Tech / IT Support · beginner
Automated Cloud Cost Guardrails
A safety net for AWS spend — Budgets, Cost Anomaly Detection, and SNS alerts that notify you (and optionally auto-stop resources) before a runaway bill arrives.
Project overview
Cost surprises are the #1 reason new IT hires lose trust in week one. Demonstrating that you can prevent them — not just react — instantly differentiates you from peers who only know how to spin things up.
Real-world use case
A small startup running its first AWS account, terrified of waking up to a $5k bill from a forgotten EC2 instance.
Tools and technologies
- AWS Budgets
- AWS Cost Anomaly Detection
- SNS
- Lambda
- IAM
Skills you can demonstrate
AWS Cost Management, Event-driven Automation, IAM
Build roadmap
- Create a Free-Tier AWS account
Sign up. Enable IAM Identity Center. Set up MFA on the root account before doing anything else. - Configure your first Budget
Cost Management → Budgets → Create. Set a $10 monthly threshold with email alerts at 80% / 100% / forecast. - Enable Cost Anomaly Detection
Create a monitor for your whole account. Add an SNS topic so alerts can fan out to other systems. - Wire SNS into Slack
Create a Slack incoming webhook. Write a small Lambda that subscribes to the SNS topic and forwards a formatted message. - Add an auto-stop Lambda (optional)
Tag your EC2s with cost-center. On budget breach, run a Lambda that stops untagged or over-budget instances. - Document the runbook
Write a clear README: what each alert means, how to silence false positives, and how to lift the auto-stop in an emergency.
Ways to extend the project
Add a Lambda that automatically stops or terminates the offending resource when its cost exceeds a per-tag budget.
How to showcase your work
- GitHub: CloudFormation/Terraform template that recreates the whole guardrail stack in any AWS account.
- LinkedIn: Before/after screenshot showing a simulated anomaly being caught + the alert hitting Slack.
- Resume: Focus on "Proactive FinOps" and "Cost-incident prevention".