Consider using an automation tool of some kind (Terraform, Pulumi, Ansible, cli, etc) when studying for a cloud cert (Azure, AWS, GCP, etc.). This has many benefits:

  • You get to learn a tool you’ve never had the chance to use before, so you’d effectively be learning two things at once.
  • You’re getting yourself hands on troubleshooting experience.
  • You’re almost guaranteed to delete all the resources you’ve created with them. I insist on ‘almost’: you still have to remember to run the destroy command at the end of the day (happened to me).
  • You’re actively learning, so better chances of getting that cert at first pass.
  • If you fail the exam, you’ll still have the automation experience.
  • Whatever practical experience you get is always noticed in an interview.
  • If you want to run some experiment on, say, cloud storage, the setup is already written down. Only little changes required to suit your context.

Bonus point if you use a role and user specifically for the purpose of deploying your resources