Tips for Gaining Practical Experience in Cloud Engineering

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝟰𝟬𝟬 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗪𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱. Here’s why you’re not getting hired, and how to flip the game. Most people treat the cloud like school: 📚 Study. 📝 Test. 🎓 Cert. Then… silence. No job. No calls. No shot. Why? Because you’ve built 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, not 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. Here’s what the people who go from “𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴” to $80, $90 or even $100K+ offers actually do (that no course will teach you): 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 “𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀,” 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 Projects are good. But 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 are better. This means: ✅ GitHub repo + architecture diagram ✅ Loom walkthrough: "Here’s how I built it & why" ✅ LinkedIn post: “Business impact of my cloud solution” ✅ Resume bullet: “Reduced X by Y using Z” They don’t just 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 stuff, they 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘨𝘦 it like a portfolio pitch deck. 𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 Most beginners build what’s 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 (launch an EC2, host a static site). The ones that want the offer, build what’s 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥: “Automated IAM cleanup across dev/test accounts” “Created centralized logging using ELK & S3 lifecycle policies” “Built a budget alerting system for sandbox projects” These sound advanced, but they’re not. They just 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 companies actually deal with. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 They don’t just say, 👉🏾 “I set up a VPC.” They say, 👉🏾 “I designed a 3-tier VPC for a fintech app that needed PCI-DSS compliance, public ELB, private app + DB tiers, NAT gateway for secure outbound traffic.” Even if it’s all mock, it 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦: 🎯 “I think like an engineer.” 🎯 “I understand context.” 🎯 “I can walk into your problem and build something that makes sense.” 𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲-𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Every cloud job is a cheat sheet. Instead of guessing what to build, they: * Pull 10 job posts * Circle every tool/problem mentioned * Build mini-projects around those * Post their journey like a series: “One week, one use case” 👉🏾 By week 5, they’ve built a portfolio targeted to actual market demand. 𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 This is subtle but massive: They don’t “hope to break in.” They speak, share, and build like they’re already in. Their content doesn’t say: “I’m learning cloud.” It says: “Here’s how I think about cloud architecture.” That energy gets noticed. That mindset 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗗𝗠𝘀. That shift = leverage to show you can solve THIER problem. Want to Actually Get Hired? Stop going after all certs. Start proving capability. Start showing how you solve problems. 💬 Drop “𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗙” if you want the full list of value-packed, business-focused projects that actually convert to interviews. I'll send you access to them Let’s make the work, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 for you.

Stop Collecting Courses. Start Building Systems. I’ve reviewed hundreds of cloud resumes, and here’s the pattern I see: What doesn’t differentiate you: • Another AWS certification • Completed online courses • Theoretical knowledge of services What actually gets you hired: • A GitHub repo showing you deployed a three-tier application on AWS • Evidence you’ve solved real architectural problems • Infrastructure-as-code that demonstrates you understand security and scalability The Learning Trap: Too many aspiring cloud engineers get stuck in perpetual learning mode—jumping from course to course, certification to certification. Meanwhile, the market is screaming for people who can actually build. What Building Projects Actually Teaches You! When you deploy real infrastructure, you encounter: • IAM policies that are too permissive (and how to fix them) • Cost overruns that teach you resource optimization • Network configurations that don’t work , until you understand VPCs deeply • CI/CD pipelines that fail will for e you to master automation. • Monitoring gaps that teach you observability. These lessons don’t come from videos. They come from breaking things and fixing them. Start Here Build something you’d actually use: → Deploy a containerized app with ECS/EKS → Automate infrastructure with Terraform → Create a CI/CD pipeline that deploys on merge → Implement monitoring with CloudWatch and alerting → Document your architecture decisions Then make it public. Write about what you learned. Share your code. The Reality Hiring managers don’t care if you watched 400 hours of tutorials. They care if you can design a VPC, write secure IAM policies, and automate deployments without breaking production. Your GitHub profile is your portfolio. Make it count. What projects are you currently building? What challenges are you running into? My is on the comment section #AWS #CloudEngineering #DevOps #CareerAdvice #TechCareers #CloudComputing #InfrastructureAsCode #LearningByDoing #BuildInPublic #SoftwareEngineering

Want to switch from Software engineer to Cloud engineer role in 6 months? Study this roadmap: You already know the SDLC processes – now dive into how to build, run and deploy cloud-native apps 3-Month Foundation : • Learn core Linux (permissions, systemd, logging) • Understand networking (VPC, DNS, NAT, firewalls) • Pick a cloud provider (AWS / GCP / Azure / OCI) ↳ Focus on IAM, Compute, Storage, networking basics, billing fundamentals etc • Learn Python for automation (already familiar? think how you can use with Boto3, SDKs, scripting) • Learn Infrastructure as Code (Terraform / Pulumi/ AWS Cloudformation) • Explore cloud-native patterns (microservices, managed services) ↳ Target: Junior Cloud Engineer roles (ave comp ~$100k) You already know Git — now use it to: • Version control your Terraform infrastructure • Track changes to IaC and cloud automation scripts • Set up GitOps-style deployment patterns 3-Month Advanced Track : • Pick a specialty (Networking, Data, Databases, DevOps, Security, AI/ML etc) If you picked DevOps: • Work with containers (build/run with Docker) • Deploy apps using Kubernetes (pods, services, configs) • Set up CI/CD pipelines (using cloud-specific services) • Implement cloud security concepts (IAM, roles, secrets management) • Configure monitoring & logging (Cloud-Specific or Prometheus/Grafana) • Automate end-to-end workflows(from build to deploy) using Python or Shell (SDKs, scripts, cron) - [this is very advanced] ↳ Target: Mid-level Cloud Engineer roles (ave comp ~$125k) Leverage your SWE skills: • Containerize existing apps • Build pipelines for test → deploy • Refactor into cloud-native services Quick Wins: - Complete Qwiklabs or provider-specific cloud labs - Sign up for free tiers and experiment (watch your credit limits) - Build and deploy 3 cloud-native projects - Earn a practitioner or specialty certification (based on your tech exposure) Free Resources to start, here's your one stop shop: https://lnkd.in/dF9xVE9X Do this next: You've already built apps - now think which cloud-based services you'd need to run it on cloud (deploy it with Terraform + CI/CD) Hands-on experience >> watching videos or reading blogs. Remember, you're not starting from scratch. As a Software Engineer, you already think in systems. Now think in cloud systems What worked for you in your cloud journey? • • • If you found this useful.. 🔔 Follow me (Vishakha) for more Cloud & DevOps insights ♻️ Share so others can learn as well

I have 12 years of AWS experience If I was in college and here's how I would start. Here’s the path I wish I had when I was starting out 👇 Step 1: Understand the Cloud (but skip the fluff) → What is compute, storage, IAM, VPC? → How do EC2, Lambda, and S3 actually work? 🎓 Start here: → AWS Cloud Quest → Cloud Practitioner Essentials Step 2: Use the Free Tier to build projects → Host a portfolio with S3 + CloudFront → Create a serverless app with Lambda + API Gateway → Set up a DynamoDB database 📚 Tutorials: → AWS Hands-on Labs → Build on AWS (YouTube) Step 3: Learn to code just enough → Python for scripting & Lambda → Shell for automation → Terraform for infra-as-code Resources: → realpython.com → gobyexample.com → HashiCorp Learn (Terraform) Step 4: Get AWS Student Credits → Apply at awseducate.com → Use credits to try SageMaker, RDS, Bedrock, etc. Step 5: Focus on the Core 5 Don’t learn 200+ services. Just start with: → S3 → EC2 → Lambda → RDS or DynamoDB → IAM Build mini-projects with just these. Step 6: Build Projects That Show What You Know Real > Tutorial 💡 Ideas: → Telegram bot using Lambda → AI chatbot using Bedrock + Streamlit → CI/CD portfolio with S3 + GitHub Actions → Scheduled job with CloudWatch + Python → Share them on GitHub → Write about them on LinkedIn Step 7: Join the Community → Follow Corey Quinn, Forrest Brazeal, Ant Stanley → Join r/aws, AWS Discords, local events → Attend AWS Community Days, re:Invent online Final Advice: Don’t chase 100 certs. Build. Break things. Document everything. That’s how you grow. If you want 3 custom AWS project ideas to practice, Comment “AWS Projects” and I’ll send them your way. Let’s get you cloud-ready

Someone reached out to me and asked: "If you had to start over as a Cloud Engineer, what would you do the same and what would you do differently?" Thought this might help more people 👇 First, I didn't have any cloud certifications when I got hired. Certs are helpful, but I think exposure is more important & building hands-on projects will take someone further. What mattered more: • Strong IT fundamentals • Hands-on experience • Communication skills • Critical thinking If I were starting today, I'd invest in hands-on learning like KodeKloud and focus heavily on building real projects. What I'd Do the Same: • Master the fundamentals • Learn/Build on Terraform • Learn/Build on Kubernetes • Study the AWS Well-Architected Framework (Azure has their own version too) • Practice explaining technical concepts clearly Everything in the cloud is built around solid architecture principles. What I'd Do Differently: In an ideal world, I would've skipped my local college and gone to Western Governors University to save time and money. Also, I would've gone MUCH deeper into: • Networking • Coding (especially Python) Don't skip networking. Don't skip coding. AI helps me move faster today, but I think you still need to understand what's happening under the hood. What Big Tech (like Amazon Web Services) actually looks for: Somebody can always learn to be more technical, but behavioral skills and critical thinking? Much harder. They care a lot about: • Communication • Ownership • Customer obsession • Structured thinking (use the STAR method) • Presentation skills In my interview, I was tested on a few areas: • Linux / Windows • Networking • Security • Incident response • Behavioral scenarios Each answer I gave lasted 5 minutes. Detailed. Structured. Metrics. STAR. Day-to-day as a Cloud Engineer: • You get a case/ticket • A customer explains a problem • You decide if its a security risk or not a security risk • You replicate it in your own cloud account • You troubleshoot • You solve it or escalate it • You clearly communicate findings via chat, email, or call. • You act like a case manager to hold others accountable to ensure the customer is happy and the case is progressing in a timely manner. You're building projects at least two times a day. It's technical depth, problem-solving, and customer communication. I still have gaps. I'm still studying. Cloud isn't about knowing everything, as is anything. But, it's about: • Strong fundamentals • Curiosity • Clear communication • Continuous improvement Hope this helps someone trying to break into cloud. That worked for me, but always get multiple opinions and decide on a path for yourself.