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Introduction to Cloud Computing on AWS for Beginners [2026] (Udemy.com)

Learn Cloud Computing Concepts and AWS Basics | Master AWS Fundamentals and Hands-on Skills on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Created by: Neal Davis

Last updated September 2026

Our take

Based on the ratings of 40,064 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in September 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.

Neal Davis runs Digital Cloud Training, and this is its general introduction to AWS. It comes to about 9.8 hours across 97 lectures, which is short for the ground it covers. The syllabus runs from access control and EC2 through VPC, storage, databases, CloudFormation, containers, Lambda and a brief machine learning section. It was last updated in September 2026, which matters for a platform that keeps rearranging its console. More than 235,000 students have enrolled.

Reviewers keep coming back to the visuals. Colored diagrams and animations make hard ideas easier to picture, and his clear, unhurried voice gets repeated praise. One student said the hands-on lessons still worked despite recent console changes. The complaints are consistent too. A few three-star reviewers call it fast, and one says a role assignment error was skipped past with a sudden switch to STS. Others want real-world examples of when teams use each service, and one reviewer found the labs too simple.

Ratings are strong: 4.5 from over 40,000 reviews, with about 22,000 five-star ratings and fewer than 600 at one or two stars. There are no quizzes or coding exercises, so it works best as a first map of AWS, not a hands-on workshop. Some reviewers say total newcomers may struggle in places. It is a sensible first step before a certification course, which the course itself says you will need separately.

Best forPeople who learn from diagrams and want a clear first map of core AWS services before picking a certification.
Skip it ifYou want slow, step-by-step labs or real-world project examples; reviewers found the labs simple and parts rushed.

Pros

  • Colored diagrams and animations make hard ideas easier to picture
  • Clear, unhurried delivery that reviewers describe as easy to follow
  • Covers access control, VPC, databases, CloudFormation and Lambda in under 10 hours
  • Updated in September 2026, and reviewers say lessons still matched the console

Cons

  • Some sections move fast, like the role assignment and STS switch, and skip the why
  • Labs are simple and real-world use cases for each service are thin
  • No quizzes or practice tests, and Docker and Cognito get light coverage
Neal is a great instructor. His speech is clear, concise and he is very knowledgeable. A great course to get your feet wet with AWS.
Graeme Hornby, a student

Labelled Beginner and aimed at newcomers, but a few reviewers say total beginners may struggle with the fast pace.

Featured in our guide: The 10 Best AWS Courses on Udemy in 2026

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What you will learn

  • This course covers fundamental concepts of cloud computing and is designed for absolute beginners
  • Learn the basics of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's leading cloud computing platform
  • Gain an understanding of the fundamental systems on which the cloud is based, including storage, networking, and compute
  • Develop hands-on skills using core Amazon Web Services (AWS) services
  • Build knowledge from beginner level to advanced concepts

Course content

12 sections · 97 lectures · 9.8 hours of video 2 articles

  1. 1Let's Get Started! 3 free previews8 lectures · 49 min
  2. 2Amazon Web Services Fundamentals 4 free previews6 lectures · 27 min
  3. 3AWS Authentication and Access Control 3 free previews7 lectures · 36 min
  4. 4Amazon EC2, Auto Scaling, and Load Balancing15 lectures · 1.8 hours
  5. 5Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)10 lectures · 1.1 hours
  6. 6AWS Storage Services10 lectures · 1.1 hours
  7. 7AWS Database Services6 lectures · 35 min
  8. 8Automation and DevOps on AWS8 lectures · 49 min
  9. 9DNS, Caching, and Performance Optimization7 lectures · 41 min
  10. 10Containers and Serverless Computing12 lectures · 1.3 hours

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Anyone keen to learn about cloud computing
  • Ideal for newbies to cloud computing
  • Professionals keen to explore cloud computing services
  • Anyone interested in understanding Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Aspiring developers who want to build applications on AWS
  • Students keen to learn the fundamental concepts of cloud computing

What you need before you start

  • This course is designed for individuals who are new to the world of cloud computing and AWS
  • Absolutely no prior experience necessary

How it compares

Against the other 235 rated Udemy courses in AWS on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.5 out of 5higher than 43% of them
  • Reviews40,064#5 of 236 by number of reviews
  • Length9.8 hourslonger than 52% of them
  • Last updatedSeptember 2026more recently than 89% of them

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Course Description

This beginner-friendly Introduction to Cloud Computing on AWS course takes you from the AWS basics to becoming a competent AWS cloud practitioner. With expert instruction and engaging content, you'll learn general cloud computing concepts and AWS from fundamentals right through to advanced concepts. You'll also build hands-on skills using many of the core Amazon Web Services (AWS) services. Ideal for beginners - absolutely no cloud computing experience is required!

We use a highly visual and effective method of teaching cloud computing and AWS concepts using diagrams and animations (no bullet-point slides). There are lots of hands-on exercises using an Amazon Web Services (AWS) free tier account to help you gain practical experience.

If you're interested in moving into a high-paying career working with cloud computing services - this is the best way to get started. You'll build knowledge from beginner level to advanced concepts, with plenty of opportunities to practice what you're learning.

This course is an excellent way to get started with cloud computing and also serves as a great starting point for those planning to earn their AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner or AWS Certified Solutions Architect certifications (you will need additional courses aimed at those AWS certifications).


Watch the intro video to learn how this course will help you gain a solid understanding of cloud computing on AWS.


KEY SKILLS YOU WILL DEVELOP


  • Learn fundamental concepts of cloud computing and including storage, database, networking, virtualization, containers, and cloud architecture

  • Create an AWS Free Tier account and launch your first virtual servers (Amazon EC2 instances) on the AWS Cloud

  • Configure elasticity, high availability and fault tolerance using Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling and Amazon Elastic Load Balancing

  • Create and configure storage services and upload files and objects using Amazon EBS, Amazon EFS and Amazon S3

  • Launch a relational database on Amazon RDS and a NoSQL database using Amazon DynamoDB

  • Automatically deploy infrastructure using code through AWS CloudFormation

  • Create a Platform as a Service (PaaS) application on AWS Elastic Beanstalk

  • Learn how to use DevOps tools on AWS to automate a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline

  • Implement serverless computing and Docker containers on AWS using AWS Lambda and Amazon ECS

  • Create serverless event-driven architectures on Lambda

  • Create loosely coupled services with Amazon SQS and Amazon SNS


CORE TOPICS WE WILL COVER IN THIS CLOUD COMPUTING FUNDAMENTALS COURSE


IT Fundamentals

Gain an understanding of fundamental IT concepts, including:

  • Client / server computing

  • Storage concepts: block, file, and object

  • IP addressing and subnetting basics

  • Networking: routers and switches

  • Server virtualization and Docker containers

  • Application programming interfaces (APIs)


Cloud Computing Concepts

Learn about the key cloud computing concepts:

  • Legacy / traditional IT vs cloud computing

  • The advantages of cloud computing services

  • Cloud computing examples

  • Cloud computing service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)

  • Cloud computing deployment models (private cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, multicloud)

  • Scaling up vs scaling out

  • Load balancing

  • High availability and Fault tolerance

  • Monolithic vs microservices architectures


AWS Access Control and Networking

In this section you'll learn the basics of Amazon AWS and the AWS IAM and Amazon VPC:

  • AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

  • Creating AWS IAM users and groups

  • Cloud networking - Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

  • Creating custom Amazon VPCs

  • Cloud computing security - security groups and network ACLs

  • Creating security groups and NACLs


Amazon EC2, Auto Scaling, and Load Balancing

Learn how to use Amazon AWS's IaaS platform and launch virtual servers on Amazon EC2:

  • Launching Amazon EC2 instances

  • Create a website on Amazon EC2

  • Using IAM Roles with EC2

  • Scaling with Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling

  • Add high availability with Amazon Elastic Load Balancing


AWS Storage Services

Use block, file, and object storage on AWS:

  • Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) and Instance Stores

  • Amazon EBS snapshots and AMIs

  • Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)

  • Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)


AWS Databases

Use managed database services in the AWS Cloud:

  • Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)

  • Create Amazon RDS DB with a Read Replica

  • Amazon DynamoDB

  • Create a DynamoDB table


Automation and DevOps on AWS

Learn how to automate deployment and management on AWS and use the AWS Developer Tools:

  • Deploy infrastructure as code using AWS CloudFormation

  • Deploy a Platform as a Service (PaaS) application using AWS Elastic Beanstalk

  • Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

  • AWS CodeCommit, CodePipeline, and CodeDeploy

  • Create an AWS CodePipeline with AWS Elastic Beanstalk


DNS, Caching, and Performance Optimization

  • Use Amazon Route 53 for DNS resolution and domain registration

  • Use the Amazon CloudFront content delivery network (CDN)

  • AWS Global Accelerator


Containers and Serverless Computing

You'll learn about Docker containers and serverless computing:

  • Docker Containers on Amazon ECS

  • Serverless computing with AWS Lambda functions

  • Application integration services and loose coupling

  • Amazon EventBridge


WHAT DO OTHER STUDENTS SAY?

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Instructor Details

Neal Davis

Hi, my name's Neal. I am the founder of Digital Cloud Training, a highly experienced AWS Cloud Solutions Architect and a successful IT instructor. I've been working in IT for over 20 years in a variety of roles ranging from support to architecture. Over the last 15 years, I have mainly worked as a Solutions Architect in the systems integration space designing solutions for enterprise organizations.

My experience in IT has included working with virtualization and cloud computing since it's inception. In my most recent consulting role I worked as an Enterprise Architect designing Hybrid IT and Digital Transformation solutions.

I have always enjoyed earning IT certifications and they have helped me immensely with moving upwards throughout my career. These days, my passion is to help others to achieve their career goals through in-depth AWS certification training resources.

That's why I started digitalcloud.training - to provide certification training resources for Amazon Web Services (AWS) certifications that represent a higher quality standard than is otherwise available in the market.

Connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube or Twitter.

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Reviews

4.5

40,064 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Jesse Babineau on 9/3/2026

Very on point. Hardly had any issues with the lessons despite the AWS's huge dashboard updates that rearranged settings. I was able to practice pretty much all of the Hands-On Learning sessions will little to no fault. Though I would have liked a little more education on Docker and Cognito as well as some re-reviews of previous lessons to keep myself remembering the fundamentals of launching services such as VPC or CloudFormation. I'm willing to believe though that certain lacking info on services are due to free tier limitations though. Overall, a few well organized course with good enough time to finish to prepare for job opportunities afterward.

By Declan Cahill on 8/7/2026

Very clear explanations with great supporting graphics. This helps make concepts easier to understand and engage with.

By Harshita Pemmasani on 6/30/2026

Some complex concepts that were hard to understand watching other videos were very simplified and explained using simple terms and easy to envision language.

By Ahmad Wehbe on 6/13/2026

The only missing thing from these courses is informing the students more about practical applications of the services explained. So for example in the lesson I just watched the three types of storages were explained. But no real life examples were given to when do teams use each.

By Edem Doglo on 4/28/2026

I love how you're explaining the course, and putting figures in colors. it's helping me a lot to understand them quick. The voice is also clear to me, which is helpful.

By Mallapu Sravya on 4/8/2026

It was very informative, clear and perfect explanation. This module really helped me to get hands-on experience on AWS platform. Thank you.

By Anonymized User on 3/18/2026

Comparing topics(AWS) with other technology will be very helpful and understandable. Where are the Quiz section on each module. It motivated and refreshes the concepts.

By Max Nieto Montoya on 3/6/2026

I like so much how Neal explain the things about AWS, he knows a lot of the cloud and for me is very nice the course.

By Patrick CHARLIER on 3/3/2026

Beginners in networking should be warned it will take extra effort to understand the basics. The course is a good opening window to guide extra study.

By Bhavna Gargate on 2/17/2026

It's a great course for beginners to understand the concept of cloud computing and the services provided by AWS. The hands on labs were very helpful. Thank you!

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Overall Score : 90 / 100