A practical cloud project: Build a URL shortener on AWS

Breaking into backend or cloud engineering can feel like learning an entire ecosystem at once. The best way to cut through the noise? Build something real.

But not just anything—build something small enough to finish, yet meaningful enough to teach real architectural thinking.

That’s why in today’s newsletter, we’re building a URL shortening service on AWS. It’s approachable, practical, and touches on key backend concepts like scalability, availability, caching, observability, and rate limiting—all essential to modern cloud applications.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• How a URL shortening service works

• Core functional and nonfunctional requirements

• Step-by-step deployment on AWS

• Best practices for scaling and securing your service

By the end, you won’t just understand the theory—you’ll have a working, scalable service deployed using core AWS tools.

Let’s get to it.