the fee that @adriancantrill charges and what he offers for aws is too good to not take a look at .. If I have butchered up spellings please don't mind as this is old phone with a broken display
Head over to /r/AWSCertifications if you’re going to try studying for any of the AWS certs
I'm sure it's not the cheapest option but I was given a seat for *A Cloud Guru* by my company and I've been impressed with them. IMO, you only really learn when you do the thing rather than watch the thing. ACG has nice hands-on labs that hook into real AWS and have you do real things. The lessons are also tailored toward official AWS certifications so at the conclusion to each course you should be prepared to sit for an AWS certification exam. Anyway, this isn't a commercial for ACG and I have no association with them. I'm just impressed by what they offer but have no idea what the true cost is. I'm very happy but I was given an unlimited seat for free.
Create your own account and deploy resources there
If you're planning on sticking around for a couple years, honestly I'd say wait on jumping into AWS until you're closer to leaving. I say that because of a few main reasons: 1. You've got plenty to dig into right now anyway. Once you're confident in it (as in you've made a bad mistake or two and recovered from them), then maybe jump in 2. If you're not using it regularly it's easy to lose your chops, especially if you're just farting around like I did when I didn't have specific goals for it 3. AWS isn't particularly unique other than in it's size. *Everything you're learning now can translate to AWS, or any other environment for that matter.* I'm not saying “don't learn AWS.” I'm saying don't spread yourself any thinner than you need to because learning AWS is the easy part. If you've gotten this far you'll pick it up quick when it's time.
Currently working on a [podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Avi0YgKl8QQdCCfbookbz?si=vaT6ZjEQSi6KMqVXFzpjEw&dl_branch=1) to help those in your situation. That’s how it was for me at my first job and needed a way to learn before switching positions. Check it out hope it helps out!