Learn the Fundamentals Before Cloud

Feeling stuck learning Cloud? Try this instead of another course.

I’ve been there.

📚 Watching endless tutorials
🎓 Signing up for “must-have” certifications
 🤯 Still feeling like I knew nothing

Here’s what actually changed things for me 👇

Instead of watching more, I built something real.

I deployed a 3-tier web app (frontend, backend, database) on a cheap VPS. No AWS, no fancy tools—just raw Linux, NGINX, and hands-on problem solving.

This one project taught me more than weeks of courses:

 ✅ How to configure and secure a Linux server
 ✅ How reverse proxies and firewalls actually work
 ✅ How to deploy apps, troubleshoot them, and make them reliable
 ✅ How to think like an engineer, not just a user

The best part?

It cost me less than a few coffees a month.
You don’t need the cloud to start building cloud skills.

Self-hosting teaches you foundational skills that transfer directly into AWS, Azure, or GCP.

If you’re stuck:

 🛑 Stop watching
🛠 Start building
 📝 Document what breaks
 🔁 Iterate until it works

Once you’ve built that foundation on a VPS, you’ll be 10x more prepared to do it in the cloud.

You’ll understand what EC2, load balancers, IAM, and security groups are actually doing—because you’ve done it manually.

Cloud services make more sense when you’ve felt the pain of doing it yourself first.

📹 Watch my YouTube tutorials: youtube.com/@techtoby_