The Complete Cloud Security Engineer Roadmap (2025)

last week I rejected a $348,000 cloud security job offer 5 years ago I couldn't even get companies to look at my resume what changed well I discovered the secret that companies actually want and it's not what you think hi I'm San I'm A Cloud engineer and I run my own cloud Security consultancy today I'm revealing the exact road map that you need to become a cloud security engineer after a decade in it and helping hundreds of students succeed I know one thing for certain you don't need a degree or years of experience to break into

Cloud security I've broken it down into three simple phases that anyone can follow learn build own and if you stay until the end of this video you'll know exactly how to land a cloud security job by the way grab my beginner's guide to the cloud it's free Link in the description so phase one learn but what do you need to learn well there is three steps starting with step number one building your foundational it knowledge Begin by understanding TCP and IP the main protocol for internet communication like the postal service for sending and receiving data

online next you want to learn about DNS domain name system the phone book of the internet which translates domain names into IP addresses that computers use to locate each other finally dive into subnetting which divides large networks into smaller organized segments making it easier to manage and secure Cloud infrastructure you'll need to cover operating systems as well focusing on both windows and Linux so start by practicing basic commands in Windows Powershell and linux's Bash terminal get familiar with file manipulation Process Management and system monitoring since most Cloud servers use Linux you'll need to get comfortable

with Linux specific tasks like package management configuring services and basic system administration you also need to understand cyber security foundations start with the CIA Triad confidentiality integrity and availability understand common threats like malware and social engineering to recognize ize how attacks happen get comfortable with authentication methods access control and basic encryption to protect data you also need to learn how to use firewalls Network protocols and intrusion detection tools to keep systems secure step two you need to learn free cloud computing basic concepts so cloud computing relies on virtualization which allows a single physical machine to

run multiple virtual environments now in these virtualized environments you'll often work with virtual machines and containers virtual machines act as independent computers each with its own operating system while containers are more lightweight sharing the operating system but including only application dependencies now each has unique security requirements so understanding how to secure VMS virtual machines and containers individually is crucial secondly cloud services are typically offered in free forms infrastructure as a service platform as a service and software as a service each model offers different levels of control with infrastructure as a service you manage virtual machines

networking and storage platform as a service manages the infrastructure allowing you to focus on development and deployment in software as a service everything is handled by the provider leaving you to focus only on the application Level security it's also valuable to explore the main Cloud providers AWS Azure and Google Cloud as each excels in different areas but we stick with AWS because it has the largest market share finally responsibilities are shared between you and the cloud provider like AWS while the provider handles the physical security and the infrastructure aspects you are responsible for securing your

data managing access and setting permissions step three because you want to work as a cloud security engineer you have to understand Cloud security fundamentals identity and access management controls who can access which resources so learning identity and access management or IM am means knowing user roles permissions groups and access controls all of which help you keep your Cloud environment safe and secure data security is a priority and encryption plays a big role so get familiar with the types of encryption data at rest data in transit and client side encryption and finally network security learn to

configure virtual private clouds vpcs security groups and access control lists ACLS both host based and network-based firewalls are important for managing access Now by setting up these controls you can reduce the risk of unal access and other security issues now as a bonus option in a learn phase you also need to get certified beginners make the mistake in thinking that these are the golden ticket that cloud security jobs now for normal Cloud roles I would say that these do not matter but for specialized roles like Cloud security they are definitely important they are there for

you to consolidate your learning and give yourself some credibility begin with the CompTIA Security Plus because it covers the core security Concepts and then go through the AWS certifications practitioner solution arit associate professional and also the security speciality because that one stands out in the class security industry specifically for AWS Cloud security roles now you are ready for phase two build if you really want to land a job in Cloud security then learning theory isn't enough I get so many applications come through every week and when I check people's resumés they are just listing their

degrees and certificates that they've completed but they lack hands-on experience to really excel in the build phase you have to not only apply the the you've learned but actually be creative and build real solutions that businesses need in 2025 eventually you'll have to integrate AI machine learning into your projects you can't just build a static website a file backup system an s3e privacy Checker and believe that is enough to land a job are they good starting points sure but I'm here to give you the reality of the job market and the industry you are already

fighting an uphill battle if you have no prior industry experience so this is the way to get your foot in the door by building building more complex projects to Showcase you know what you are doing remember I quit my job and landed a new run as a cloud engineer 5 years ago and that would never have been possible if I didn't build real projects and get hands-on experience and of course it's not easy you have plenty of roadblocks along the way but to me everything in life that's worth having isn't easy to accomplish otherwise every

single person and a dog will be successful I can't stress this enough building Hands-On projects as soon as possible will accelerate your Learning Journey because it reinforces the theory it also gives you the confidence to believe in what you are doing you can apply for jobs because you've been building and using the tools that employers want to see for the last few months so the build phase is split into two parts part one you'll be learning practical skills part two you'll be building projects so part one the practical skills that you need to learn get

familiar with awss fre ec2 for running applications and go over identity and access management for controlling access again and of course don't forget vpcs now these core services will let you securely store host and manage access to your services learn how to use Python to automate tasks like uploading files and setting up servers learn basic commands like get in it get add get commit get push to keep track of changes in your code use GitHub to store your projects and build your portfolio now I also recommend getting familiar with monitoring tools like AWS guard Duty

and cloudwatch for logging and setting up alerts when something unusual happens in your Cloud sec security environment learn cicd pipelines automate processes that check code quality and push updates to customers tools like Jenkins and GitHub actions make it easy for this to be implemented learn how to use AWS cloud formation or terraform to set up Cloud Resources with code this makes it easy to set up change and duplicate your infrastructure as needed learn Docker to package applications with all their dependencies this keeps your application consistent across different environments add security scans to your cicd pipeline

with tools like Bandit for python this helps you catch security issues early in the process now it's time to build projects project number one you're going to host a secure website on s3e focusing on permissions Automation and monitoring with infrastructure code you want to set up your s3e bucket and store your website files in there whilst also managing the access configure your IM roles automate file uploads and permission checks of python and an enable guard duty to monitor for security alerts use git to track changes and document your project s on GitHub now with your

second project you're going to deploy a web application on ec2 with network security automated infrastructure and of course infrastructure as code firstly you want to use cloud formation to spin up your ec2 and then deploy your python flask app on your ec2 use security groups to limit access to your resources so your ec2 then you want to automate your server setup like installing dependencies then set up GitHub actions for automated deployment of your python app finally use clat for logging and monitoring alerts and the final project you're going to use Docker for containerization and set

up a cicd pipeline with Security checks as always start by defining your infrastructures code for your container so you can use ECS with AWS and then you want to package your web app in a Docker container and then use Bandit for python Security checks you can also add compliance checks to your pipeline and then what you want to do is simulate an incident and review your logs in cloudwatch now if you like the sound of these projects but you don't know how to start building them then check out my cloud engineer Academy you'll get plenty

of hands-on experience building projects and access to a private Discord group with over 300 Cloud students I also run monthly live workshops as well at no extra cost last month I run a class on deploying AI models to AWS so if you're interested go check out the link in the description so you've learned all the skills and built the projects along the way now you are ready for phase number three own the first part of phase number three is landing your Cloud security job there is of course a lot of cloud security jobs out there

and this is where you'll build your foundation when you get your job you'll gain real experience and develop core cloud and security skills now even if you have to take adjacent roles that's not a cloud security engineer then just take it just get your foot in the door now specific job advice and interview tips I'm not going to cover in this video instead I'm going to teach you how to own what you do but what does that even mean to me if you want to own and dominate and I knew this from day one back

when I was 19 working as an apprentice you need to to work for yourself own your future own your projects own your time now some people want to work at 9 to5 retire when they're 65 and that's totally fine they don't want to dominate but that's not you your goal isn't to work your whole life for someone else instead you're going to use that time to strategically learn specialize and eventually work for yourself the thought of having to ask your boss for a holiday should give you enough desire to want to work for yourself and

for your own future so you can take time off whenever you want like I knew I could take my security and Cloud expertise and build my own cloud security consultancy and you can do the same you don't have to reinvent the whe Niche down as well maybe it's identity and access management network security or Ai and ml security whatever it is I used to wake up at 5 a.m. to work on cloud security before my 9 to-5 job then spend my evenings building my YouTube channel was it exhausting of course it was but I knew

the alternative was that I'd be stuck in my 9 to-5 job forever whereas this would only be temporary pain that's why growing my YouTube channel and Linkedin has given me so much leverage your personal brand multiplies everything that you do and when you stick with it even on days when you are dead tired your personal brand is working in the background for you recruiters reach out to you directly people want to work with you you become a trusted voice of authority in your Niche why do you think recruiters reach out to me every single day

yes I have a lot of experience if I'm not creating content and posting on LinkedIn every every single day then they don't see me they don't even know who I am why do you think Mark Zuckerberg is suddenly creating content you're seeing his face everywhere now because billionaires know the true value of a personal brand in a world where AI is developing faster than we could ever imagine don't forget your employer ultimately doesn't care about you you're just there to make them as much money as possible for as long as you can as soon as

you can be replaced they won't hesitate that's why you need to own something that's truly yours something that gives you the freedom to work on your own terms something that rewards all those early mornings and late nights the journey isn't easy but I promise you it's worth every single step and if you want a deeper step-by-step breakdown then check out this video right here where I explain the cloud career path that will make you filthy rich