Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What Are We Doing?
3. The Video: The Best Next Steps to Take from Here
4. Next Steps
5. The Complete CloudFormation Guide Index

Introduction

Well, here we are at the end. Congratulations! I know you'll want to say it's not a big deal but in our age of constant distractions, doing something like carving out space to learn can be really difficult. But you did it! Now you have a budding skill set under your belt and a mental model to work with as you go beyond the fundamentals. Just remember that mental model as you go forward:

Learn and build it in the console, then build it in CloudFormation.

I'd say that in the next 2-5 years, Infrastructure as Code will become synonymous with DevOps, and you're already on your way there. There's no substitute to learning through experience though as that's when you get to see the real gotchas out there. Plus, the feedback loop with CloudFormation is LONG and is something to keep in mind as you go on to work with it more.

So what else is next? Well, building something more complex than a Security Group for one. A real project will give you experience with CloudFormation's nuances, show you the more advanced areas of the topic, and expose you to more services in AWS. For example, Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a crucial service that's pretty much everywhere in AWS and would be worthwhile to work with.

After a vanilla project, the next step then might be to look at tooling to make your job simpler or better for working with teams. Looking at tools after you've worked with CloudFormation for a while will let you know what you should be looking for and what you'd like to have in your tool kit.

And, if you're interested in learning more about CloudFormation with me in particular, as well as Infrastructure as Code and Terraform, I teach an Infrastructure as Code course that takes what we've learned here and dives as deep as possible into every piece of those topics.

Again, learning independently can be really difficult so Great Job for doing it here! Until next time, cheers!

What Are We Doing?

In the final video, we discuss the best next steps for you now that you have the fundamentals of creating an AWS CloudFormation template under your belt. From real-world experience via a self-made project to learning other AWS services to investigating tooling options, there's plenty out there to continue your CloudFormation journey with.

The Video: The Best Next Steps to Take from Here

Next Steps

The Previous Post - Relaunch!

The Complete CloudFormation Guide Index

If you're enjoying this series and finding it useful, be sure to check out the rest of the blog posts in it! The links below will take you to the other posts in The Complete CloudFormation Guide here on Tech Guides and Thoughts so you can continue building your CloudFormation template along with me.

1. The Complete CloudFormation Guide
2. An Introduction to and History of CloudFormation
3. The Main Concepts of CloudFormation
4. How CloudFormation Does Updates and Deletes
5. Our Project Setup
6. Resources
7. Parameters and Refs
8. Our First Time Launch
9. Functions, Pseudo Parameters, and Conditions Part 1
10. Functions, Pseudo Parameters, and Conditions Part 2
11. Mappings
12. Transforms
13. Outputs
14. Relaunch!
15. The Best Next Steps to Take from Here

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