Join the Cloud Beginner Challenge!

First time getting hands on with AWS? This is the best place to start. Let's build four essential AWS projects in this fun, beginner-friendly and hands-on series.

Introduction

New to AWS? You're at the perfect place.

AWS skills are in huge demand, and in this challenge, we'll build them with hands on projects!

You don't need any experience to start learning cloud and AWS. Doing hands-on projects with NextWork will show you how.

Over four projects, you'll gain practical, hands-on experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that you can immediately add to your resume and apply in real-world scenarios.

By the end of this challenge, you'll have:

Set up your AWS account.
Published your own live website on the internet.
Created visualizations that turn data into insights.
Implemented cloud security best practices.
Built a portfolio that shows off your cloud skills!

What to Expect

This is a 100% hands-on challenge. You'll be working in the AWS console from day one.

Don't worry if you're new to AWS - we've designed this challenge to be beginner-friendly:

🤝 Step-by-step instructions that don't leave you guessing what to do next.
🧠 Just-in-time explanations - learn AWS and cloud concepts as you go.
🎥 Live demos of every project for visual learners.
😮‍💨 Line-by-line explanations of any code (no coding experience required).
🔍 Solutions for common challenges and errors.
📝 Guidance on writing documentation that showcase your learnings.
🔥 A supportive community to answer your questions and help you out.
🏁 No AWS account yet? No problem - we'll help you set one up in Project 1.

How do I start?

It's super easy - every day, come back to this checklist and tick off the next project on the list:

0️⃣ Before you start: Set Up an AWS Account
1️⃣ Day #1 Host a Website on Amazon S3
2️⃣ Day #2 Cloud Security with AWS IAM
3️⃣ Day #3 Build a Virtual Private Cloud

Why these projects?

We've selected these projects because they:

Work with the AWS Free Tier (so you don't get charged).
Build skills relevant to most cloud applications.
Can be done without any prior cloud experience.

If you get stuck or have any questions, the NextWork community is right here to support you.

If you're up for a bit of a challenge, quiz yourself on the key concepts up ahead in this project.

Wait, what exactly is cloud? Or AWS?

Aha - that's such a good question! Here's a bonus section (with bonus documentation 🤫) that breaks down cloud and AWS fundamentals to get you started.

Choose the explanation style that works best for you 👇

Note

Congratulations 👏

You've unlocked a bonus section on AWS fundamentals. Complete the questions to create your personalized documentation!

First things first

Why are you learning AWS? Everyone has different reasons for learning AWS, and remembering your personal why is a great source of motivation! Personal why's from your fellow students include...

"I want to break into tech as a nurse, and cloud skills seem like a great way to make that career transition."
"I'm a college grad and I want to make my resume stand out with AWS experience, which employers are asking for."
"I want to launch my own product, and understanding AWS will help me build it right from the start."
"I want to be the go-to cloud person when my company starts their AWS migration next quarter."
"I've passed an AWS certification, but I need real practice, not just flashcards and multi-choice questions."
Hear more from your fellow students in our community!

What is Cloud Computing?

To understand computing cloud, let's take a peek into how they've changed things for our everyday lives:

Before Cloud

Before cloud computing became popular, you might remember:

Having to download a song or video to play it.
Losing data forever if your phone was lost.
Carrying USB drives to transfer files between devices.
Paying for expensive licenses for software.
Sending back and forth different versions of a document to collaborate with someone else.

After Cloud

Today, thanks to cloud computing:

You can watch shows on Netflix or listen to music on Spotify without downloading anything.
You can find your photos and files from any device if you store them on the internet.
You can subscribe to software rather than paying for expensive licenses.
You can work on the same document with people in real time.

💡 But... how does cloud computing do that?

Cloud computing moves computing power from the physical devices we own to services we can access over the internet, anytime and anywhere.

Everything in that Before Cloud list relied on your physical hardware - you needed to have software, photos, data, apps all living and running inside your physical computer.

Cloud computing moves all that work to massive data centers run by companies like Amazon (AWS), Microsoft, and Google. These data centers have enormous amounts of storage and processing power that your computer can use over the internet. When you stream a movie, upload a photo, or edit a document online, what you're doing is powered by a computer in these data centers, not just your own device.

What exactly is a data center?

A data center is a warehouse filled with thousands of powerful, specialized computers. These specialized computers are called servers, and they store data and power apps for millions of users at the same time.

Looks kind of spooky, right? This is because a database isn't designed has to be kept at a certain cool temperature 24/7, all year round! Human homes are much nicer than database homes.

💡 How do cloud services actually work?

When you use cloud services like Netflix, here's what happens behind the scenes:

You press play on a show on Netflix - this tells your device "I want to watch Stranger Things"!
Your device turns that into a request that travels to the nearest data center (giant buildings filled with powerful computers) that stores Netflix videos.
The data center processes your request, finds the show, and prepares the video. It sends the video data back to your device.
Your device displays the video for you!

This happens sooooooo fast that it feels like the show is playing right from your device. In reality, the video is streaming from computers that might be hundreds of miles away. Because AWS has dozens of these data centers all around the world, Netflix works just as well whether you're watching from New York, Tokyo, or anywhere with a good internet connection!

What is AWS?

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is the leading cloud platform, which means it provides computing resources, like storage, databases, and networking, over the internet. Its data centers power about a third of the cloud computing services running every day!

For example, when you stream a Netflix show, check your Airbnb booking, or scroll through Instagram, those apps are using AWS to:

Turn your clicks into actions like playing a video or taking you to a new page (using AWS' compute services)
Send data quickly to users worldwide, even when lots of people are visiting that site (using AWS' networking services)
Store billions of photos, messages, and videos (using AWS' storage services)
Secure your information (using AWS' security services)
Enable smart features like voice assistants, recommendations, and filters (using AWS' machine learning services)

So what do AWS professionals do?

AWS professionals are the experts behind the scenes that are building, maintaining, and securing the cloud applications you use every day.

Some of the fastest growing career paths in cloud include:

👷‍♀️ Cloud Architects

What Cloud Architects do: Draw up how different cloud services will work, select the best tools to build/maintain an app, lower an app's cost to run or improve its performance, and create scalable systems that can grow with demand.
What you get as a user: Apps that stay reliable even during traffic spikes, and services that work seamlessly together.
For example: A Cloud Architect at Netflix would be responsible for designing streaming infrastructure that can handle millions of simultaneous viewers, which is why you can watch a show without buffering.

👩‍💻 DevOps

What DevOps Engineers do: Build automated systems for releasing software updates, monitor applications for issues, fix problems quickly when they arise, and ensure services remain available 24/7.
What you get as a user: Frequent app updates with new features and minimal disruptions or downtime.
For example: A DevOps Engineer at Spotify would be responsible for implementing continuous deployment pipelines, which is why you get new features (yay Spotify Wrapped!) and bug fixes without the app going offline for maintenance.

👮 Security

What Security Engineers do: Set up secure barriers around data, control who can access what information, scan for potential vulnerabilities, and respond to security threats before they impact users.
What you get as a user: Peace of mind when sharing sensitive information online, secure login processes and confidence that your data is safe.
For example: A Security Engineer at PayPal would be responsible for implementing fraud detection systems, which is why you receive alerts about suspicious account activity and can shop online with confidence.

👩‍🔬 Data

What Data Engineers do: Create search and data storage systems that organize huge amounts of information, build pipelines to process data in real-time, and develop analysis tools that turn raw data into useful insights.
What you get as a user: Fast search results, and services that seem to know your preferences and needs, sometimes even before you do.
For example: A Data Engineer at Amazon would be responsible for designing recommendation engines that analyze purchase patterns, which is why you discover products you didn't know you needed based on your browsing history.

What about Cloud Engineers?

Ooo spicy question... Cloud Engineer is actually one of the most common job titles you'll see, but it's also the most flexible! Unlike the more specialized roles above, Cloud Engineers often wear multiple hats depending on the company.

In smaller companies, they might handle everything from setting up new cloud services to troubleshooting and security. In larger organizations, they might focus on specific areas like networking or automation.

Many AWS professionals start as Cloud Support Engineers, troubleshooting different kinds of errors or building different types of applications, before specializing with architecture, security, data, networking or DevOps roles.

Ready for the first project?

You've got the foundations - now it's time to start building in the cloud.

Are you ready to:

🛠️ Create your first cloud resources?
🚀 Build projects that demonstrate real AWS skills?
💪 Showcase your learnings in your portfolio?

Share Your Challenge Progress!

This challenge can help you build your AWS skills, your portfolio, and your personal brand! To make the most of it, share your progress on LinkedIn or GitHub.

It's so easy to share your documentation - all you have to do is:

Select Mission Accomplished at the end of this page 👇

Download your documentation as a PDF.

Select the LinkedIn icon to open a pre-populated post, all ready to go!

Select the X at the bottom of the post - it's blocking you from uploading documentation.

Click on the plus icon at the bottom of the panel.

Then select the page icon, which helps you Add a document.

Voilà! Upload your document and give it a nice title like I'm challenging myself to AWS projects!
Select Done and Post to share your progress!

p.s. Does it say "Still tasks to complete!" at the bottom of the screen?

This means you still have screenshots left to upload, or questions left to answer!

Press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac) on your keyboard.
Search for the text Return to later.
Jump straight to your incomplete tasks!
🙋‍♀️ Still stuck? Ask the community!