AWS Developer Roadmap

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.

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1. 🐧 Linux & Networking Basics

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

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2. 🔐 IAM (Identity & Access 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

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3. 💻 EC2 (Compute)

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

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4. 🗃️ S3 (Storage)

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

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5. 🌐 VPC & Networking

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

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6. 🗄️ Databases (RDS / DynamoDB)

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)

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7. 📦 Containers (ECS / EKS)

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

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8. ⚡ Serverless (Lambda)

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

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9. 🧱 Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

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

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10. 📊 Monitoring, Logging & Cost Optimization

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

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11. 📂 Final Projects & Portfolio

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

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12. 🧰 Tools & Resources

• 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

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13. ✅ Skills Checklist

• 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

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📚 Official Resources

• 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

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💡 Recommended Projects

These are portfolio-ready mini-projects to consolidate your AWS skills:

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“Master AWS one service at a time. Combine them into real projects, and you’ll understand the cloud better than any certification.”

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