Data Engineering on AWS
AWS is the largest cloud platform by market share. If you already know Azure, the concepts transfer directly — you are learning new service names, not new ideas. This section maps everything you know to AWS equivalents.
If you know Azure, you already know AWS concepts
The single most important thing to understand about learning AWS after Azure is that the architecture patterns are identical. Both platforms have an object storage service for your data lake, a processing engine for Spark workloads, a data warehouse for SQL analytics, a streaming service for real-time data, and orchestration tools to tie it all together.
The concepts are the same. The Medallion Architecture works on AWS exactly the same way it works on Azure. ETL, batch processing, streaming — all the same patterns. The only thing different is which service you pick up and what you type in the console.
| Azure Service | AWS Equivalent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ADLS Gen2 | Amazon S3 | Both are object storage for data lakes |
| Azure Data Factory | AWS Glue + Step Functions | ADF combines ingestion + orchestration that AWS splits into two services |
| Azure Databricks | Amazon EMR / AWS Glue | EMR is full Spark clusters, Glue is serverless Spark |
| Azure Synapse Analytics | Amazon Redshift + Athena | Redshift = dedicated warehouse, Athena = serverless query |
| Azure Event Hubs | Amazon Kinesis | Both are managed event streaming services |
| Azure Key Vault | AWS Secrets Manager | Both store credentials securely |
| Microsoft Purview | AWS Lake Formation | Data governance and access control |
Key AWS services for data engineers
The data lake. Stores all your raw and processed data at any scale. Equivalent to ADLS Gen2 on Azure. Central storage for the entire AWS data platform.
Learn Amazon S3Serverless ETL and data catalog service. Write PySpark or Python shell jobs that run without managing any infrastructure. The Glue Catalog is the metadata store for all your S3 data.
Learn AWS GlueAWS's cloud data warehouse. Columnar storage, MPP (massively parallel processing) query engine. Where analysts run SQL against large datasets. Equivalent to Azure Synapse Dedicated Pool.
Learn Amazon RedshiftReal-time data streaming service. Captures millions of events per second from websites, mobile apps, IoT devices. AWS's equivalent of Azure Event Hubs / Apache Kafka.
Learn Amazon KinesisServerless SQL query service over S3. Query raw data in S3 using standard SQL without loading it into a database. Equivalent to Azure Synapse Serverless SQL Pool.
Managed Hadoop/Spark clusters. Equivalent to Azure Databricks but more infrastructure-heavy to manage. Many teams use Glue instead for simpler workloads.
Workflow orchestration service. Coordinates multiple AWS services into a serverless pipeline. Equivalent to Azure Data Factory's orchestration capabilities.
Data lake governance and fine-grained access control for S3 and Glue Catalog. Equivalent to Microsoft Purview for data governance.
AWS certifications for data engineers
🎯 Key Takeaways
- ✓AWS is the largest cloud platform — worth learning after Azure since the concepts are identical, only service names differ
- ✓The core AWS data engineering stack: S3 (lake) → Glue (process) → Redshift (warehouse) → Kinesis (streaming)
- ✓Amazon S3 is equivalent to ADLS Gen2, AWS Glue to ADF+Databricks, Redshift to Synapse, Kinesis to Event Hubs
- ✓The Medallion Architecture works exactly the same on AWS — Bronze/Silver/Gold in S3 instead of ADLS Gen2
- ✓AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) is the key certification to add to your resume
- ✓IAM roles on AWS = Managed Identities on Azure — always use them instead of storing credentials
Designed AWS data lake architecture using Amazon S3 (storage), AWS Glue (transformation), and Redshift (warehousing)
Migrated on-premises ETL workflows to AWS serverless architecture — reducing infrastructure costs by 70%
Configured AWS IAM roles and policies for least-privilege access to S3, Glue, and Redshift data resources
Knowledge Check
5 questions · Earn 50 XP for passing · Score 60% or more to pass
ADF vs Glue, Databricks vs EMR, Synapse vs Redshift — direct comparison for job seekers.
When to use Glue and when to use Databricks — the real differences that matter.
Junior to senior in 3 years — the skills and milestones that actually matter.
Discussion
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