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Learning path

AWS learning path: everything to study, topic by topic

Comprehensive AWS Cloud assessment covering cloud foundations, IAM, compute, networking, storage, databases, serverless architecture, security, monitoring, and cost optimization.

Short answer

To learn AWS, work through 7 modules and 42 topics in the order they build on each other. It starts with Cloud Foundations & IAM, then moves on to Compute & Networking and Storage & Databases. Use the map as a checklist, or measure your level and study only what is missing.

7
modules
42
topics
55
min to assess

What you will study

Topics are grouped by module. Open one to see its objectives and key concepts.

1 · Cloud Foundations & IAM6 topics
  • Cloud Fundamentals

    Core cloud computing concepts, shared responsibility model, and AWS global infrastructure

    Objectives

    • Explain cloud value proposition
    • Describe the shared responsibility model

    Key concepts

    • cloud benefits
    • shared responsibility
    • regions
    • AZs
    • edge locations
    • pay-as-you-go
  • IAM Users & Groups

    Creating and managing IAM users, groups, and basic permission management

    Objectives

    • Configure IAM users and groups
    • Enforce MFA and password policies

    Key concepts

    • IAM users
    • groups
    • console access
    • programmatic access
    • MFA
    • password policies
  • IAM Roles & Policies

    IAM roles, managed and inline policies, policy evaluation logic, and least-privilege access

    Objectives

    • Design least-privilege IAM policies
    • Understand policy evaluation logic

    Key concepts

    • IAM roles
    • managed policies
    • inline policies
    • policy evaluation
    • least privilege
    • trust policies
  • AWS Organizations

    Multi-account strategies, SCPs, consolidated billing, and organizational units

    Objectives

    • Design multi-account strategies
    • Apply SCPs for governance

    Key concepts

    • AWS Organizations
    • SCPs
    • OUs
    • consolidated billing
    • cross-account access
    • control tower
  • CloudFormation

    Infrastructure as code with CloudFormation templates, stacks, and change sets

    Objectives

    • Write CloudFormation templates
    • Manage infrastructure as code

    Key concepts

    • template anatomy
    • resources section
    • parameters and mappings
    • outputs and exports
    • intrinsic functions
    • stack updates and rollbacks
    • nested stacks
    • change sets
  • Shared Responsibility Model

    AWS vs customer responsibility boundaries across infrastructure, container, and abstracted services

    Objectives

    • Distinguish AWS and customer responsibilities
    • Explain how the model shifts across service types

    Key concepts

    • AWS vs customer responsibility
    • shared controls
    • infrastructure services
    • container services
    • abstracted services
2 · Compute & Networking9 topics
  • EC2 Instances

    Instance types, AMIs, security groups, key pairs, placement groups, and instance metadata

    Objectives

    • Launch and configure EC2 instances
    • Select appropriate instance types

    Key concepts

    • instance types
    • AMI
    • security groups
    • key pairs
    • EBS volumes
    • instance metadata
  • VPC & Subnets

    Virtual private clouds, subnets, route tables, NACLs, NAT gateways, and VPC peering

    Objectives

    • Design VPC architectures
    • Configure public and private subnets

    Key concepts

    • VPC
    • subnets
    • route tables
    • NACLs
    • NAT gateway
    • VPC peering
    • VPC endpoints
  • Load Balancing & Auto Scaling

    ELB types (ALB, NLB, CLB), target groups, auto scaling groups, and scaling policies

    Objectives

    • Configure load balancers for high availability
    • Design auto scaling strategies

    Key concepts

    • ALB
    • NLB
    • target groups
    • auto scaling groups
    • scaling policies
    • health checks
  • Route 53

    DNS management, routing policies, health checks, and domain registration

    Objectives

    • Configure DNS routing policies
    • Implement failover strategies with Route 53

    Key concepts

    • hosted zones
    • routing policies
    • health checks
    • alias records
    • failover routing
  • CloudFront

    CDN distribution, origins, cache behaviors, signed URLs, and Lambda@Edge

    Objectives

    • Configure CloudFront distributions
    • Secure content delivery with signed URLs

    Key concepts

    • distributions
    • origins
    • cache behaviors
    • signed URLs
    • Lambda@Edge
    • OAI
  • ECS & Fargate

    Container orchestration with ECS, Fargate serverless compute, task definitions, services, and clusters

    Objectives

    • Deploy containerized applications on ECS
    • Choose between Fargate and EC2 launch types

    Key concepts

    • task definitions
    • services
    • clusters
    • Fargate vs EC2 launch type
    • task networking
    • service discovery
  • ECR

    Elastic Container Registry for Docker image management, lifecycle policies, scanning, and cross-account access

    Objectives

    • Manage container images with ECR
    • Configure lifecycle policies and image scanning

    Key concepts

    • image repositories
    • lifecycle policies
    • image scanning
    • cross-account access
    • immutable tags
  • EKS Basics

    Managed Kubernetes with EKS, node groups, Fargate profiles, IRSA, and cluster management

    Objectives

    • Deploy and manage EKS clusters
    • Configure IRSA for pod-level AWS access

    Key concepts

    • managed control plane
    • node groups
    • Fargate profiles
    • IRSA
    • kubectl
    • Helm
  • Auto Scaling Deep-Dive

    Advanced auto scaling with launch templates, scaling policies, predictive scaling, and warm pools

    Objectives

    • Design advanced auto scaling strategies
    • Configure predictive scaling and warm pools

    Key concepts

    • launch templates
    • scaling policies
    • target tracking
    • step scaling
    • scheduled scaling
    • AMIs
    • predictive scaling
    • warm pools
3 · Storage & Databases5 topics
  • S3

    Buckets, objects, storage classes, lifecycle policies, versioning, and access control

    Objectives

    • Design S3 storage strategies
    • Configure lifecycle and access policies

    Key concepts

    • buckets
    • storage classes
    • lifecycle policies
    • versioning
    • pre-signed URLs
    • bucket policies
  • EBS & EFS

    Block and file storage, volume types, snapshots, encryption, and performance tuning

    Objectives

    • Select appropriate storage types for workloads
    • Manage snapshots and encryption

    Key concepts

    • EBS volume types
    • IOPS
    • snapshots
    • EFS
    • mount targets
    • encryption at rest
  • RDS & Aurora

    Managed relational databases, Multi-AZ, read replicas, Aurora serverless, and backups

    Objectives

    • Design highly available RDS deployments
    • Choose between RDS and Aurora

    Key concepts

    • Multi-AZ
    • read replicas
    • Aurora serverless
    • automated backups
    • parameter groups
    • encryption
  • DynamoDB

    NoSQL data modeling, partition keys, sort keys, GSIs, LSIs, and capacity modes

    Objectives

    • Design DynamoDB table schemas
    • Choose appropriate capacity modes

    Key concepts

    • partition keys
    • sort keys
    • GSI
    • LSI
    • on-demand vs provisioned
    • DynamoDB Streams
  • ElastiCache

    Managed Redis and Memcached, caching strategies, replication, and cluster mode

    Objectives

    • Design caching layers with ElastiCache
    • Choose between Redis and Memcached

    Key concepts

    • Redis vs Memcached
    • caching strategies
    • replication groups
    • cluster mode
    • eviction policies
4 · Serverless, Integration & CI/CD7 topics
  • Lambda

    Serverless functions, triggers, layers, concurrency, cold starts, and best practices

    Objectives

    • Design serverless applications with Lambda
    • Optimize cold start performance

    Key concepts

    • handler
    • triggers
    • layers
    • concurrency
    • cold starts
    • environment variables
  • API Gateway

    REST and HTTP APIs, stages, authorizers, throttling, and usage plans

    Objectives

    • Design APIs with API Gateway
    • Configure authorization and throttling

    Key concepts

    • REST vs HTTP API
    • stages
    • authorizers
    • throttling
    • usage plans
    • CORS
  • Step Functions

    Workflow orchestration, state machines, error handling, and Express vs Standard workflows

    Objectives

    • Design workflow orchestrations
    • Handle errors in distributed workflows

    Key concepts

    • state machines
    • task states
    • error handling
    • retries
    • Express vs Standard
    • parallel execution
  • SQS, SNS & EventBridge

    Message queues, pub/sub, event buses, dead-letter queues, and event-driven patterns

    Objectives

    • Design event-driven architectures
    • Choose between SQS, SNS, and EventBridge

    Key concepts

    • SQS standard vs FIFO
    • SNS topics
    • EventBridge rules
    • DLQ
    • fan-out
    • event patterns
  • Simple Email Service (SES)

    Transactional and marketing email with SES, domain verification, authentication protocols, and bounce handling

    Objectives

    • Configure SES for transactional email
    • Implement email authentication and bounce handling

    Key concepts

    • SES sandbox mode
    • domain verification
    • DKIM/SPF/DMARC
    • sending quotas
    • bounce handling
    • complaint notifications
    • email templates
    • sender reputation
  • CI/CD Services

    AWS developer tools for continuous integration and delivery: CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodeCommit

    Objectives

    • Design CI/CD pipelines with CodePipeline
    • Configure CodeBuild and CodeDeploy for automated delivery

    Key concepts

    • CodePipeline stages
    • CodeBuild buildspec
    • CodeDeploy strategies
    • artifact management
    • pipeline triggers
    • approval actions
    • cross-account deployments
    • CodeCommit basics
  • Kinesis & Streaming

    Real-time data streaming with Kinesis Data Streams, Firehose, Analytics, and stream processing patterns

    Objectives

    • Design real-time streaming architectures with Kinesis
    • Choose between Kinesis Data Streams and Firehose

    Key concepts

    • Kinesis Data Streams
    • shards and partitions
    • Kinesis Firehose
    • consumer types (KCL)
    • retention periods
    • enhanced fan-out
    • Kinesis Analytics
    • stream processing patterns
5 · Security & Monitoring4 topics
  • KMS & Secrets Manager

    Encryption key management, envelope encryption, secret rotation, and parameter store

    Objectives

    • Design encryption strategies with KMS
    • Implement secret rotation

    Key concepts

    • CMKs
    • envelope encryption
    • key rotation
    • Secrets Manager
    • Parameter Store
    • encryption context
  • CloudWatch

    Metrics, alarms, logs, dashboards, custom metrics, and CloudWatch Insights

    Objectives

    • Build monitoring strategies with CloudWatch
    • Create custom metrics and alarms

    Key concepts

    • metrics
    • alarms
    • log groups
    • custom metrics
    • Insights queries
    • dashboards
  • WAF & Shield

    Web application firewall rules, DDoS protection, rate-based rules, and managed rule groups

    Objectives

    • Configure WAF rules for web protection
    • Design DDoS mitigation strategies

    Key concepts

    • WAF rules
    • managed rule groups
    • rate-based rules
    • Shield Standard vs Advanced
    • IP sets
  • GuardDuty & Inspector

    Threat detection, vulnerability scanning, security findings, and automated remediation

    Objectives

    • Implement threat detection with GuardDuty
    • Automate vulnerability scanning

    Key concepts

    • GuardDuty findings
    • Inspector assessments
    • Security Hub
    • automated remediation
    • threat intelligence
6 · Architecture, Data & Analytics5 topics
  • Well-Architected Framework

    Six pillars of the Well-Architected Framework and architectural review process

    Objectives

    • Apply Well-Architected pillars to designs
    • Conduct architectural reviews

    Key concepts

    • six pillars
    • operational excellence
    • security
    • reliability
    • performance
    • cost optimization
    • sustainability
  • Cost Optimization

    Reserved instances, savings plans, spot instances, rightsizing, and cost allocation

    Objectives

    • Design cost-optimized architectures
    • Implement cost governance strategies

    Key concepts

    • reserved instances
    • savings plans
    • spot instances
    • rightsizing
    • cost allocation tags
    • Cost Explorer
  • Migration Patterns

    The 7 Rs of migration, migration strategies, AWS Migration Hub, and database migration

    Objectives

    • Plan cloud migration strategies
    • Select appropriate migration patterns

    Key concepts

    • 7 Rs
    • rehost
    • replatform
    • refactor
    • Migration Hub
    • DMS
    • SCT
  • Analytics Services

    Data analytics with Athena, Glue, QuickSight, Redshift, and Lake Formation for serverless data lakes

    Objectives

    • Query data in S3 with Athena and Glue
    • Design serverless data lake architectures

    Key concepts

    • Athena SQL queries
    • Glue crawlers
    • Glue ETL jobs
    • data catalog
    • QuickSight dashboards
    • Redshift basics
    • Lake Formation
    • partition projection
  • SageMaker

    Machine learning lifecycle with SageMaker notebooks, training jobs, model endpoints, pipelines, and monitoring

    Objectives

    • Build and deploy ML models with SageMaker
    • Design ML pipelines with SageMaker Pipelines

    Key concepts

    • SageMaker notebooks
    • training jobs
    • built-in algorithms
    • model endpoints
    • SageMaker Pipelines
    • feature store
    • model monitoring
    • hyperparameter tuning
7 · Expert & Emerging6 topics
  • AWS Control Tower & Landing Zones

    Deploying and operating AWS Control Tower to standardize multi-account environments with guardrails and landing zones

    Objectives

    • Design and deploy a Control Tower landing zone for enterprise environments
    • Configure preventive and detective guardrails with appropriate SCP policies

    Key concepts

    • Landing Zone
    • Account Factory
    • guardrails
    • SCPs
    • log archive account
    • audit account
    • VPC baseline
    • account vending
  • Multi-Account Strategy & SCPs

    Designing AWS multi-account strategies using AWS Organizations, OU hierarchies, and Service Control Policies

    Objectives

    • Design OU hierarchies that align to security and compliance boundaries
    • Write SCPs that enforce least-privilege guardrails at the organization level

    Key concepts

    • AWS Organizations
    • OUs
    • SCPs
    • account segmentation
    • delegated administration
    • billing consolidation
    • security boundaries
  • Amazon Bedrock & AI Services

    Building AI-powered applications with Amazon Bedrock: model selection, Knowledge Bases, Agents, and responsible AI guardrails

    Objectives

    • Select and integrate Bedrock foundation models for production AI workloads
    • Design RAG architectures with Knowledge Bases and implement responsible AI guardrails

    Key concepts

    • Bedrock foundation models
    • Knowledge Bases
    • Bedrock Agents
    • RAG patterns
    • guardrails
    • model invocation logging
    • cross-region inference
  • AWS FinOps

    Managing and optimizing AWS costs using Cost Explorer, Savings Plans, Compute Optimizer, and rightsizing strategies

    Objectives

    • Select and implement the correct commitment discount strategy for a given workload
    • Build a FinOps practice with unit economics, anomaly detection, and chargeback reporting

    Key concepts

    • Savings Plans
    • Reserved Instances
    • Spot Instances
    • Compute Optimizer
    • Cost Anomaly Detection
    • unit economics
    • showback/chargeback
  • AWS Resilience Hub & Fault Injection

    Using AWS Resilience Hub and AWS FIS to measure, test, and improve application resilience against failure scenarios

    Objectives

    • Use AWS Resilience Hub to assess and track application resiliency scores against RTO/RPO policies
    • Design and run AWS FIS experiments to validate failure assumptions

    Key concepts

    • Resilience Hub
    • RTO/RPO policies
    • AWS FIS
    • fault injection experiments
    • resiliency scores
    • multi-AZ design
    • DR runbooks
  • AWS Security Hub & GuardDuty at Depth

    Operating a comprehensive AWS security posture using Security Hub findings, GuardDuty detectors, and automated remediation

    Objectives

    • Aggregate and prioritize Security Hub findings across a multi-account organization
    • Design automated remediation pipelines triggered by GuardDuty and Security Hub events

    Key concepts

    • Security Hub findings
    • CSPM
    • GuardDuty detectors
    • threat intelligence
    • automated remediation
    • Security Hub integrations
    • ASFF format

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Frequently asked questions

Where should I start studying AWS?

Start with Cloud Foundations & IAM: Cloud Fundamentals, IAM Users & Groups, and IAM Roles & Policies. The map orders topics by what they depend on, so each one prepares the next.

How long does a full AWS assessment take?

A full assessment of this path takes about 55 minutes. Study time depends on where you start; a diagnostic shows which topics you can skip.

Do I need an account to use this page?

No. The map, objectives and key concepts are open. You only need an account to be measured, get your gap by topic and receive a plan.