AWS Certified Solution Architect - for whom, why and how

Certifications are a waste of time. It’s not unreasonable as I came across dumps (aka recent questions, question banks). Once you memorize the contents of the question bank, you can score cent percent. Memorise answers and recall them in the exam hall, score a pass mark - a common theme in schools and colleges. I went through it as there are no alternatives. But in the post-academic stage of life, I was hesitant to follow the same approach in office. My point was simple,

Should I grab a certification with zero knowledge? What possible purpose does it fulfill?.

The notorious certificates were often from Oracle and Microsoft. And to date, I don’t have a high opinion of the two. These two being giants among enterprise software makers, I assumed every one of them will be following the same with their certifications. Naturally, I didn’t care much about the certified developers.

Time changes. My career path crossed with the then new-age technology. In early-2017, I started working in Cloud Computing and Big data via AWS. And to learn that I was asked to take certifications. That’s the 1^st time I came across AWS certification and I was clearly warned that the exam is not a cakewalk.

Ignoring the warnings I went through the FAQ of AWS services and tried a mock test. The results were amazing, I couldn’t even understand/recall the names of AWS services that were talked about in the exam. Then I realized,

Clearing the exam is tough. It’s not a simple memorize-and-recall-to-pass type of exam

Then I realized the certification is worth the time and effort

AWS Certification is for Whom?

• If you’re working in AWS cloud computing you should take it up.
• Or if you want to change your path and break onto cloud computing, spend time and take it up

Why be certified?

• Preparing for certification makes you gain knowledge on the services which may not be used by you in your daily work.
  • In my case, I never used Networking and Security related services and I had zero knowledge of it. But through this certification, I got to know and understand the services.
• Gives you confidence in AWS services and you can ace interviews, at the least, you’ll be confident working on the ecosystem.
• Adding a badge to a LinkedIn profile helps us grab the attention of the recruiters.

How to do it?

There are various courses available on the web. Subscribe/buy them, get yourself prepared. Then go through practice exams. Once you’re consistently scoring a good percentage and you’re confident of your performance, you can book a slot for the exam.

      Course ➡️ Practice Exams ➡️ Certification exam

Below are the courses and practise exams I used.

Which?

To start with we have 3 options

1. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
2. AWS Certified Developer - Associate
3. AWS Certified Solution Architect - Associate

My consistent advice is to ignore the practitioner.. even as a newbie. Yes its low level, but in my experience has almost 0 value to employer. Even for you personally .. its so base level, that the knowledge you gain will be next to useless.
I always suggest to people (even people with NO AWS or even NO IT knowledge) to start with the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification.
   - Adrian Cantrill in Quora

How long?

There are people taking the exam with few weeks of practising. But I took several breaks in between. I bought Udemy course on 2018 Christmas holidays. Got certified on February 2021. So, it all depends on your ability and pririties.

My proof of Certification

AWS SAA-C02

All the very best!