AWS Roadmap: Guide to Learning and Mastering AWS for Beginners

AWS is an incredibly powerful cloud platform that offers a wide range of services for computing needs all over the world. It is the most comprehensive and widely adopted cloud platform in existence today. 

Whether you’re a beginner or you’re an experienced professional, mastering AWS can open doors for various career opportunities. AWS gives you the ability to build scalable, secure, and cost-effective applications. It also enables you to create and deploy applications that are tailored to your specific needs.

If you are interested in learning how to use AWS and mastering its many features, refer to this AWS roadmap. It will walk you through all the steps of the AWS learning journey.

AWS Roadmap: A Step-by-Step Guide

Here is a step-by-step AWS and cloud computing roadmap to help you build your expertise in AWS and advance your career in cloud computing.

Step 1: Start by Understanding Cloud Computing

Before delving into AWS, it is crucial to grasp the concept of cloud computing and its different service models. Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing resources, such as storage, databases, networking, and software, over the Internet. You can take an online short-term cloud computing with AWS course to learn the basics of AWS services, AWS cloud concepts, and more.

Here are three main service models in cloud computing: 

a. IaaS

It provides virtualized computing resources, such as virtual machines, storage, and networking. It allows you to build and manage your infrastructure on the cloud. With IaaS, users have control over the operating system, applications, and configuration settings. 

b. PaaS

It offers a platform for developing, testing, and deploying applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. It offers a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, including the underlying infrastructure, operating system, and middleware.

c. SaaS

It provides ready-to-use software applications over the Internet, eliminating the need for installation or maintenance on the user’s end. Software is usually accessible through a web browser or client application. Additionally, cloud computing can be deployed in three different models, that is, public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud. Let’s understand them in more detail:

• Public Cloud: It is owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider, such as AWS, and is accessible over the Internet. Public clouds offer scalability, cost-efficiency, and accessibility, making them ideal for organizations with varying workloads and requirements.
  
• Private Cloud: It is a dedicated cloud environment for a single organization. Private clouds offer increased control, security, and customization. However, they typically require more upfront investment and maintenance efforts.
  
• Hybrid Cloud: It combines elements of both public and private clouds, allowing organizations to leverage the benefits of both models. This approach provides flexibility and optimized resource allocation. Understanding these concepts will lay a solid foundation for your AWS journey. It will help you make informed decisions when choosing the right services and deployment models for your needs.

Step 2: Learn the Essentials of AWS Frontend & Backend

AWS offers a comprehensive suite of services divided into frontend and backend components. It caters to different aspects of application development and deployment. Following is an overview of the frontend and backend components. 

a. AWS Frontend

The frontend focuses on services and tools for building user interfaces and client-side applications deployed on AWS. Here are the key components of the AWS frontend:

• Elastic Beanstalk: AWS elastic beanstalk simplifies the deployment and scaling of web applications and services by allowing you to choose the optimal AWS resources for your application.
  
• Amplify: Amplify is a powerful tool designed for web and mobile developers. It enables you to build, launch, and host entire applications on AWS without requiring extensive cloud expertise.
  
• CloudFront: As a Content Delivery Network (CDN) service, CloudFront utilizes servers strategically located around the world to deliver web content quickly, ensuring faster load times for users globally.
  
• Simple Storage Service (S3):  It is an object storage service that offers data availability, security, and scalability. S3 provides developers and IT teams with secure, durable, and highly scalable object storage capabilities.
  
• Cognito: This service manages user authentication and authorization for applications, allowing users to securely sign up, sign in, and access web and mobile applications. AWS Cognito can handle millions of users, integrate with various login methods, and ensure robust security measures.

b. AWS Backend

The backend focuses on services and tools for building scalable and reliable backend systems and APIs on AWS. The backend of AWS comprises three main subsections, which are as follows:

i. Master AWS Compute Services 

AWS Compute services provide the backbone for running and managing applications and workloads on the AWS cloud. Let’s take a look at some of the services in detail:

• Lambda: Lambda is a serverless computing service that executes your code in response to events. It automatically manages the underlying computing resources for you. This service eliminates the need for managing servers so that you can solely focus on your code.
  
• Lightsail: Designed to simplify AWS for developers, students, small businesses, etc., AWS Lightsail is a virtual private server (VPS) provider. It offers a comprehensive solution to quickly launch projects on the cloud such as virtual machines, containers, databases, content delivery networks (CDNs), and load balancers. 
  
• Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): EC2 offers a wide range of computing options, with over 500 instances available. You can choose from various processors, storage options, networking features, and operating systems to best suit your workload needs. EC2 also provides Auto Scaling Groups that enable you to maintain application availability and automatically adjust the number of EC2 instances based on scaling policies.

ii. Understand AWS Monitoring Using CloudWatch 

AWS CloudWatch is a monitoring and observability service that provides insights into your AWS resources, applications, and services. With CloudWatch, you can collect and analyze metrics, logs, and events. 

iii. Learn About AWS Integration Services 

AWS Integration services facilitate communication and coordination between decoupled components, microservices, and distributed systems. Here is a list of the integration services offered by AWS: 

• Simple Notification Service (SNS): SNS is a highly durable and secure pub/sub messaging service that enables you to decouple microservices and distribute messages to multiple subscribers.
  
• Step Functions: This service simplifies the coordination of distributed applications and microservices by using visual workflows. Step Functions allows you to build and execute complex, multi-step workflows while maintaining visibility and control over the entire process.
  
• Simple Queue Service (SQS): SQS is a managed message queuing service that helps you scale distributed systems, microservices, and serverless apps. It provides a reliable and scalable message queue for efficient communication between components.
  
• EventBridge: EventBridge is a powerful tool for building event-driven applications at scale. As a serverless event bus, it simplifies the integration and management of events generated from various sources, including applications, SaaS services, and AWS services.

iv. Learn Databases 

AWS offers a range of database services to cater to different data storage and processing needs. Let’s take a look at some of the databases provided by AWS:

• Relational Database Service (RDS): RDS is a collection of managed services that simplify setting up, operating, and scaling relational databases in the cloud.
  
• Aurora: Aurora is a relational database management system (RDBMS) designed for the cloud, offering full MySQL and PostgreSQL compatibility. It provides read replicas, automated multi-region replication, continuous backups, built-in security, and integrations with other AWS services.
  
• DynamoDB: DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service known for its fast performance, scalability, and reliability.
  
• ElastiCache: ElastiCache is a fully managed, in-memory caching service that provides support for flexible real-time use cases to improve application performance and minimize delays.

v. Explore Networking & Delivery 

AWS provides a suite of networking and delivery services to ensure secure, reliable, and efficient communication between your applications and users. Here are the networking and delivery services offered by AWS:

• API Gateway: API Gateway enables you to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure HTTP, REST, and WebSocket APIs at any size. 
  
• AWS Certificate Manager (ACM): ACM streamlines the complex task of organizing and implementing SSL/TLS certificates for your AWS services and internal resources.
  
• Route 53: This is a reliable and scalable service that functions as the Domain Name System (DNS) to link user requests with your AWS internet applications.
  
• Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): ELB is a service that evenly spreads out incoming website visitors among multiple servers, like IP addresses, EC2 instances, and containers. It keeps track of the health of these servers and only sends traffic to ones that are working properly. ELB adjusts its capacity based on how much traffic it’s receiving automatically.

vi. Discover Containers 

Containers have become a popular way to package and deploy applications. Here are the several services AWS offers to support container-based workloads:

• Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS): EKS is a fully managed service that allows you to run and manage containerized applications using Kubernetes. It provides a secure, reliable, and scalable environment for deploying and managing containerized workloads.
  
• App Runner: App Runner allows you to create and run containerized web applications and API services without needing any previous knowledge of containers or infrastructure.
  
• Elastic Container Service (ECS): ECS is a tool that helps you efficiently handle and expand containerized applications. It provides a secure and reliable way to deploy and manage containerized applications, ensuring efficient resource utilization.

Step 3: Understand Fundamental AWS Services & Functionalities

Before diving into more advanced services, it’s essential to understand the fundamental AWS services and functionalities that support the entire AWS ecosystem. Let’s take a look at the fundamental AWS services and functionalities: 

• Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM is a core AWS service that enables you to securely manage access to AWS resources. It allows you to create and manage users, groups, and roles, and control their permissions to access specific AWS services and resources.

• Availability Zones and Regions: AWS operates in multiple regions around the world, each consisting of multiple, isolated locations called Availability Zones. Understanding the concept of regions and availability zones is essential for building highly available applications.

• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): VPC is a section of the AWS Cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define. It provides complete control over your virtual networking environment, including IP address ranges, subnets, routing tables, and network gateways. Within a VPC, you can further explore access control lists (ACLs) & security groups, private & public subnets, internet & nat gateway, etc.

Step 4: Check out Common AWS Services 

One crucial aspect of the AWS roadmap is familiarizing yourself with the diverse services provided by AWS. These services are foundational components of the AWS ecosystem. They offer essential abilities for building and managing applications and infrastructure in the cloud. Here are some of the most common and widely used services in AWS that you should be aware of:

• Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
• Simple Storage Service (S3)
• Relational Database Service (RDS)
• Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Step 5: Explore Data Engineering 

AWS offers a comprehensive suite of services for data engineering. These services enable you to collect, process, analyze, and store vast amounts of data efficiently. Let’s take a look at some of the data engineering services offered by AWS: 

• Kinesis: AWS Kinesis is a service that allows you to collect, process, and analyze time-streaming data at any scale. It includes tools providing various capabilities for ingesting, transforming, and analyzing data streams.
  
• Athena: Athena is an interactive query service that allows you to analyze data stored in Amazon S3 using standard SQL. It simplifies data analysis by eliminating the need to manage and configure data warehouses or clusters.
  
• Lake Formation: Lake Formation is a service that simplifies the creation and management of secure data lakes. It enables you to centrally define data access and secure data across multiple data sources, and build analytics solutions on top of your data lake.
• Redshift: Redshift is a fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service that utilizes SQL to analyze data across data warehouses, and data lakes. It offers high performance and scalability, making it suitable for complex analytical workloads.
  
• Glue: Glue is a service for data integration that makes it easier to discover, prepare, and integrate data from various sources for purposes such as analytics, machine learning, and application development.

Step 6: Learn DevOps 

AWS provides a suite of DevOps services that simplify the process of building, deploying, and managing applications on the AWS Cloud. Let’s take a look at the DevOps services provided by AWS: 

• CodePipeline: CodePipeline is a fully managed continuous delivery service that helps you automate your release pipelines for fast and reliable application and infrastructure updates.
  
• CodeDeploy: CodeDeploy is a service that automates the deployment of application code to various computing services, including EC2 instances, ECS clusters, Lambda functions, and on-premises servers. It ensures reliable and seamless application deployments, minimizing downtime and reducing deployment errors.
  
• Cloud Development Kit (CDK): The Cloud Development Kit (CDK) is a software development framework that allows you to define your cloud infrastructure as code using familiar programming languages.
  
• CodeBuild: CodeBuild is a fully managed continuous integration service that compiles source code, runs tests, and produces software packages that are ready for deployment. 

Step 7: Gain Practical Experience

To master AWS, it’s crucial to gain practical experience along with theoretical knowledge. Building and deploying applications on AWS is the best way to reinforce your understanding of various services and their practical applications. Start with simple projects to gain confidence, and then move on to more complex projects. You can also participate in AWS-related hackathons, coding challenges, or online communities to learn from experienced practitioners and collaborate on real-world projects.

Conclusion

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has emerged as one of the leading platforms in the industry. This has created a high demand for individuals who possess the skills required to use AWS effectively. However, acquiring these skills requires dedication and continuous learning, which can be overwhelming without a proper roadmap. By following an AWS roadmap, you will gain proficiency in essential AWS services and acquire the skills necessary to build and deploy scalable, secure, and cost-effective applications on the AWS platform. 

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