[zlg_codes]

I don't work in the field so I can't say for certain, but AWS and friends really strike me as the type of tech you need to deploy at scale in order for their complexity to be worth the initial up-front learning cost.

Try to think of a project that either needs infra like that to get started, or another one you can deploy in a homelab or a few VPSes or something.

Maybe VMs are a good idea, to give yourself a good place to test things without committing bare metal to anything.

What software system architecture interests you? The scale you're interested in may matter, too. For me, system architecture means which distro (and which set of packages), configs, and other settings that create a cohesive server/client or groupware system. I think a lot of those challenges lay mostly in understanding how computers are being used within a given organization, and designing things in ways that make adapting easier and workflows smoother.

What that looks like, I would imagine is different for every organization.