AWS Cloud Resume Challenge
It is a portfolio-building project that forces participants to gain real-world, practical experience with technologies that cloud engineers and developers use daily.
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Core Components and Steps
The challenge is typically broken down into two main sections: the Front-End (the website) and the Back-End (the visitor counter API), all tied together with Automation.
The Front-End (Static Website)
The challenge starts with creating the front-end — a static personal resume website built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This site serves as your digital resume, showcasing your professional background, skills, and experience. Once developed, it is hosted on Amazon S3 using the Static Website Hosting feature, which allows you to serve web pages directly from an S3 bucket. To improve global performance, reduce latency, and enable secure HTTPS access, you integrate Amazon CloudFront, which acts as a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Additionally, a custom domain is configured using Amazon Route 53, where DNS records are linked to the CloudFront distribution, giving your site a professional and polished URL.
The Back-End (The Visitor Counter)
To make the website more dynamic, the next component involves building a serverless backend that tracks the number of visitors to your resume site. This is achieved using AWS Lambda, a serverless compute service that runs your code in response to API requests. The visitor data is stored in a DynamoDB table, which serves as a scalable NoSQL database.
The Lambda function retrieves and updates the visitor count in real time. To expose this functionality to the front-end, you set up Amazon API Gateway, which provides a secure API endpoint that the website’s JavaScript can call. Proper IAM roles and permissions are configured to ensure that Lambda and DynamoDB interact securely.
Automation and DevOps (CI/CD and IaC)
The project strongly emphasizes automation and modern DevOps practices. Instead of deploying resources manually, you use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as AWS CloudFormation or Terraform to define and deploy your entire infrastructure consistently. This approach ensures version control and repeatability across environments.
You then set up a Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline using GitHub Actions (or AWS CodePipeline). This pipeline automatically updates your S3-hosted website and redeploys your Lambda backend whenever changes are pushed to the GitHub repository. This integration demonstrates a real-world DevOps workflow where testing, deployment, and updates are fully automated.
Documentation and Presentation
The final stage of the challenge focuses on documentation and presentation. You write a detailed blog post or LinkedIn article explaining your design choices, architecture, tools used, and lessons learned throughout the project. This step not only helps reinforce your understanding but also showcases your ability to communicate technical work clearly and professionally.
⚙️ AWS Services Involved
↠ S3 – Static website hosting
↠ CloudFront – CDN + HTTPS
↠ Route 53 – Domain & DNS
↠ Lambda – Serverless compute for visitor counter
↠ API Gateway – API endpoint for frontend-backend communication
↠ DynamoDB – NoSQL database to store visit counts
↠ IAM – Permissions and roles
↠ CloudFormation / Terraform – Infrastructure as code
↠ GitHub Actions – CI/CD automation
Reflections: Was it worth it?
Absolutely! This Cloud Resume Challenge was a rollercoaster ride of frustration and triumph. Did I end up with the most aesthetically pleasing resume ever? Maybe not. Did I learn a whole heck of a lot about cloud technologies? Heck yes! Most importantly, did I create a resume that showcases my willingness to learn and adapt? You bet your sweet pixels I did.
Well if you have made it this far...
How about you play around with this 3D model of the earth for a bit?
Interactivity
You can click and drag to orbit around and freely explore at any time.
Animation
The earth model is animated to reveal its internal layers mantle, outer core, and inner core, demonstrating how 3D visualization can enhance understanding of complex systems. This animation is triggered as you progress through the interactive sections, providing a dynamic and engaging experience.
Project History
The AWS Cloud Resume Challenge, created by Forrest Brazeal, is a hands-on project to build a serverless resume website using AWS services, yielding valuable outcomes for participants. My Blog!