Hey everyone! I'm just getting started with AWS and have recently earned my Cloud Practitioner and Cloud Architecture Associate certifications. I'm now looking to build some projects to showcase for my portfolio. Can anyone suggest what types of projects would be best to include? Also, I would love any advice on how to position myself for an entry-level job, considering I have an A.S. in Network Engineering. Thanks in advance for your help!
3 Answers
I recommend focusing on an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) project. Demonstrating your capability to manage changes in your environment using IaC tools like Terraform is crucial. Many clients I've worked with need to shift from manual setups to using IaC for their infrastructure management.
Congrats on your certifications! For your portfolio, I suggest working on these three projects:
1. **Serverless App**: Combine S3 with CloudFront for a static site, use API Gateway and Lambda for backend functions, and include DynamoDB for storage along with Cognito for user authentication.
2. **ECS Microservice**: Use Docker with ECR and ECS Fargate, integrate it with an Application Load Balancer and the necessary databases.
3. **Data Pipeline**: Build a flow from S3 to EventBridge/Kinesis, then process it with Lambda and store results back in S3 or use Glue/Athena for analysis.
Make sure to capture your work in a GitHub repo with proper documentation on architecture and deployment. Focus on securing your AWS resources and showcasing the intelligent design of your projects. You might target roles like Cloud Support Associate or Junior Cloud/DevOps Engineer when applying!
I appreciate these suggestions! Could you also share the Terraform and GitHub Actions audit mentioned?
To get a good foundation, I recommend starting with the basics. You could create a proper VPC with both public and private subnets and implement NAT gateways. After that, building a website that uses a private S3 bucket with CloudFront and setting up an API Gateway to trigger Lambda functions with actions from your UI would cover a lot of ground!
Thanks for the detailed roadmap! Do you think it would be smart to pursue another certification, or are these enough for landing an entry-level position?