Learning Roadmap - Software engineer > Cloud engineer role in 6 months

Referred Link - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vsadhwani_want-to-switch-from-software-engineer-to-activity-7339675261728083968-qaIF 

 

Study this roadmap:

You already know the SDLC processes – now dive into how to build, run and deploy cloud-native apps

3-Month Foundation :
• Learn core Linux (permissions, systemd, logging)
• Understand networking (VPC, DNS, NAT, firewalls)
• Pick a cloud provider (AWS / GCP / Azure / OCI)
↳ Focus on IAM, Compute, Storage, networking basics, billing fundamentals etc
• Learn Python for automation (already familiar? think how you can use with Boto3, SDKs, scripting)
• Learn Infrastructure as Code (Terraform / Pulumi/ AWS Cloudformation)
• Explore cloud-native patterns (microservices, managed services)
↳ Target: Junior Cloud Engineer roles (ave comp ~$100k)

You already know Git — now use it to:
• Version control your Terraform infrastructure
• Track changes to IaC and cloud automation scripts
• Set up GitOps-style deployment patterns

3-Month Advanced Track :
• Pick a specialty (Networking, Data, Databases, DevOps, Security, AI/ML etc)
If you picked DevOps:
• Work with containers (build/run with Docker)
• Deploy apps using Kubernetes (pods, services, configs)
• Set up CI/CD pipelines (using cloud-specific services)
• Implement cloud security concepts (IAM, roles, secrets management)
• Configure monitoring & logging (Cloud-Specific or Prometheus/Grafana)
• Automate end-to-end workflows(from build to deploy) using Python or Shell (SDKs, scripts, cron) - [this is very advanced]
↳ Target: Mid-level Cloud Engineer roles (ave comp ~$125k)

Leverage your SWE skills:
• Containerize existing apps
• Build pipelines for test → deploy
• Refactor into cloud-native services

Quick Wins:
- Complete Qwiklabs or provider-specific cloud labs
- Sign up for free tiers and experiment (watch your credit limits)
- Build and deploy 3 cloud-native projects
- Earn a practitioner or specialty certification (based on your tech exposure)

Free Resources to start, here's your one stop shop: https://lnkd.in/dF9xVE9X

Do this next: You've already built apps - now think which cloud-based services you'd need to run it on cloud (deploy it with Terraform + CI/CD)

Hands-on experience >> watching videos or reading blogs.

Remember, you're not starting from scratch. As a Software Engineer, you already think in systems.
Now think in cloud systems 

Tags:

#FreshersLearning, #LearningRoadmap, #CloudEngineer,