As someone who began working in the technology industry when physical machines were the main form of running applications and services, I’ve found Cloud Computing to be fascinating. Of course hardware is obviously still a thing, and a pretty cool one at that, but to anyone who has had to fight or go through procurement cycles to get “a server” to test things, Cloud Computing, as “dated” as it might seem these days, still feels like magic.
I have always found the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform alluring for that reason, years before I started working there (Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) Australia, opinions here are my own and should not be assumed to be shared by my employer). Back then (2015), the majority of the material available focused on how to stay as close as possible to the AWS Free Tier for experimentation and learning, and not on actually using it for personal use. Now in the throes of 2026, I find that, despite the many changes in the platform, guidance for individuals still seems to focus around that.
With that in mind, I came up with a baseline for people to make use of AWS in a personal capacity. It implements some of the best practices that AWS recommends, like limiting usage of root, setting up proper contacts and cost notifications. It’s freely available on GitHub at tssalvador/personal-aws-account-baseline.
It is focused on using AWS CLI commands whenever possible, so people can see exactly what’s going on, and includes documentation explaining the rationale. It can be further improved of course, and I may start doing so if there’s interest. Do let me know.
— Tiago “Salvador” Souza