Which skills actually move a cloud newbie forward?

Build a good knowledge of operating systems, especially Linux, and server configuration. Learn computer networking and load balancing, and know how to use web servers like Apache or Nginx. Get familiar with core AWS services such as EC2, databases, VPC, network interfaces, security groups, S3, and Elastic Block Store. You should also learn at least one programming language such as Python, Go, or Java so you can use the SDKs effectively.

Tools change; the fundamentals, operating systems, networking, and one solid language, are what compound over a career.