Complete Cloud Engineer Roadmap with Free Courses

The ultimate Cloud Engineer / Cloud Architect Roadmap 2026.
You don’t need expensive courses. This repository collects the best 100% FREE video tutorials and official documentation to help you master cloud engineering from foundations to advanced architecture.

---

The Roadmap Overview

Cloud engineering is about building, deploying, securing, and scaling infrastructure in the cloud.

This roadmap starts with core IT foundations, moves into cloud providers & services, then covers DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, architecture, and finally advanced cloud topics.

• Phase 1: Foundations
• Phase 2: Cloud Providers
• Phase 3: Core Cloud Services
• Phase 4: Infrastructure as Code & DevOps
• Phase 5: Advanced Topics

---

Phase 1: Foundations

The non-negotiable basics every cloud engineer must master.

Linux

Linux is the backbone of cloud servers.

Video Resources:

Linux Full Course	Linux for Beginners

Documentation & Reading:

• https://tldp.org/guides.html
• https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/
• https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/command-line-for-beginners

---

Networking Fundamentals

Cloud networking is built on traditional networking concepts.

Video Resources:

Networking Fundamentals	OSI Model Deep Dive

Documentation & Reading:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/network-fundamentals/
• https://www.netacad.com/courses/networking-basics

---

Virtualization

Understand how virtual machines work before cloud compute.

Video Resources:

Hyper-V Tutorial	VMware Virtualization

Documentation & Reading:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/

---

Python for DevOps

Used for automation and cloud scripting.

Video Resources:

Python for DevOps	Python Automation

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/
• https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

---

Bash Scripting

Automate cloud and server tasks.

Video Resources:

Bash Full Course	Bash for Beginners

Documentation & Reading:

• https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/bash-scripting-tutorial-linux-shell-script-and-command-line-for-beginners/

---

Version Control with Git

Track and manage infrastructure code.

Video Resources:

Git & GitHub Crash Course	Git in 1 Hour

Documentation & Reading:

• https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2
• https://learngitbranching.js.org/

---

Cloud Computing Basics

Understand IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and deployment models.

Video Resources:

Cloud Basics	Cloud Full Course

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/aws-overview/introduction.html
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/
• https://cloud.google.com/docs

---

✅ Want a structured Cloud roadmap?
Explore the interactive visual roadmap with free resources:
👉 Cloud Engineer Roadmap with Free Courses

---

Phase 2: Cloud Providers

Learn at least one deeply, understand concepts across all.

AWS

Video Resources:

AWS Beginner Course	AWS Full Course

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/
• https://aws.amazon.com/getting-started/

---

Azure

Video Resources:

Azure Full Course	Azure Fundamentals

Documentation & Reading:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/

---

Google Cloud (GCP)

Video Resources:

GCP Full Course	GCP Beginner Guide

Documentation & Reading:

• https://cloud.google.com/docs

---

Phase 3: Core Cloud Services

Daily cloud services used in real systems.

Compute Services

Video Resources:

Cloud Compute Explained	AWS Compute

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ec2/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/
• https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs

---

Storage Services

Video Resources:

Cloud Storage Overview	Google Cloud Storage

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/s3/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/
• https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs

---

Databases

Video Resources:

Cloud Databases Explained	Databases for Cloud Engineers

Documentation & Reading:

• https://aws.amazon.com/products/databases/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/
• https://cloud.google.com/products/databases

---

Cloud Networking

Video Resources:

VPC Explained	AWS Networking

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/networking/
• https://cloud.google.com/docs/networking

---

Security & Compliance

Video Resources:

Cloud IAM	AWS IAM

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/security/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/
• https://cloud.google.com/security

---

Phase 4: Infrastructure as Code & DevOps

Automate everything.

Terraform

Video Resources:

Terraform Beginner to Pro	Terraform Playlist

Documentation & Reading:

• https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/docs

---

Ansible

Video Resources:

Ansible Full Course	Ansible for Beginners

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.ansible.com/

---

CI/CD Pipelines

Video Resources:

GitHub Actions CI/CD	CI/CD Pipeline

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.github.com/actions
• https://www.jenkins.io/doc/book/pipeline/

---

Docker

Video Resources:

Docker Full Course	Docker Crash Course

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.docker.com/

---

Kubernetes

Video Resources:

Kubernetes Full Course	Kubernetes Basics

Documentation & Reading:

• https://kubernetes.io/docs/home/

---

Monitoring & Logging

Video Resources:

Cloud Monitoring	AWS Monitoring

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/
• https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/docs

---

Cloud Architecture & Design

Video Resources:

Cloud Architecture Basics	AWS Architecture

Documentation & Reading:

• https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/
• https://cloud.google.com/architecture/framework

---

Phase 5: Advanced Topics

Specialize after hands-on cloud experience.

Serverless Computing

Video Resources:

AWS Lambda	Serverless Architecture

Documentation & Reading:

• https://docs.aws.amazon.com/serverless/
• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/serverless

---

Big Data on Cloud

Video Resources:

BigQuery Tutorial	AWS EMR

Documentation & Reading:

• https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs
• https://aws.amazon.com/big-data/

---

AI / ML on Cloud

Video Resources:

AWS SageMaker	Cloud AI Services

Documentation & Reading:

• https://aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/ai/getting-started/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/
• https://cloud.google.com/ai

---

Hybrid Cloud

Video Resources:

Hybrid Cloud Explained	Hybrid Cloud Basics

Documentation & Reading:

• https://cloud.google.com/learn/what-is-hybrid-cloud
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/scenarios/hybrid/

---

Certifications & Best Practices

Video Resources:

Cloud Certification Roadmap	AWS vs Azure vs GCP

Documentation & Reading:

• https://cloud.google.com/learn/certification
• https://aws.amazon.com/certification/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/

---

Contributing

Found a great free cloud learning resource?

1. Fork this repository
2. Add the resource to the correct phase
3. Submit a Pull Request

---

Support

If this Cloud Engineer / Cloud Architect roadmap helped you learn and save money, please give this repo a Star ⭐.

---

Helpful Links

• Interactive Cloud Roadmap: https://codersnote.com/roadmap
• AI Tutor Lyra: https://codersnote.com/ai-tutor