Cloud Support
You keep cloud infrastructure running and help engineers and customers when it misbehaves.
No degree needed Second-easiest entry after help desk.
Can I actually do this?
Good no-degree entry, most often reached via a help desk role first.
Who it suits. People who like systems thinking and are comfortable being careful with things that cost money when left running.
Runway. Realistic after help desk experience, or with focused study plus lab evidence.
Already working help desk? You are closer to this than you think — it is the most common path into cloud work. Help Desk / IT Support
Also advertised as
The route
Four stations, in order. Each one is a thing you finish before the next matters.
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Station one
Learn it free
Only the best few, deliberately. Every one of these is free to use — the pill on each card says exactly what is and isn't free.
AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner
Free to learn · no certificate
Game-based official training including 12 hands-on assignments. The training is free; the certificate exam is separate and paid.
Verified 2026-07-25
AWS Skill Builder free tier
Free to learn · no certificate
Official free tier. Paid tiers exist alongside it — only the free tier is counted here.
Verified 2026-07-25
Microsoft Learn: AZ-900 learning path and free practice assessments
Free to learn · no certificate
Free interactive path from Microsoft, plus official practice assessments with unlimited attempts.
Verified 2026-07-25
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Station two
Attest strategically
Pick ONE, based on which ecosystem your target employers actually run. Do not collect both at $199 — a second entry-level cloud certificate signals nothing the first one didn't.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Amazon Web Services · CLF-C02
Free to learn · paid certificate Recognized
The honest cost Cost $100 Validity 3 years. Renewal Free recertification path via AWS Cloud Quest (no exam fee), or renew by passing any Associate-level exam. Assessment Proctored exam Proctored Yes Verify via Credly Cost per active year $33/yr100 ÷ 3, with the free Cloud Quest renewal path Recognised for entry cloud roles, particularly at AWS-centric employers.
Read this before you buyConfidence is high but not primary-source: we have not yet fetched AWS's own pricing page showing $100 live. That check is queued for the link audit.
Verified 2026-07-25 · Official page
Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
Microsoft · AZ-900
Free to learn · paid certificate Recognized
The honest cost Cost $99
Microsoft prices vary by region.Validity Does not expire. Renewal None. Fundamentals certificates do not expire — no renewal assessment, no continuing education, no annual fee. Assessment Proctored exam Proctored Yes Verify via Credly Cost per active year $0$99 once, then nothing — there is no active-year cost to amortise Recognised at Azure-heavy employers.
Read this before you buyThis is the cheapest entry cloud credential to keep, because there is nothing to keep paying. Microsoft's role-based certificates behave differently — they renew annually, also at no cost.
Verified 2026-07-26 · Official page
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Station three
Prove it
A certificate says you passed a test. These say you can do the job.
Free-tier build with a teardown
Deploy a static site on S3 + CloudFront or Azure Static Web Apps, stay inside the free tier, then document the teardown. Proving you can turn things off is part of the exercise.
Infrastructure-as-code mini project
Use Terraform's free tutorial track to deploy a single resource and destroy it cleanly, with the run documented.
Break-and-fix log
Deliberately break things in the free tier and repair them. Three dated write-ups.
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Station four
Get hired
Search these exact titles
Who hires for this. Cloud consultancies and partners, managed service providers, any company large enough to run its own cloud footprint.
Target employers decide your certificate, not the other way round. Read the job ads in your area first, then buy the exam that matches them.
On salaryWe don't publish salary estimates. Numbers copied between blogs drift from reality, and a wrong number costs you real negotiating power. When we have a verified public source, it goes here with its date.
Where this route continues
- Cloud Engineer — the direct promotion
- AI Infrastructure Engineer — if you move toward GPUs and training
- Help Desk / IT Support — sideways move
This page last verified 2026-07-25 · How we verify
Ladder researched 2026-07-25 via live sources; AZ-900 price read from Microsoft's official page the same day.