Cloud & Cost 90 days 2-3 hours/day updated 2026-06-01

CloudOps 90-Day Learning Path

Master CloudOps in 90 days — cloud operations, Well-Architected Framework, cost governance, security posture, and multi-cloud management. Run cloud at scale with confidence.

What CloudOps means

CloudOps is the operational discipline of managing cloud infrastructure reliably, securely, and cost-effectively. It covers cloud governance frameworks, cost optimization, security posture management, operational excellence, and the tooling needed to operate at scale across AWS, Azure, and GCP. CloudOps bridges the gap between cloud architecture decisions and their day-to-day operational reality.

Who should follow this path

Cloud engineers moving into operations roles
DevOps engineers managing large cloud footprints
Platform engineers designing cloud governance
Engineering managers overseeing cloud spending and compliance

Prerequisites

Working experience with at least one major cloud provider
Basic understanding of IaC (Terraform or CloudFormation)
Familiarity with cloud networking and security groups
Understanding of cost and billing structures in cloud

The 90-day plan

Daily study recommendation: 2-3 hours/day, six days a week. Consistency beats intensity — block the time in your calendar like a meeting.

Days 1–15: Foundation

AWS Well-Architected Framework (six pillars)
Cloud operations maturity models
Multi-account and landing zone architecture
Cloud governance: tagging, policies, and guardrails
AWS Organizations and Service Control Policies

Outcome: Design a multi-account landing zone with governance guardrails and tagging policies.

Days 16–30: Core concepts

Cloud cost visibility with AWS Cost Explorer and Budgets
Cost allocation tags and chargeback models
Reserved instances, savings plans, and spot instances
Right-sizing and idle resource detection
Scheduled scaling and auto-shutdown policies

Outcome: Implement cost allocation tags and identify optimization opportunities reducing spend by 20 percent.

Days 31–45: Tools and workflows

Cloud security posture with AWS Security Hub and GuardDuty
IAM least-privilege analysis and remediation
Network security: security groups and NACLs
Cloud compliance with AWS Config rules
Secrets management with AWS Secrets Manager

Outcome: Establish a cloud security baseline with automated compliance checking and remediation.

Days 46–60: Hands-on projects

Cloud operational excellence: runbooks and playbooks
Auto Scaling and multi-AZ resilience patterns
CloudWatch dashboards and operational metrics
AWS Systems Manager Automation runbooks
Incident response in cloud environments

Outcome: Build operational dashboards and automate common cloud remediation runbooks.

Days 61–75: Advanced practices

Multi-cloud operations strategy
Cloud management platforms (Morpheus, CloudBolt)
FinOps integration with cloud engineering
Cloud platform reliability and SLOs
Cloud automation with EventBridge and Lambda

Outcome: Design a multi-cloud operations model with unified cost and compliance visibility.

Days 76–90: Portfolio, interview & certification prep

Portfolio: cloud operations platform
CloudOps interview preparation
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator exam prep
AWS Cloud Practitioner or Solutions Architect prep
Building a cloud operations runbook library

Outcome: Pass AWS SysOps Administrator exam prep and present a cloud governance portfolio.

Weekly outcomes at a glance

Phase	Outcome
Days 1–15	Design a multi-account landing zone with governance guardrails and tagging policies.
Days 16–30	Implement cost allocation tags and identify optimization opportunities reducing spend by 20 percent.
Days 31–45	Establish a cloud security baseline with automated compliance checking and remediation.
Days 46–60	Build operational dashboards and automate common cloud remediation runbooks.
Days 61–75	Design a multi-cloud operations model with unified cost and compliance visibility.
Days 76–90	Pass AWS SysOps Administrator exam prep and present a cloud governance portfolio.

Tools to learn

AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Security Hub
AWS Config
Terraform
CloudWatch
AWS Systems Manager
GuardDuty
Datadog
Infracost
AWS Organizations

Labs to practice

Mini projects

Build a multi-account AWS landing zone with SCPs, tagging policies, and Config rules
Implement automated cost anomaly detection and rightsizing recommendations
Create a cloud security posture dashboard with automated remediation workflows

Interview questions to prepare

What are the six pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework?
How do you implement a tagging strategy for cloud cost allocation?
Explain the difference between reserved instances, savings plans, and spot instances.
How do you detect and remediate overly permissive IAM policies?
What is a cloud landing zone and what does it include?
How would you respond to an unexpected 50 percent spike in cloud spend?
Describe your approach to multi-region resilience in AWS.

Certification suggestions

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate — AWS
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional — AWS
Google Professional Cloud Architect — Google Cloud
Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate — Microsoft

Browse the full certification registry for exam details and official links.

Free resources

// instructor-led option

Prefer live, guided training with mentors and certification support? DevOpsSchool.com runs paid instructor-led programs that pair well with this free path.

Explore paid training on DevOpsSchool.com ↗