We independently test and review every course that we recommend.
Please support us by joining our mailing list, and recommending this guide to others.

Course Review

AWS Fundamentals Path

Cloud Academy

Here is our in-depth review of AWS Fundamentals Path, based on hours of rigorous testing and evaluation.

Updated: August 28, 2023

Bottom Line

Solid cloud-specialist training option with frequent labs for practice and assessments for skill validation.

This Course is Great For

  • Hands-on Practice
  • Labs
  • Microlearning

Fast Facts

AWS Fundamentals Path

AWS Fundamentals Path

Cloud Academy

By Andrew Larkin, Stuart Scott, and more

💰 $39 per month 🕗 20 hours
👩‍💻 Videos, Quizzes, Assessments, Labs

#4 in The Best Online Courses for Learning AWS Fundamentals in 2024

This training path covers the foundational AWS technologies you need to know as a full stack developer, introducing Compute, Storage, Databases, Networking, Identity and Access Management, and Lambda.

The courses are divided into short sections, making it easy to find specific sections for ongoing reference or review.

The platform includes hands-on labs where you can practice the skills covered in the courses without a bunch of setup overhead. We especially like the Lab Challenges, where you're given instructions for the desired end state of an environment, and left to figure it out within a time limit. These Lab Challenges are based on real-world situations that test your skills and knowledge.

Before You Buy

This learning path was built for a broad learner base, not specifically for full stack developers. As a result, you're learning broad foundations of the technologies, not necessarily the precise skills you'll need as a fullstack engineer.

In order to use their hands-on labs, you have to verify a valid phone number.

Go to Course

Other Courses to Consider to Learn AWS Fundamentals

Cloud Development Nanodegree

Cloud Development Nanodegree

Udacity

By Kesha Williams, Michal Kapiczynski, Gabriel Ruttner, Justin Lee, Ivan Mushketyk

💰 $249 per month 🕗 4 months at 10 hours per week
👩‍💻 Videos| Readings| Code Challenges| Graded Projects

#1 in The Best Online Courses for Learning AWS Fundamentals in 2024

This intensive, hands-on program will have you ready to build professional cloud-first full stack apps with AWS.

Read Our Full Review

AWS Developer Learning Path

AWS Developer Learning Path

A Cloud Guru

By Various Authors

💰 $35 per month 🕗 166 hours
👩‍💻 Videos| Hands-on Labs| Quizzes| Practice Exams

#2 in The Best Online Courses for Learning AWS Fundamentals in 2024

Solid, comprehensive multi-format learning path from the premier online cloud learning platform.

Read Our Full Review

AWS Compute, Storage, Databases, and Security Paths Skill Paths

AWS Compute, Storage, Databases, and Security Paths Skill Paths

Pluralsight

By Various

💰 $45 per month 🕗 80 hours
👩‍💻 Videos| Quizzes| Code Files

#2 in The Best Online Courses for Learning AWS Fundamentals in 2024

A solid collection of learning paths containing videos and assessments teaching foundational AWS.

Read Our Full Review

Ultimate AWS Certified Developer Associate 2023 NEW DVA-C02

Ultimate AWS Certified Developer Associate 2023 NEW DVA-C02

Udemy

By Stephane Maarek

💰 $24.99 (or $20 per month subscription) 🕗 34 hours
👩‍💻 Videos| Practice Test| Quizzes

#3 in The Best Online Courses for Learning AWS Fundamentals in 2024

A top-tier video course that teaches AWS development essentials and preparation for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) certification exam.

Read Our Full Review

Why You Should Trust Us

Our course reviews are conducted by a team of technical professionals, course developers, and lifelong learners.

The lead of this project, Brian Green, has worked in developer education since 2009. He built the content development teams at Pluralsight and Udacity, implementing quality standards and tutorials to improve course quality and working with hundreds of authors to create courseware. Most recently, he built the product team at App Academy. As of writing, he estimates he has spent nearly a year of his life taking or reviewing online courses, on topics ranging from Web Development, Networking, Server Administration, DevOps, Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.

How We Tested

Evaluation Criteria

We reviewed this course using the following criteria:

  1. Outcomes: The course needs to cover the essentials for someone to start working with AWS Fundamentals in a professional capacity or on a professional-grade project. That means covering the right topics and not going beyond the scope of the course objectives.
  2. Learning Features: Real skill development happens with fingers on keys, particularly for learners moving from novice level. We looked for courses with more than just videos; exercises and projects were essential.
  3. Production Quality: The course should include polished and professional course materials. In 2024, the table stakes of even an average course are professional video production, uniform sound levels and noise-free audio, and course materials that are free of typos. Videos should also be captioned and transcribed.
  4. Real World Application: A great course teaches you enough to work on a production application. We looked for examples and best practices from professional experience, not just basic examples of how something works on a toy application.
  5. Support and Community: Learning is better together! We promote courses with thriving communities and rapid, helpful support for learners, and tend to rate courses lower if they lack community or if the community isn't valuable.

Get Curricular In Your Inbox

Subscribe to get the latest learning guides, deals, and tips for maximizing your learning.

Back to Guides