What Is the Best Way to Learn AWS?

The best way to learn Amazon Web Services (AWS)— a cloud technology platform first introduced in 2006 that has since grown to become a leader in the space—depends on your personal goals and the role you want to pursue. Now providing cloud services to millions of customers worldwide, AWS offers cloud technologies for emerging developments such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, as well as infrastructure, including databases [1]. AWS is useful across nearly all industries and encompasses a wide range of domains relating to AWS. Notably, Gartner recognized AWS as a leader in its 2024 Magic Quadrant for Strategic Cloud Platform Services for its operational excellence, solutions support, and robust developer experience [2]. 

Explore the various ways you can use AWS and how to learn it to capitalize on these in-demand skills. 

What is AWS?

AWS is a cloud provider that provides organizations access to over 200 different services in areas such as enterprise applications, networking, storage, and analytics [3]. Businesses benefit from using cloud services such as AWS because it allows them to reduce their internal infrastructure needs, ultimately lowering costs and presenting a more scalable solution. AWS gains its competitive advantage over other cloud service providers on the market due to its various features, namely simplicity, security, device compatibility, and the extensive range of services it offers. 

Who uses AWS?

Some of the largest companies in the world use AWS, including Apple, Comcast, General Electric, and Netflix. However, AWS isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies, as startups, government agencies, and virtually any other organization, big or small, can benefit from implementing AWS services. Real-world examples of the positive impact AWS can make include:

• Venmo: Venmo has seen substantial growth since its launch, resulting in scaling needs that it relies on AWS to help address, which allows its infrastructure to grow with the business while also reducing costs.

• Georgia Technology Authority (GTA): GTA sought to reduce infrastructure management, lower costs, and improve stability for their state agency application portal and successfully migrated to AWS.

• MediSys Health Network: MediSys moved its electronic health records to AWS to improve its data privacy and resiliency, enabling it to focus more on improving patient outcomes and delivering high-quality care. 

What is the best way to learn about AWS?

The best way for you to learn AWS depends on the role you plan on pursuing and the learning method that works best for you, since several paths exist for developing AWS skills. You can choose to access resources that allow you to learn at your own pace or with an instructor, all revolving around the skills you will need to reach your career goals. Careers you can direct your efforts toward include cloud practitioner, DevOps engineer, solutions architect, developer, and security specialist.

AWS training

AWS has several resources you can access to start learning AWS and work toward earning a certification, with both free and paid subscriptions available. With AWS Skill Builder, you can learn from over 600 free courses, or you can pay a $29 monthly subscription fee or $449 yearly, to gain access to materials to help you prepare for certification exams, gamified learning opportunities, and labs where you can gain practical experience [4]. 

In addition to AWS Skill Builder, Amazon offers other resources that you can rely on to learn AWS: the Developer Center and Architecture Center.

AWS Developer Center

The AWS Developer Center offers tutorials on various topics that allow you to apply your AWS skills. For example, you can learn about the fundamentals of topics in areas such as generative AI and practice training and building AI models. In the Developer Center, you can also access tools to help you develop AWS applications in popular programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, C++, and Go. 

The Developer Center provides a list of resources tailored to your learning preferences. For example, you can access online courses, live-streamed videos, podcasts, YouTube videos, webinars, and tutorials, allowing you to learn AWS by actually doing the work.

AWS Architecture Center

In the AWS Architecture Center, you can explore diagrams and examples of AWS architecture to build high-quality AWS architectures across various applications, including blockchain, big data, machine learning, media services, Internet of Things (IoT), and more. If you want to learn directly from AWS experts within specific fields, the AWS Architecture Center has resources for exactly that.

AWS certifications

AWS certifications are an effective way to demonstrate the skills you learn and help you take the next step in your career. Based on the types of roles you want to pursue, you can choose the learning path that will help you get there. You can select from the following: architecture, data analytics, development, artificial intelligence/machine learning, networking, security, operations, and DevOps. AWS has varying levels of certifications:

• Foundational: No prior experience is necessary when pursuing this AWS certification, but you will need foundational knowledge of AWS cloud.

• Associate: The associate certification is role-based, so you will need specific skills relating to the position the certification is for, such as a data engineer or a solutions architect.

• Professional: Earning an AWS professional certification will require approximately two years of experience to prepare, as it will examine advanced skills relating to AWS applications in your role.

• Specialty: An AWS specialty certification places you as an expert in your domain, with certification opportunities in areas such as machine learning and advanced networking. Due to the complexity of these certifications, you will likely want to gain significant experience first. For the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty certification, for example, it’s recommended that you have at least five years of experience working with AWS networking.

Online courses

In addition to Amazon's resources, you can also learn AWS with Coursera. On Coursera, you can find several AWS courses and earn a professional certificate as well. For example, the AWS Fundamentals Specialization can help you learn about key AWS concepts and gain a broader understanding of what you can do with AWS. Pursuing online courses is a great option if you’re seeking flexibility in terms of the pace of your learning, want to explore a topic to see if you have an interest in switching careers, or are seeking an affordable learning method.

Tips for passing the AWS certification exam

To help you prepare for your exam, you can access free and paid resources on AWS Skill Builder. Free study materials include practice questions and a digital course covering the topic areas relevant to the exam. With a subscription, you can take practice exams structured similarly to the actual exam and receive scores, along with suggestions for resources for specific subject matter. Along with the practice exam, a subscription also includes access to a longer digital exam preparation course. 

To optimize your preparation, consider the following tips when it’s time to start studying:

• Create specific goals for your study sessions, focusing on mastering one concept at a time.

• Don’t study for too long in a single sitting. Take a brief break after every 25 minutes you study. You can accomplish more with these shorter yet highly focused intervals.

• Present the material as if you were teaching it to someone else. This will help you retain the information and indicate where you may need to spend some extra time studying.

• Utilize AWS resources such as AWS Classroom Training, practice questions, and practice exams.

Learn AWS with Coursera

The best way for you to learn AWS depends on your future career goals and the type of certification you want to earn. On Coursera, you can find highly rated courses to further explore AWS. For example, you can earn an AWS Cloud Technology Consultant Professional Certificate, where you’ll have the opportunity to learn to implement cloud technology solutions. To prepare for a career as an AWS solutions architect, earn an AWS Cloud Solutions Architect Professional Certificate. In this program, you’ll have the opportunity to prepare for the certification exam and learn about applying AWS services.