Become a Cloud Engineer in 2026

AI can generate a Kubernetes manifest, a Terraform module, a Lambda function, and CI/CD pipelines. So what should junior cloud engineers actually focus on? Coding alone isn't the differentiator anymore. The best juniors understand fundamentals (security, reliability, cost, performance, maintainability) and use AI agents to move faster while reviewing the output against those fundamentals. Thats why it's more important than ever to know what to build and why it's built that way. In this video, I break down the practical skills that matter for new grads and career switchers working on the cloud in the age of AI -- including a principle from Marc Brooker (Distinguished Engineer at AWS, who helped build Lambda and Aurora). AWS blog post: https://go.aws/3R8dVYf AWS GitHub org: https://go.aws/4djAjGJ AWS Labs GitHub: https://go.aws/3R7sefH AWS Free Tier: https://go.aws/4dsu4ir Marc Brooker's blog about juniors: https://go.aws/4tO7xCZ Follow AWS Developers! 🆇 X: https://go.aws/4dhm05p 💼 LinkedIn: https://go.aws/4wD9xQY 0:00 Intro: My honest take from 8 years in 0:22 Why coding alone isn't enough anymore 0:32 The new junior path (Marc Brooker, Distinguished Engineer at AWS) 1:16 What the best juniors actually do 2:00 Real example: Adding logging vs. production engineering 2:29 Resources: GitHub, Free Tier, Certifications #AWS #CloudEngineering #AI