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AWS Cloud

34 courses 1 category

AWS is the dominant public cloud and the default infrastructure choice for a large share of enterprises, startups, and SaaS companies. Unlike the broader DevOps and cloud topic, this one zooms into AWS specifically — the certification ladder, the service catalogue, the architectural patterns, and the cost-optimization work that AWS-heavy teams spend their days on. Multi-cloud and vendor-neutral content lives elsewhere; here every example uses AWS APIs.

The certification track in 2026 still anchors most AWS careers. Solutions Architect Associate and Professional remain the most-requested credentials; the SysOps, Developer, and DevOps certifications cover operational and CI/CD work; the specialty certifications (Security, Networking, Machine Learning, Data Analytics) signal depth in a chosen lane. Beyond certifications, the real skills are designing systems that survive AWS outages, controlling costs as workloads scale, and using the right primitive for the right problem.

What you'll find under this topic

  • Certifications: SAA-C03, SAP-C02, SOA-C02, DVA-C02, DOP-C02, plus specialty tracks
  • Compute: EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate, Lambda, App Runner, Batch
  • Storage and databases: S3, EBS, RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, OpenSearch, Redshift
  • Networking: VPC design, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, Route 53, CloudFront
  • Serverless architecture: Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions, EventBridge, SQS
  • Security and IAM: roles, policies, KMS, Secrets Manager, GuardDuty, Security Hub
  • Cost optimization: Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, Spot, Compute Optimizer, FinOps practice
  • Infrastructure as code: CloudFormation, CDK, Terraform AWS provider

AWS-specialized roles hire at every scale — from the early SaaS startup running on a single account to enterprise platform teams managing thousands of accounts via AWS Organizations and Control Tower. The skill set transfers across employers because the service catalogue is industry-standard knowledge.

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AWS
AWS is the largest public cloud by revenue and the deepest by service catalog. Amazon launched it in 2006 with S3 and…

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Frequently asked questions

Which AWS certification should I get first?
Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) is the standard entry credential — broad enough to cover the core service catalogue and the most-requested cert by employers. Cloud Practitioner is gentler but rarely moves the hiring needle. If you already work in operations, SysOps Administrator (SOA-C02) is a stronger choice; developers can swap in Developer Associate (DVA-C02) instead.
Is AWS knowledge transferable to Azure or GCP?
Concepts transfer well — IAM, VPC design, managed databases, serverless, queues, and infra-as-code all map across the three big clouds. Service names and exact API shapes do not. Going AWS-first then learning Azure or GCP as needed is the common path; multi-cloud generalists are rarer and usually senior.
Do I need to know Linux and networking before AWS?
Yes. AWS is mostly Linux instances, VPCs, security groups, and routing in a managed wrapper. Without Linux fluency you'll struggle with EC2 troubleshooting; without basic networking (CIDR, NAT, routing tables, DNS) the VPC and Transit Gateway content won't land. Bring those before tackling architecture-level certifications.
AWS Lambda vs ECS vs EC2 — when do you use which?
Lambda for short event-driven workloads and glue code; usage stays cheap until traffic is heavy and steady. ECS or EKS for long-running services that need fine-grained control over runtime, networking, and scaling. EC2 directly when you need full OS access, GPU instances, or workloads that don't fit a container model. Most modern systems mix all three.
How long does it take to prepare for SAA-C03?
3–8 weeks of focused study for engineers already comfortable with cloud concepts; 2–4 months from a cold start. Plan on a video course plus the official exam guide, a couple of practice-exam providers, and hands-on lab time in a personal AWS account. The exam rewards architectural intuition more than memorization, so build things.