Short answer: it's the biggest with 30% of the cloud infrastructure service provider at the end of Q4 2024 compared to 21% and 12% for Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, respectively (see Amazon and Microsoft Stay Ahead in Global Cloud Market).

Longer answer: its clear and focused certification paths and the large number of affordable sources to learn for each path were huge draws. Sure, I could muddle through on my own to figure things out in a haphazard way. But, with resources like The Cloud Resume Challenge (TCRC) that give a list of requirements not unlike the kinds of things you encounter in the professional world, it seemed like a natural choice.

Visiting TCRC's site, you would rightly retort with the fact that they also include requirements lists for Azure and GCP. So again, why AWS?

You might be underwhelmed by my answer: because I didn't want to do either of those. Okay, but WHY? Azure: I don't want to pigeonhole myself into only being able to work in a Windows environment. While I do have in-depth experience working with Azure DevOps as architect and engineer of my team's internal repository at a software company running a .NET shop, it's just not my favorite ecosystem. I'd much rather be working in a Linux environment with something like GitHub or GitLab. Google: it may be growing but its market share is still so small that I would be severely limiting my marketability. Because, at the end of the day, the whole idea behind this website project is to show my understanding and application of various cloud technologies to entice employers to hire me!

Now that I'm deep into this challenge project, I can also add how much FUN I am having learning the ins and outs of AWS services! So much so that I am sitting my Certified Cloud Practitioner exam this week! (Which is also part of the Challenge, as you can see from the checklist in the footer of this site).

From here on out, I'll be talking about the specific services and technologies I have chosen to implement for the Challenge. While I'm following the spirit of the challenge, in some places I'm going further than what's called for. For example, this is a dynamic instead of static website.

Can't wait to tell you all about it!