AWS Project Ideas

Build real-world projects to strengthen your skills and create an impressive portfolio

Beginner Projects

Perfect for those just starting their AWS journey

Beginner

Static Website Hosting

Host a personal portfolio or blog on AWS

AWS Services Used

S3 CloudFront Route 53 ACM

What You'll Learn

  • S3 bucket configuration for static hosting
  • CloudFront distribution setup
  • SSL/TLS certificate provisioning
  • Custom domain configuration
  • Cache invalidation strategies
View Guide
Beginner

Serverless Contact Form

Build a contact form that sends emails

AWS Services Used

API Gateway Lambda SES DynamoDB

What You'll Learn

  • API Gateway REST API creation
  • Lambda function development
  • Email sending with SES
  • NoSQL data storage basics
  • CORS configuration
View Guide
Beginner

EC2 Web Server

Deploy a web application on EC2

AWS Services Used

EC2 VPC Security Groups Elastic IP

What You'll Learn

  • EC2 instance launching and configuration
  • VPC and subnet fundamentals
  • Security group rules
  • SSH key management
  • Basic server administration
View Guide

Intermediate Projects

Build on your foundation with more complex architectures

Intermediate

Three-Tier Web Application

Build a scalable, highly available web app

AWS Services Used

ALB EC2 ASG RDS Multi-AZ ElastiCache

What You'll Learn

  • Application Load Balancer configuration
  • Auto Scaling Groups and policies
  • RDS Multi-AZ deployment
  • Caching strategies with ElastiCache
  • Multi-AZ architecture patterns
View Guide
Intermediate

CI/CD Pipeline

Automated deployment pipeline for applications

AWS Services Used

CodePipeline CodeBuild CodeDeploy ECR

What You'll Learn

  • Source control integration
  • Build automation with CodeBuild
  • Deployment strategies (blue/green, rolling)
  • Container image management
  • Pipeline orchestration
View Guide
Intermediate

Serverless REST API

Build a complete serverless backend

AWS Services Used

API Gateway Lambda DynamoDB Cognito

What You'll Learn

  • RESTful API design on API Gateway
  • Lambda function patterns
  • DynamoDB data modeling
  • User authentication with Cognito
  • API authorization strategies
View Guide
Intermediate

Infrastructure as Code

Deploy infrastructure using CloudFormation or Terraform

AWS Services Used

CloudFormation CDK S3 IAM

What You'll Learn

  • Infrastructure as Code principles
  • CloudFormation template authoring
  • Stack management and updates
  • Cross-stack references
  • Drift detection and remediation
View Guide

Advanced Projects

Complex, production-grade architectures for experienced builders

Advanced

Multi-Region Active-Active

Build a globally distributed application

AWS Services Used

Route 53 Global Accelerator Aurora Global DynamoDB Global Tables

What You'll Learn

  • Multi-region architecture design
  • Global traffic management
  • Data replication strategies
  • Conflict resolution patterns
  • Failover automation
View Guide
Advanced

Kubernetes on EKS

Production-grade Kubernetes cluster

AWS Services Used

EKS ECR ALB Ingress Secrets Manager

What You'll Learn

  • EKS cluster provisioning
  • Kubernetes networking on AWS
  • Pod autoscaling (HPA/VPA)
  • Service mesh implementation
  • GitOps with ArgoCD/Flux
View Guide
Advanced

Real-Time Data Pipeline

Stream processing and analytics platform

AWS Services Used

Kinesis Lambda OpenSearch QuickSight

What You'll Learn

  • Stream ingestion with Kinesis
  • Real-time data transformation
  • Search and analytics with OpenSearch
  • Dashboard creation with QuickSight
  • Data lake architecture patterns
View Guide
Advanced

Multi-Account Landing Zone

Enterprise-grade AWS organization setup

AWS Services Used

Organizations Control Tower IAM Identity Center Service Catalog

What You'll Learn

  • AWS Organizations structure
  • Service Control Policies (SCPs)
  • Centralized logging and security
  • Account vending automation
  • Governance guardrails
View Guide

Tips for Building Your Portfolio

  • Document everything - Create architecture diagrams, write about your design decisions, and explain trade-offs you considered.
  • Use the AWS Free Tier wisely - Most of these projects can be built within free tier limits. Set up billing alerts to avoid surprises.
  • Clean up resources - Always tear down your infrastructure when done to avoid charges. Use IaC to make this easy.
  • Share your work - Push code to GitHub, write blog posts, and share on LinkedIn. This demonstrates both technical skills and communication ability.
  • Start simple, iterate - Begin with the basic version, then add features like monitoring, CI/CD, and security hardening.

Architecture Documentation

Every project should include:

Architecture Diagram Cost Estimate Security Considerations Scalability Analysis Deployment Guide Lessons Learned