Full-Fledged Cloud Engineering Course (Zero to Job-Ready)

Phase 1: Linux Fundamentals (Deep, Practical, Real) 

1.1 Linux Basics 

• Linux directory structure (/proc, /sys, /var) 

• Users, groups, sudo, PAM 

• File permissions (ACLs, sticky bit, SUID/SGID) 

• Systemd services and targets 

• Package management (yum, apt) 

1.2 Linux Administration 

• Disk management (LVM, mounts, fstab) 

• Process management (ps, top, nice, kill) 

• Logs (journalctl, /var/log) 

• SSH internals, key-based auth, hardening 

• Cron jobs and scheduling 

1.3 Linux Troubleshooting (Critical Skill) 

• System not booting 

• Disk full scenarios 

• CPU spikes 

• Memory leaks 

• Zombie processes 

• Network unreachable issues 

Outcome 

Students can administer and troubleshoot Linux servers confidently. 

Phase 2: Bash Scripting & Automation 

2.1 Bash Fundamentals 

• Variables and quoting 

• Conditional logic 

• Loops 

• Functions 

• Exit codes and signals 

• Script arguments 

2.2 Practical Automation 

• Backup scripts 

• Log cleanup and rotation 

• Health check scripts 

• Service auto-restart logic 

• User provisioning scripts 

2.3 Bash for Cloud Use Cases 

• EC2 bootstrap scripts 

• Cron-driven automation 

• Service monitoring scripts 

Outcome 

Students think in automation-first mindset, not manual fixes. 

Phase 3: Networking Essentials (The Backbone) 

3.1 Core Networking 

• OSI & TCP/IP models (conceptual + practical) 

• IP addressing and CIDR 

• Manual subnetting 

• ARP, ICMP, TCP, UDP 

• DNS deep dive (records, resolution flow) 

3.2 Network Troubleshooting 

• ping, traceroute, curl, nc 

• Firewall concepts 

• NAT behavior 

• Load balancer fundamentals 

Outcome 

Students understand why traffic flows or breaks. 

Phase 4: Cloud Fundamentals (Vendor Neutral) 

Topics Covered 

• Why cloud exists 

• IaaS, PaaS, SaaS 

• Shared Responsibility Model 

• Regions and Availability Zones 

• High Availability vs Fault Tolerance 

• Cloud cost models 

Outcome 

Students understand cloud before touching AWS. 

 Phase 5: AWS Core Services 

5.1 AWS Basics 

• IAM users, roles, policies, STS 

• EC2 (types, pricing, AMIs) 

• EBS vs Instance Store 

• S3 storage classes and lifecycle policies 

5.2 AWS Networking (Critical) 

• VPC design 

• Subnets and route tables 

• Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway 

• Security Groups vs NACLs 

• VPC Flow Logs 

5.3 Scaling & Availability 

• Application Load Balancer vs Network Load Balancer 

• Auto Scaling Groups 

• Health checks 

5.4 Databases 

• RDS architecture, backups, Multi‑AZ 

• DynamoDB fundamentals 

• Choosing the right database 

Outcome 

Students can design secure, scalable AWS architectures. 

Phase 6: Cloud Security (Major Differentiator) 

6.1 Security Foundations 

• IAM policy evaluation logic 

• Least privilege access 

• Root account security 

• MFA enforcement 

6.2 AWS Security Services 

• CloudTrail 

• GuardDuty 

• AWS Config 

• Security Hub 

• KMS basics 

6.3 Real‑World Security Scenarios 

• Compromised credentials 

• Public S3 exposure 

• Over‑permissive IAM roles 

• Network attack simulation 

Outcome 

Students can detect, analyze, and respond to cloud security incidents. 

Phase 7: DevOps Foundations 

7.1 Version Control 

• Git fundamentals 

• Branching strategies 

• GitHub workflows 

7.2 CI/CD Basics 

• CI/CD concepts 

• Build → Test → Deploy flow 

• Simple pipeline examples 

7.3 Containers 

• Docker architecture 

• Images vs containers 

• Dockerfiles 

• Docker networking and volumes 

7.4 Kubernetes Introduction 

• Why Kubernetes exists 

• Pods, services, deployments 

• High‑level architecture 

Outcome 

Students understand modern cloud deployment practices.

Phase 8: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) 

Topics Covered 

• Why manual infrastructure fails 

• Terraform basics 

• Providers and resources 

• State files and risks 

• Deploying VPC and EC2 using Terraform 

Outcome 

Students can reproduce infrastructure reliably

Phase 9: Monitoring, Logging & Operations 

Topics Covered 

• Monitoring vs Logging vs Alerting 

• CloudWatch metrics and logs 

• Alarm creation 

• Incident response basics 

• Root Cause Analysis (RCA) 

Outcome 

Students gain production operations mindset

Phase 10: Real‑World Projects (Mandatory) 

Capstone Projects 

1. Secure 3‑Tier Application on AWS 

2. Linux Server Hardening 

3. Full VPC Design from Scratch 

4. Incident Simulation & Troubleshooting 

5. Terraform‑Based Infrastructure Deployment 

6. Cost Optimization Exercise 

Outcome 

Students leave with portfolio‑ready projects. 

Phase 11: Career Preparation 

Topics Covered 

• Cloud Engineer resume building 

• Interview troubleshooting mindset 

• Common Linux & AWS interview questions 

• Thinking aloud during interviews 

• Recruiter rejection patterns 

Outcome 

Students are job‑market ready, not just certified.