How to Build an Online Résumé on AWS Using S3, Route 53, CloudFront, and ACM
In today‘s digital age, having an online presence is essential for job seekers. A professional online résumé not only showcases your skills and experience to potential employers but also demonstrates your technical abilities. And what better way to impress recruiters than by hosting your résumé on the world‘s leading cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS)?
In this hands-on tutorial, we‘ll walk through the steps to build a sleek, responsive online résumé using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and deploy it on AWS using four core services:
- Amazon S3 for static website hosting
- Amazon Route 53 for domain registration and DNS management
- Amazon CloudFront for content delivery and SSL/TLS termination
- AWS Certificate Manager for provisioning SSL/TLS certificates
By the end of this guide, you‘ll have a professional online résumé that you can proudly share with your network and potential employers. Let‘s get started!
Prerequisites
To follow along with this tutorial, you‘ll need:
- An AWS account (sign up for free at aws.amazon.com)
- Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- A registered domain name (optional – you can register one with Route 53)
Step 1: Code Your Online Résumé
The first step is to create the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that will make up your online résumé. I‘ve provided a sample below, but feel free to customize it to your liking.
index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>John Doe | Web Developer</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h2>Web Developer</h2>
</header>
<section id="about">
<h3>About Me</h3>
<p>I‘m a passionate web developer with 5+ years of experience building responsive, user-friendly websites and applications.</p>
</section>
<section id="skills">
<h3>Skills</h3>
<ul>
<li>HTML</li>
<li>CSS</li>
<li>JavaScript</li>
<li>React</li>
<li>Node.js</li>
<li>AWS</li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="experience">
<h3>Experience</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Web Developer, ABC Company</h4>
<p>June 2018 - Present</p>
<ul>
<li>Developed and maintained company website using React and Node.js</li>
<li>Collaborated with designers and marketing team to implement new features</li>
<li>Optimized website performance resulting in 30% faster load times</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="contact">
<h3>Contact</h3>
<p>Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>Phone: (123) 456-7890</p>
<p>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndoe">linkedin.com/in/johndoe</a></p>
</section>
</body>
</html>style.css
body {
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
header {
background-color: #333;
color: white;
padding: 20px;
text-align: center;
}
h1, h2 {
margin: 0;
}
section {
padding: 20px;
}
ul {
margin: 0;
padding-left: 20px;
}
a {
color: #333;
}This will create a basic résumé with an About section, Skills, Experience, and Contact Info. Customize the content to match your own background and experience.
Step 2: Configure S3 for Static Website Hosting
Now that your résumé files are ready, let‘s configure an S3 bucket to host them.
- Open the Amazon S3 console
- Click "Create bucket"
- Enter a unique name for your bucket (e.g. johndoe-resume)
- Choose the region closest to your target audience
- Uncheck "Block all public access" (your résumé needs to be publicly accessible)
- Click "Create bucket"
Next, enable static website hosting:
- Open your new bucket and go to the "Properties" tab
- Scroll down to "Static website hosting" and click "Edit"
- Choose "Enable"
- Enter "index.html" as the Index document
- Click "Save changes"
Finally, add a bucket policy to make the contents publicly readable:
- Go to the "Permissions" tab
- Click "Edit" under "Bucket policy"
- Paste the following policy, replacing YOUR_BUCKET_NAME with your bucket name:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "PublicReadGetObject",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Principal": "*",
"Action": [
"s3:GetObject"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::YOUR_BUCKET_NAME/*"
]
}
]
}- Click "Save changes"
Your S3 bucket is now set up for static website hosting! Make a note of the bucket website endpoint displayed at the bottom of the "Properties" tab – you‘ll need this later.
Step 3: Upload Your Résumé Files to S3
With your bucket configured, it‘s time to upload your résumé files.
- Go to your bucket and click "Upload"
- Drag or choose your index.html, style.css and any other files (e.g. images)
- Under "Manage public permissions", select "Grant public read access to this object(s)"
- Click "Upload"
Test your static website by navigating to the bucket website endpoint in your browser. You should see your résumé displayed!
Step 4: Register a Domain with Route 53 (Optional)
To make your résumé URL more professional and memorable, you can register a custom domain name with Route 53, Amazon‘s domain registrar and DNS service.
- Open the Route 53 console
- Under "Register domain", check if your desired domain name is available
- Add the domain to your cart and proceed to checkout
- Fill out the domain registration details and complete the purchase
It can take a few minutes for your domain to become available after registration. In the meantime, let‘s request an SSL/TLS certificate for your domain.
Step 5: Request an SSL/TLS Certificate with ACM
To serve your résumé over a secure HTTPS connection, you‘ll need an SSL/TLS certificate. AWS Certificate Manager makes this easy.
- Open the ACM console, making sure the region is set to us-east-1 (N. Virginia)
- Click "Request a certificate"
- Select "Request a public certificate" and click Next
- Enter your domain name (e.g. johndoe.com) and click Next
- Choose "DNS validation" and click Next
- Click "Confirm and request"
To validate your domain ownership and issue the certificate, ACM will send a verification email to the registered domain owner. Click the link in the email to approve the certificate request. The certificate status will change to "Issued".
Step 6: Configure CloudFront to Serve Your Résumé securely
Next, set up a CloudFront distribution to serve your résumé from the S3 bucket over HTTPS using your new SSL/TLS certificate.
- Open the CloudFront console
- Click "Create Distribution"
- Under "Web", click "Get Started"
- For "Origin Domain Name", select your S3 bucket website endpoint
- Under "Viewer Protocol Policy", select "Redirect HTTP to HTTPS"
- Under "Alternate Domain Names (CNAMEs)", enter your domain name
- Under "SSL Certificate", select "Custom SSL Certificate" and choose the ACM certificate you created
- Click "Create Distribution"
It may take up to 30 minutes for your CloudFront distribution to deploy globally. Once the status changes from "In Progress" to "Deployed", test it out by visiting your CloudFront domain name (e.g. dxxxxxxxxxxxxx.cloudfront.net) in your browser. You should see your résumé loaded over HTTPS!
Step 7: Update Route 53 to Point Your Domain to CloudFront
The final step is to configure your Route 53 hosted zone to direct traffic for your domain to the CloudFront distribution.
- In the Route 53 console, click "Hosted zones"
- Click your domain name to view the record sets
- Click "Create record"
- Leave the record name blank for a root domain (or enter "www" for a www subdomain)
- Under "Record type", choose "A – Routes traffic to an IPv4 address and some AWS resources"
- Toggle on the "Alias" switch
- Under "Route traffic to", choose "Alias to CloudFront distribution" and select your distribution from the dropdown
- Click "Create records"
After the DNS updates propagate (may take up to 48 hours), you‘ll be able to access your online résumé at your custom domain over HTTPS!
Cost Considerations
The solution outlined in this tutorial can be very cost-effective, especially if your résumé doesn‘t receive a huge amount of traffic. Here‘s a breakdown of the potential monthly costs:
- S3 storage and data transfer: Pennies per month (first 5 GB free)
- Route 53 hosted zone: $0.50 per month
- SSL/TLS certificate: Free with ACM
- CloudFront: $0.01 per 10,000 HTTPS requests (first 1 TB free)
To stay within the AWS Free Tier, keep an eye on your usage and set up billing alerts to notify you if you‘re approaching the free tier limits.
Security Best Practices
While this basic setup is a great start, there are additional steps you can take to improve the security of your online résumé:
- Restrict S3 bucket access to CloudFront only using an Origin Access Identity
- Enable HTTPS-only access in CloudFront
- Set up a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect against common web threats
- Use IAM roles and policies to follow the principle of least privilege
Ongoing Maintenance
To keep your online résumé up and running smoothly, remember to:
- Renew your domain registration annually
- Monitor your AWS services using CloudWatch and set up alarms for key metrics
- Keep your résumé content fresh by uploading updated HTML/CSS/JS files to S3 periodically
- Check your SSL/TLS certificate expiration date and renew it before it expires
Next Steps
Now that you have a solid foundation, consider enhancing your online résumé further:
- Add a custom email address (e.g. [email protected]) using Amazon WorkMail
- Collect visitor statistics using CloudFront access logs or a third-party tool like Google Analytics
- Create a blog or portfolio to complement your résumé using a static site generator like React and AWS Amplify
- Set up a CI/CD pipeline to automatically deploy changes from source control
Wrapping Up
Congratulations – you now have a professional, secure online résumé hosted on AWS! By completing this project, you‘ve not only created a valuable career asset but also gained hands-on experience with core AWS services like S3, Route 53, CloudFront, and Certificate Manager.
I hope this tutorial has empowered you to explore AWS further and continue building your cloud skills. Remember to clean up any unused resources to avoid unexpected charges, and feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback.
Best of luck in your job search!