Most roadmaps to Cloud Computing start with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Mine doesn’t.
Over the past few months, I’ve realized that cloud platforms are only tools. Learning where to click inside a console isn’t enough if you don’t understand why a system is designed in a certain way. That’s why I built a study plan focused on fundamentals first, and cloud services second.
My goal is to reach June 2027 with a solid understanding of software architecture, practical AWS experience, and two industry certifications.
A consistent weekly routine
From September onward, I’ll dedicate around ten hours every week to studying.
- School days: one hour every day.
- Weekends: two to three hours each day.
- Total: roughly 400 hours between September and June.
Instead of studying Linux separately, I’ll simply use it as my daily development environment so that working with it becomes second nature.
Summer 2026: building the foundations
Before touching AWS, I want to strengthen the concepts that every cloud architect relies on.
July: Design Patterns
The first month is entirely dedicated to software design.
Rather than memorizing implementations, I’ll focus on understanding the problem each pattern solves before implementing it myself in Python. My workflow is simple:
- Read the problem.
- Study the solution and diagram.
- Close the website.
- Rebuild the implementation from scratch.
- Compare my solution afterward.
During July I’ll study patterns such as Singleton, Factory Method, Strategy, Observer, Decorator, and Adapter, while also refactoring small Python projects and publishing new articles on my website.
August: System Design
Once software architecture is clearer, I’ll move to System Design.
For every concept, I’ll watch an explanation, read additional documentation, and then design a complete system on paper before validating my ideas.
Topics include:
- Monoliths vs. microservices
- Synchronous vs. asynchronous communication
- Load balancing
- Caching
- SQL vs. NoSQL databases
- Batch vs. stream processing
By the end of the month, I’ll design a complete application architecture, create my AWS Free Tier account, and review everything before moving to cloud technologies.
September 2026 to June 2027: AWS
Only after building strong foundations will I begin studying AWS.
I’ll start with the AWS Cloud Practitioner learning path while gradually becoming familiar with the AWS Console and reading the official documentation in English every day to improve both my technical knowledge and my language skills.
The objective is to earn the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification by December 2026.
After that, I’ll move to the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification, studying core services such as:
- EC2
- S3
- IAM
- VPC
- RDS
- Lambda
- Elastic Load Balancing
Alongside the coursework, I’ll build real projects using the AWS Free Tier, document them on GitHub in English, and continue publishing technical articles on this website.
My goal is to take the Solutions Architect Associate exam around May 2027.
Where I want to be in June 2027
If everything goes according to plan, by June 2027 I expect to have:
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate.
- A solid understanding of Design Patterns and System Design.
- Hands-on experience building applications on AWS.
- A GitHub portfolio documenting real projects.
- More than ten technical articles published on this website.
- Better technical English through daily exposure to documentation.
This roadmap isn’t about learning services as quickly as possible.
It’s about building strong fundamentals first, then using cloud technologies to apply them in real-world systems. My goal isn’t simply to use AWS—it’s to understand why a particular architecture is the right solution before choosing the services that implement it.