What is Amazon Web Services?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform offered by Amazon which caters to the needs of individuals, companies and governments. It offers compute power, database storage and content delivery.
And that’s just for starters.
AWS offers a world of services to enable its users to scale, move faster and lower costs.
How can I learn about Amazon Web Services?
Courses are one of the best ways to learn about the features of AWS. And today, we’re gonna rock your world with our 7 choices for best AWS course for beginners this year.
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TLDR: Best AWS Course for Beginners
🔥 Best Overall 🔥
Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS): Educative.io
💥 Best for Absolute Newbies 💥
AWS Fundamentals Specialization: Coursera
💸 Best Value 💸
Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: BitDegree
Best AWS Courses for Beginners: At a Glance
| Interactive or video-based learning | Level | Duration | Support | Certificate | Cost | |
| Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS): Educative.io | Interactive | Beginner | 3 hours | ✅ | ✅ | $59 for the course / $199 per year for all courses |
| The Good Parts of AWS: Cutting Through the Clutter: Educative.io | Interactive | Beginner | 6 hours | ✅ | ✅ | $39 for the course / $199 per year for all courses |
| AWS Fundamentals Specialization: Coursera | Video | Beginner | 4 months | ✅ | ✅ | $39 per month |
| Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: BitDegree | Both | Beginner | 9+ hours | ✅ | ❌ | $50 for Standard / $100 for Premium |
| AWS Developer: The Big Picture: Pluralsight | Video | Beginner | 1.5 hours | ❌ | ✅ | $29 per month |
| Introduction to AWS Cloud Security: Pluralsight | Video | Beginner | 1 hour | ❌ | ✅ | $29 per month |
| AWS with S3: Treehouse | Video | Beginner | 52 minutes | ✅ | ❌ | $25 per month |
Best AWS Course for Beginners
1. Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS): Educative.io
Educative.io is typically an interactive learning platform where you’ll do all work within the same browser. But because of the material being taught, there aren’t any exercises. Rather, you’ll be reading critical AWS information and studying robust illustrations.
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Layout
Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS) will teach you about the most important AWS services offered such as compute, storage and networking. This 11-module course was designed by three AWS Solution Certified Architects who will help you understand other AWS services such as:
- media
- migration
- mobile
- Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
And much more.
💡 The Virtual Private Cloud is a private cloud environment that is hosted within the public cloud. With the VPC you can run code, store data, host websites and much more.
While we here at RealToughCandy are big fans of Educative.io, there are many others who are head over heels:
I’ve tried probably 5-7 different sites and Educative is easily the best…
– Eric Downs, Educative.io Student
❤️ Read our full review to find out why we love Educative.io.
💰 Cost: $59 for the course / $59 per month or $199 per year for all courses
⏲️ Duration: 3 hours
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Interactive learning
🎖️ Certificate: Yes
📚 Hungry for more AWS? Check out the book Learn Amazon Web Services in a Month of Lunches.
2. The Good Parts of AWS: Cutting Through the Clutter: Educative.io
As we mentioned before, Educative.io has an interactive learning environment. And, unlike Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS), you’ll work on exercises in 20 playgrounds in this course.
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Layout
Instead of focusing on the most common AWS services, you’ll discover the most important (and equally awesome) services in the 4 modules of The Good Parts of AWS. While discovering fundamental AWS services, you’ll learn how they’re used, their pros and cons, and beyond. Some of these services include:
- DynamoDB
- S3
- EC2
And more.
💰 Cost: $39 for the course / $59 per month or $199 per year for all courses
⏲️ Duration: 6 hours
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Interactive learning
🎖️ Certificate: Yes
🔥 Geena’s Hot Take
Insider tip: Take an Educative.io course to learn Amazon Web Services. Seriously. These guys are the best at what they do.
It doesn’t matter which Educative.io course you take. Just take one.
Better yet? Take both. It’s the same price.
3. AWS Fundamentals Specialization: Coursera
Like Pluralsight, Coursera is a video-based platform where you’ll do all work outside the browser on your local machine. However, you’ll also find a wealth of supporting documentation throughout the courses.
Layout
The AWS Fundamentals Specialization is a bit different than your typical course. Instead of one course, there are four. So rather than taking a few hours to complete, you can expect to spend about 4 months.
🚨 We repeat: This Specialization takes 4 months to complete.
In AWS Fundamentals, you’ll start with an overview of the features and benefits of using AWS. Then you’ll explore AWS security, migration strategies and the fundamentals of building a serverless application with AWS.
💡 Because the AWS Fundamentals Specialization is offered by Amazon, you’ll work on labs and exercises developed by actual AWS technical instructors.
🕰️ Is Coursera worth your time? Read our full Coursera review.
💰 Cost: $39 per month
⏲️ Duration: 4 months
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: Yes
📚 Ready to put AWS to use? Check out the book Amazon Web Services in Action.
4. Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: BitDegree
BitDegree is unique because it’s the only platform on our list that uses both interactive learning and video lessons. So while you’ll watch plenty of videos, you’ll also do all work within the browser.
If you’re a Udemy fan, you’ll love BitDegree. Courses are plentiful and inexpensive. And topics are diverse.
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Layout
Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner is one of the leading courses in helping you prepare for your AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam.
With over 9 hours of video and 21 hands-on labs, you’ll discover AWS concepts, career prospects and professional paths you can take with an AWS certification.
Finally, you’ll work on AWS Cloud Practitioner practice exams to prepare you for the big day.
❓ Check out our full review: Is BitDegree worth it?
Karolis was thrilled when he passed his AWS certification:
I passed my certification exam on my first try!
– Karolis Gulbinas, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
💰 Cost: $50 for Standard / $100 for Premium with one-on-one mentorship
⏲️ Duration: 9+ hours
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Interactive learning & video
🎖️ Certificate: No
📚 Looking for a beginner-friendly AWS guide? Check out the book AWS: Amazon Web Services.
5. AWS Developer: The Big Picture: Pluralsight
Like Treehouse, Pluralsight is a video-based learning platform where you’ll do all work on your local machine. And at 1.5 hours, it’s perfect for those with a short attention span.
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Layout
With 4 modules, AWS Developer: The Big Picture takes a simplistic approach to teaching AWS. You’ll start by learning what cloud computing is and the benefits of using AWS. Then you’ll discover:
- AWS services
- enhancing your app with AWS databases
- harnessing the power of AWS
And more.
💡 Fully-managed AWS databases include relational, key-value, and document. Relational databases are typically 3x faster than the competition.
➡️ What do we think of the platform? Read our full Pluralsight review.
💰 Cost: $29 per month for all courses
⏲️ Duration: 1.5 hours
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: Yes
📚 Want a hands-on guide to the fundamentals of AWS cloud? Check out the book Learning Amazon Web Services (AWS).
6. Introduction to AWS Cloud Security: Pluralsight
Pluralsight is a video-based platform, so you’ll do all work on your local machine. And the course is only 1 hour, so bang it out and be on your way!
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Layout
Introduction to AWS Cloud Security is a bit different than AWS Developer: The Big Picture. Instead of a general overview of AWS, with 3 modules you’ll learn how to create a secure cloud environment within AWS. Then you’ll explore how to:
- protect your cloud data
- enable secure communication between cloud services
- maintain secure cloud environment
And beyond.
💰 Cost: $29 per month for all courses
⏲️ Duration: 1 hour
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: Yes
7. AWS with S3: Treehouse
🚨 ALERT 🚨
As of September 2021, Treehouse has laid off 90% of its staff. The future of Treehouse is unknown.
Treehouse is a video-based learning platform. So unlike Educative.io, you’ll do all work outside of the browser on your local machine. Treehouse is renowned for being beginner-friendly. And, because the course is under an hour, it’s great for students with a short attention span.
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Layout
In the first module of AWS with S3, you’ll learn about what the cloud is and how AWS is used with it. The second module focuses on a specific AWS service: Simple Storage Service (S3). Finally, you’ll create an AWS account and use S3 to share files.
💰 Cost: $25 per month
⏲️ Duration: 52 minutes
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: No
Best AWS Course for Beginners: Conclusion
Today we looked at some of the best AWS courses for beginners including:
🔥 Best Overall 🔥
Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS): Educative.io
💥 Best for Absolute Newbies 💥
AWS Fundamentals Specialization: Coursera
💸 Best Value 💸
Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: BitDegree
And don’t forget to check out our selection of top hits AWS books to complete your curriculum.
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What is Amazon Web Services?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform offered by Amazon which caters to the needs of individuals, companies and governments. It offers compute power, database storage and content delivery. And that’s just for starters. AWS offers a world of services to enable its users to scale, move faster and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, check out today’s article where you’ll find AWS courses and books.
What is the best AWS course for beginners?
The best AWS course for beginners depends on what you’re looking for. Overall, we think Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS) by Educative.io is the way to go. For absolute newbies, we liked the AWS Fundamentals Specialization by Coursera. And for value, we think Become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner by BitDegree is the best. To learn more about these and other AWS courses, be sure to check out today’s post.
Is Amazon Web Services for beginners?
Amazon Web Services is for users of all levels. But if you’re just getting started with AWS, we recommend taking a course or two. One of our favorite AWS courses is Learn the A to Z of Amazon Web Services (AWS) by Educative.io. In today’s post, you’ll find plenty of beginner-friendly AWS courses.
Is learning Amazon Web Services worth it?
In today’s cloud computing environment, Amazon Web Services is a heavy hitting key player. It’s definitely worth learning AWS from personal use all the way up to major companies. Courses and books are great ways to learn how to use Amazon Web Services, so be sure to check out today’s article.