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How to Ramp Up on AWS

Quick Summary​

MetricValue
Average ramp-up time8 weeks
Difficulty levelAdvanced
PrerequisitesNetworking basics, Linux, Web development concepts
CategoryInfrastructure

What is AWS?​

Amazon Web Services is a comprehensive cloud computing platform offering compute, storage, database, and many other services for building scalable applications.

Key features: EC2 compute, S3 storage, Lambda serverless, Global infrastructure

How Long Does It Take to Ramp Up on AWS?​

For developers with Networking basics and Linux and Web development concepts experience, ramping up on AWS typically takes 8 weeks to reach basic productivity.

Experience LevelTime to Productivity
With prerequisites8 weeks
Without prerequisites12-16 weeks

Learning Path for AWS​

Week 1: Foundations​

Days 1-2: Environment setup

  • Install AWS and required tools
  • Set up your development environment
  • Run the official "Hello World"

Days 3-5: Core concepts

  • Work through official tutorials
  • Understand the fundamental mental models
  • Build something small but complete

Week 2-4: Building​

  • Build a real project you care about
  • Learn common patterns and best practices
  • Start reading other people's code

Week 5-8: Production Ready​

  • Understand testing patterns
  • Learn debugging strategies
  • Explore advanced features

Common Challenges When Learning AWS​

  • Service overload: Focus on core services first: EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, IAM
  • IAM complexity: Learn IAM policies early - security is foundational
  • Cost management: Set up billing alerts and understand the pricing model

Prerequisites​

Before learning AWS, you should be comfortable with:

  • Networking basics
  • Linux
  • Web development concepts

How Ramp Accelerates AWS Onboarding​

Ramp helps developers onboard to AWS codebases faster:

# Point Ramp at a AWS project
ramp init

# Ask questions about AWS patterns
ramp voice
> "How is AWS used in this codebase?"
> "What's the pattern for X in this project?"
> "Explain how this AWS code works"

Terraform | CloudFormation | S3 | Lambda

Ready to ramp up on AWS? Try Ramp free →