Amazon Web Services (AWS) has become a standard in the cloud computing world, powering the IT infrastructure of businesses from startups to global enterprises. The rise of AWS has led to a substantial increase in demand for professionals with AWS expertise. In this context, you should consider adding seven critical AWS skills to your resume to secure AWS job support roles.
1. Understanding of Core AWS Services.
The backbone of AWS is its wide range of services. Mastering the core AWS services is essential for anyone aiming to work in AWS job support. These core services include:
EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)
This service provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud and is designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers.
S3 (Simple Storage Service)
S3 offers object storage built to store and retrieve any data anywhere on the web.
VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
VPC allows you to provision a logically isolated section of the AWS Cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define.
RDS (Relational Database Service)
RDS makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud.
Lambda (Serverless Computing)
Lambda lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers, and you only pay for the computing time you consume.
These services are fundamental in most AWS infrastructures, making proficiency an important qualification.
2. AWS Security
Security is always paramount for businesses, and AWS is no exception. AWS offers a host of tools and practices to ensure security, including:
IAM (Identity and Access Management)
IAM enables you to securely manage AWS services and resource access.
Security Groups and Network Access Control Lists
These virtual firewalls for associated Amazon EC2 instances provide security at the protocol and port access level.
Encryption and Key Management Service
AWS provides various encryption and key management tools to secure your data at rest and in transit.
Understanding and knowing how to configure these security measures effectively will help to ensure that an organization’s AWS infrastructure and data are secure.
3. AWS Architecture and Deployment
A solid understanding of AWS architecture and deployment is crucial for securing an AWS job support role. This includes:
AWS Well-Architected Framework
This is a set of architectural best practices that helps cloud architects build secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure for their applications.
Auto Scaling and Load Balancing
Auto Scaling helps you ensure that you have the correct number of Amazon EC2 instances available to handle the load for your application. Load Balancing distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as EC2 instances.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
This is an easy-to-use service for deploying and scaling web applications and services developed with Java, .NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, and Docker.
4. Experience with AWS Management Tools
AWS offers a suite of management tools that help users effectively manage their AWS services. Familiarity with these tools can be invaluable in an AWS job support role. Some of these tools include:
AWS CloudWatch
This is a monitoring service for AWS resources and the applications you run on AWS. You can use Amazon CloudWatch to collect and track metrics, collect and monitor log files, set alarms, and automatically react to changes in your AWS resources.
AWS CloudFormation
CloudFormation provides a common language for you to describe and provision all the infrastructure resources in your cloud environment.
AWS OpsWorks
OpsWorks is a configuration management service that provides managed instances of Chef and Puppet—popular open-source configuration management platforms.
5. Networking
Networking is a fundamental aspect of cloud computing and AWS. The main areas to focus on in AWS networking include:
Edge network services
AWS edge-computing services provide infrastructure and software that move data processing and analysis as close to the endpoint as necessary.
AWS global infrastructure and deployment of foundational network elements: A thorough understanding of how the AWS Global Infrastructure is designed and the fundamental AWS networking components in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) work is crucial.
This includes knowledge of configuration options for foundational VPC design, including IPv4 and IPv6 CIDRs, subnets, route tables, network-access control lists (NACLs), security groups (SGs), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) configurations, and connectivity beyond the VPC, including NAT gateways (NGW), internet gateways (IGW), egress-only internet gateways (EIGW), and virtual gateways (VGW)1.
Hybrid network-connectivity options
Many AWS customers rely on VPNs or SDWAN to provide private connectivity between infrastructure in AWS and on-premises resources. AWS Direct Connect may be more appropriate for use cases requiring higher bandwidth, consistent network performance, or increased privacy. Understanding these connectivity solutions is often critical in enabling migration to AWS1.
6. DevOps Practices.
As we move past the midpoint of our discussion, it’s important to highlight that incorporating DevOps practices is becoming increasingly prevalent in AWS environments. AWS provides a suite of DevOps tools that can help organizations automate manual tasks, manage complex environments at scale, and keep engineers in control of the high velocity that DevOps enables.
Understanding AWS DevOps tools like AWS CodeStar, AWS CodeCommit, AWS CodeBuild, AWS CodeDeploy, and AWS CodePipeline can be crucial for landing roles in DevOps job support.
7. AWS Certification.
Finally, AWS certification is one of the most powerful ways to demonstrate your AWS skills and knowledge. AWS offers a range of certifications, from the foundational AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner to the more specialized AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified Developer, and AWS Certified SysOps Administrator. Earning one or more of these certifications proves your expertise to employers and shows your commitment to staying current with the latest AWS developments.
Final Words
AWS skills are in high demand, and honing these seven areas can significantly boost your appeal to employers. Whether you’re an experienced professional looking to specialize in AWS or a newcomer eager to break into the field, these skills will be a strong foundation for your career in AWS job support.