Cloud Engineer Training Roadmap — Week-by-Week
A 6–9 month, project-based curriculum that takes fresh graduates from zero IT experience to job-ready for Junior → Intermediate Cloud Engineer roles.
What learners will build
- 4 major projects: Website deployment, IaC + CI/CD, Kubernetes microservices, Serverless or Migration
- Full GitHub portfolio with Terraform, Dockerfiles, CI pipelines and documentation
- Working knowledge & hands-on with AWS/Azure/GCP fundamentals, Linux, networking, scripting, and monitoring
- Interview prep: STAR stories, project write-ups, architecture diagrams and cost reports
Week-by-week curriculum (detailed)
Week 1 — Intro & Linux
Intro to IT & Cloud; Linux basics; set up Linux VM (local or AWS Free Tier).
Week 2 — Networking & Git
Networking fundamentals (IP, DNS, subnet); Git & GitHub basics + lab repo.
Week 3 — Cloud Fundamentals
AWS/Azure/GCP overview; launch EC2/VM, attach storage, configure VPC/network.
Week 4 — Scripting
Python & Bash basics; build a script to back up logs to S3.
Week 5 — IAM & Storage
Introduce IAM concepts, roles, policies; S3 lifecycle policies.
Week 6 — Project 1 (Foundations Capstone)
Deploy static website (S3 + EC2), add monitoring & IAM access. Deliverable: Git repo + README + architecture diagram.
Week 7 — IaC Intro (Terraform)
Terraform basics: providers, resources, a simple EC2 + S3 example.
Week 8 — Terraform Advanced
Modules, state management, remote state; deploy VPC/subnets/security groups.
Week 9 — Docker & Containers
Containerize a simple app; images, volumes, networking.
Week 10 — CI/CD pipelines
GitHub Actions → Docker Hub → deploy to cloud (ECS/EKS/ECR pattern).
Week 11 — Monitoring & Security
CloudWatch/Grafana basics; KMS & Secrets Manager intro.
Week 12 — Project 2 (IaC + CI/CD)
Terraform-managed container app + CI/CD + monitoring + role-based security. Deliverable: Code, pipeline, docs, dashboard.
Week 13 — Kubernetes Fundamentals
Pods, deployments, services; Minikube hands-on deployment.
Week 14 — Kubernetes Advanced
Ingress, configmaps, secrets; deploy multi-container app.
Week 15 — Serverless Intro
AWS Lambda / Azure Functions basics; small serverless function + API Gateway.
Week 16 — Disaster Recovery
Backups, snapshots, multi-region failover simulation and restore drills.
Week 17 — Cost Optimization
Billing dashboard, rightsizing, RI/spot instances, cost alerts.
Week 18 — Project 3 (Kubernetes Capstone)
Multi-tier microservice app on Kubernetes + Terraform + CI/CD + DR + cost report. Deliverable: Project repo, diagrams, monitoring & DR plan.
Week 19 — Terraform Cloud / IaC Patterns
Terraform Cloud, remote runs, state locking, advanced modules.
Week 20 — Deployment Strategies
Blue/Green, Canary releases, rollback strategies.
Week 21 — Hardening & Security
IAM best practices, CIS benchmarks, automated security scans.
Week 22 — Observability
Prometheus + Grafana + ELK basics. Build dashboards & alerts.
Week 23 — Project 4 (Portfolio Highlight)
Option A: Serverless app (API Gateway + Lambda + S3).
Option B: Simulated lift-and-shift migration with IaC + CI/CD. Deliverable: Polished portfolio piece + post.
Week 24 — Resume & LinkedIn
Polish resume + LinkedIn, convert projects into STAR interview stories.
Week 25 — Mock interviews
Technical and behavioral mocks, whiteboard-style architecture explanations.
Week 26 — Final polish
Document everything: diagrams, cost analysis, lessons learned, and blog posts.
Week 27 — Graduation & Deployment
Final presentations, interview prep, publish GitHub portfolio and documentation.
Visual Roadmap & Milestones
Project 1
Project 2
Project 3
Project 4
Weeks 1–6
Weeks 7–12
Weeks 13–18
Weeks 19–27
Tip: You can paste this block into a WordPress ‘Custom HTML’ block. The timeline is CSS-based so it will render responsively across devices.