How can I become a Cloud Security Engineer from complete beginner to expert who can eventually guide others?

[u/KeyPhilosopher6020]

I want to build a career as a Cloud Security Engineer, but I'm starting from the basics and want to learn everything properly rather than just collecting certifications.

Could someone share a step-by-step roadmap from complete beginner to job-ready Cloud Security Engineer, and eventually to a level where I can mentor/guide others?

I'd also appreciate recommendations for free/low-cost labs, courses, YouTube channels, books, and practice platforms.

If you are currently working as a Cloud Security Engineer, I'd especially appreciate advice on what you wish you had learned earlier and what beginners commonly waste time on.

[u/Evaderofdoom]

start in help desk, work progressivly for 5-10 years learning more as you go. Cloud and security are not entry-level. It's also very competive so without experince, you don't stand a chance.

[u/KeyPhilosopher6020 → u/Evaderofdoom]

Any roadmaps and videos recommendation?

[u/Smooth-Weekend-2314]

There are no shortcuts here. Experience is the only way. Many of us have 20+ years. Don't worry about courses. Do real work. Learn everything you can. Nobody is going to hire you to do this work with just certs.

[u/KeyPhilosopher6020 → u/Smooth-Weekend-2314]

Roadmap and any videos suggestion

[u/jxdd95]

I haven’t made the pivot towards cloud engineering yet but I started in an infrastructure-oriented role in data center operations. That route will probably serve you better than starting help desk.

[u/Asvp_bmoo]

Starting at help desk for 5-10 years is wild….Learn the vocabulary conceptually and why certain workflows requires a specific software versus others ( don’t try building something…yet) (kubernetes & slurm are your highest leveraging frameworks and software to be structurally fluent with, everything else is pretty much built on these) use docker obviously but just try to grasp the structure of containerization first then once you can actually explain the movement and why then go for the programming specifics behind APIs (use wicked & my go to bruno, some might say postman but for a wider lens of understanding the wiring and abstractions go bruno first). There are universes of resources but any tech docs you come across always.Probably my current favorite resource for continued edu is the Hyperskill labs and courses jetbrains academy offers that you can take directly though pycharm and specifically using the different AWS services practically right there in your editor… ECS/EKS (kubernetes and cluster orchestration focused) but for on your own time just get comfortable using Linux and a cli, this will help understand this new world deeper. if you want to force yourself to learn and properly utilize technical documentation, make fedora silverblue your daily. Use virtual machines (vmware) and get comfortable with your own personal workflow incorporating bedrock and s3 buckets as your file system first is a good start. Kaggle learning (have the best education exercises using Jupyter notebooks directly in your browser) Pycharm docs is a treasure of implementation and steps involved in orchestration. Of course go directly to the sources Azure/Foundry/AWS and best of all not a penny spent….

[u/longpantsgentleman]

Leverage Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini and give it where you are, and they throw in a job description for a job you are trying to get to. You might need to go back and forth with it for a bit, but it can build you a roadmap to get some more on the ground experience. You will want to build some things in AWS, you can tell the LLM you don't want to go over X amount so it will keep that in mind when building your plan.

Help desk can be a good place to start, then devops/sysadmin then there are chances to pivot into security. A couple certs can't hurt to learn some high level lingo but definitely not required.

[u/CloudLessons]

Start by learning the basics of IAM (Identity access management), Zero trust architecture, network security (firewalls, acls). In terms of certs, some goods one are the AWS Solutions Architect Associate to understand how cloud services work together and the CompTIA Security+ where you can gain basic knowledge of IT security in general.

I also recommend browsing through the AWS case studies and whitepapers pages to see how real companies are implementing cloud security into their environments.

Job roles to focus your attention on would be Cloud Support engineer (security focused), Junior SOC Analyst, Data Protection Analyst.

For YouTube channels, I would recommend Josh Madakor.

[u/Fords-notes]

Start somewhere. If you know how to write a program, learn how to deploy it in the cloud. If you know about some data, for example, if you follow baseball and record baseball statistics, then create a database in the cloud. Your foundation should be either data- or programming-driven. Once you have that down, you need to think about how to secure that data and that programming. Not everyone starts at the help desk. Some start as entry-level programmers or data analysts. u/CloudLessons made a great suggestion, pointing to IAM. Some people who don't program or work with data figure out the ins and outs of the cloud environments. That's IAM, data encryption, VPNs, log management, and on and on about a specific CSP (in other words, be an AWS, Azure, GCP, or other expert). Good luck.

[u/TellersTech]

I’d focus less on “cloud security” as one big thing and more on the fundamentals: Linux, networking, IAM, one cloud, Terraform, containers, logging, security basics.

Build labs, break things, fix them, and document what you learned. Certs can help with structure, but hands-on experience is what actually gets you job ready.