How to Switch Your Career to AWS Cloud Engineer: Skills, Roadmap & Key Things You Should Know
Switching your career into AWS Cloud Engineering is very achievable with the right roadmap. Since you already have a technical background (and even experience in AWS/Terraform/Solution Architecture from our earlier chats), you can accelerate this transition. Let me break it down for you:
. Understand the AWS Cloud Engineer Role
An AWS Cloud Engineer typically:
- Designs, builds, and maintains scalable cloud infrastructure.
- Automates deployments with tools like Terraform/CloudFormation.
- Ensures security, monitoring, and cost optimization.
- Works closely with developers, architects, and DevOps engineers.
2. Core Skills You Must Know
Here’s a priority checklist:
AWS Core Services
- Compute: EC2, Lambda, ECS, EKS, Auto Scaling.
- Storage: S3, EBS, EFS, Storage Gateway.
- Networking: VPC, Subnets, NAT, Route 53, Load Balancers.
- Databases: RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora.
- Security: IAM, KMS, Security Groups, WAF, GuardDuty.
- Monitoring: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, AWS Config.
- Deployment/CI-CD: CodePipeline, CodeDeploy, CodeBuild, Amplify.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Terraform (most in demand).
- CloudFormation (good to know).
Linux & Scripting
- Linux basics, shell scripting.
- Python or Bash for automation.
Containers
- Docker fundamentals.
- Kubernetes (EKS on AWS).
CI/CD & DevOps
- Git, GitHub/GitLab, Jenkins/GitHub Actions.
- Integrating CI/CD pipelines with AWS.
Networking Fundamentals
- TCP/IP, DNS, VPN, CIDR, Load Balancing concepts.
Cloud Security
- Identity & Access Management (IAM) best practices.
- Encryption, compliance basics.
3. Certifications (Optional but Helpful)
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (you already have ✅).
- Next: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator or AWS DevOps Engineer.
- These build credibility when switching careers.
4. Practical Projects (Resume Boosters)
You’ll stand out if you showcase hands-on projects:
- Deploy a 3-tier web app with EC2 + RDS + ALB.
- Create a serverless app using Lambda + API Gateway + DynamoDB.
- Build a CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions + Terraform + ECS/EKS).
- Migrate an on-prem workload to AWS (simulate with local VM → EC2).
5. Career Transition Strategy
- Step 1: Learn AWS fundamentals + hands-on labs (Qwiklabs, Free Tier).
- Step 2: Build GitHub portfolio with projects (IaC, CI/CD).
- Step 3: Update resume/LinkedIn with keywords: AWS, Terraform, EKS, CI/CD, Cloud Security.
- Step 4: Target roles like Cloud Engineer, AWS Engineer, DevOps Engineer (AWS-focused).
- Step 5: Prepare for interviews (scenario-based Q&A: scaling, cost optimization, security hardening).
6. Interview Prep (What to Expect)
- Scenario questions: “How would you design a system for 1M+ requests per second?”
- Hands-on questions: IAM policies, VPC setup, Terraform syntax.
- Behavioral: Incident response, migration stories.
Real-Time Projects for Resume / Interviews
Hiring managers look for project-style stories that show you can handle production-like environments:
- 3-Tier Web Application on AWS
- EC2 (App tier) + RDS (DB tier) + ALB + AutoScaling.
- Terraform + GitHub Actions pipeline.
- Serverless Data Processing Pipeline
- S3 (upload) → Lambda (process) → DynamoDB (store) → SNS (notify).
- EKS Cluster Deployment
- Deploy microservices (frontend + backend + DB).
- Implement Ingress, Secrets, and HPA.
- Cloud Migration Simulation
- Lift & shift a VM into AWS EC2.
- Re-architect with RDS, S3, and CloudFront.
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