How to become an AWS Certified Solutions Architect.note¶
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Two weeks ago, I became an AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate).
If you are also thinking about becoming certified, this post will help you out. This certificate is
intended to be verify someone’s skills and expertise in designing, deploying and operating
applications and infrastructure on the AWS platform.
Of course, having hands-on experience is the most crucial here, but I will also guide you through
other resources that will prepare you for the exam.
AWS Certification Explained
First, it’s worth noting that AWS provides three kinds of certifications:
Beside those, every certification has two levels: Associate and Professional. It’s important to know
that having an Associate level certificate is required for attending the Professional level exam.
I decided to start with the Solution Architect certificate as it seems to be a good foundation for other
certificates and, more than anything, is about architecture rather thanimplementation .
The Exam
The exam takes place in one of their on-site testing centers. It consists of 60 questions (sometimes
multiple responses) that have to be answered in 80 minutes, with a minimum passing score of 65%.
Based on my experience, there are no trick questions and most of the questions only have one
possible answer. The time limit is absolutely sufficient as I answered all questions in less than half of
that time. Besides questions related to details of single service, most of the questions were scenario
based where some set of services were used to solve a business case.
The exam is divided into 4 sections:
lThe first section is essential for the exam. This is where you can find questions about building
modern cloud-based systems using AWS. Questions in this section use real-world examples to
introduce you problem that has to be solved.
Implementation/Deployment and Troubleshooting are the easiest questions as they mainly ask about
basic facts or problems that you’re already familiar with after a few months of using AWS.
How to become an AWS Certified Solutions Architect
AWS Certified Solutions Architect
AWS Certified Developer
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
Designing highly available, cost efficient, fault tolerant, scalable systems (60%)
Implementation/Deployment (10%)
Data Security (20%)
Troubleshooting (10%)
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I found Data Security questions to be the most problematic and it’s worth noting that you need to
have a good understanding of security processes described in the whitepaper (more about that
below).
More details about each requirements for section can be found in .
Personally, I can highly recommend the courses that I took and the one that looks the most
recommended by others: Udemy’s A Cloud Guru online course, which is prepared specifically for
this exam. As some of the lectures are obvious, this course provides a comprehensive guide through
topics that are tested on the exam.
It it worth it?
It took me exactly one month (from the idea to taking the exam) and $170 ($150 for the exam, $20 for
the practice exam) to become certified in one of the most important technologies currently.
I found it a great way to review my knowledge about AWS. It also helped me to better understand
how AWS works internally, especially in terms of security. Additionally, I acquainted myself with
services that I completely wasn’t aware of like AWS Import/Export.
So is it worth the time and money? Absolutely! to learn more about AWS Certification and
get started on your journey.
Exam Blueprint
7 essential resources for AWS certification
Sample exam – I would recommend taking sample exam questionsblogposts
Official preparation site – Go through the Prepare for AWS Certification
Hands-on practice – As I wrote earlier, most of the questions are scenario based, which means
that hands-on experience is the most important for passing the exam. In my case, I’ve had more
than two years in AWS and OpenStack.Of course, in most cases, AWS users don’t use every
AWS service on a day-to-day basis, but that’s why it’s worth taking online labs or online courses
that will guide you through services that you haven’t seen.
Whitepapers – The most important whitepaper to read is Overview of Security ProcessesStorage
Options in the AWS Cloud
FAQ – The official preparation site provides a list of FAQ that are worth reading. Nothing to add
here. In most cases it’s just a revision.
Documentation – There is a lot of documentation about AWS services, some of which you have
probably read. But it’s worth reading detailed documentation of a topic that you feel you should
know better.
Practice exam – I personally think that this can be avoided. Most questions are very similar to
what you can find on various sites and courses.
Click here
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