All of you reading this blog, must have at least had the thought of doing an AWS Certification once, but backed off because you didn't know how to get there? You might be a beginner or an expert, but still, sitting for exams is one of the greatest fears we have to face someday. On top of that, the certification is expensive which puts on more fear because a failure would mean a loss of money.
What I will be explaining in this blog is very simple. Do not be scared about sitting for an AWS exam. There is a very straightforward approach which can guarantee, that you will pass. This is of course, given that you study well for the exam.
First you should think whether doing an AWS certification is the right way forward.
Do you really need an AWS Certification?
In short, the answer is YES. If you are an engineer in the IT industry working with cloud environments, AWS is a must. Even though AWS is not the only Cloud Service provider in the industry, it is important to understand the fundamentals of cloud computing and how AWS can support them. Every cloud service provider has the same set of services where an AWS certification will cover most of it.
This is a question professionals struggle to answer, depen`ding on the industry you work in. Will hands on experience be enough, or do I really need this certification to prove myself?
If you’re serious about a career in IT and cloud computing, getting certified is highly recommended. Getting your AWS certification, in particular, can help you to stand out among the competition. Not only can it help you find a job in general, but it can help you get a higher paying job. It’s certainly an investment in your future that’s worth making. Go through the following questions to see whether they will solve the doubts you have in mind. If you have more comments, feel free to note it down in the comments.
1) Does your organization use the Cloud?
First of all, see whether your organization is running on the cloud. If your entire organization is having in-house servers, doing a certification like RedHat would be beneficial. But nowadays, most organizations are in the cloud, where it would beneficial for you to have the AWS certification to have an upper hand when making decision in your organization.
Even if you are not affiliated to any organization, you can still complete the AWS certification and earn that badge for yourself, to boost in your career.
2) What about other Cloud Service Providers?
Yes, there are other providers like Azure and Google Cloud. But according to statistics, AWS Cloud holds the majority in the world. The market expands rapidly and most organizations are now moving into AWS for many beneficial reasons.
3) I am a Software Engineer. Do I need this certification?
Well, being an engineer nowadays means that you should be a Full-stack engineer. Just knowing coding only, will never get you anywhere. Even for you to know what decisions to make, how to utilize cloud services, and to go through AWS documentations and complete your code, you still need to understand the fundamentals of cloud computing. As they all say, "Even Monkey's can code". What makes you an engineer is the ability to solve problems. Understanding AWS will give you the edge to suggest and design much more resilient platforms for the product you will be building.
4) I am a Quality Engineer. Do I need this certification?
Quality Engineers are also expected to be Full Stack engineers. When you are testing the quality of your product, it's not only about manual testing. Importantly, you will have to look for application logs to see how well the application is behaving. For this you need to understand how to access a server, or to access a logging platform in the cloud.
On the other hand, when conducting resilience testing, it is important to check the connectivity and status of different nodes during the process. You might have to remove a service and check how well a system will function when one service is unavailable. Even when it comes to performance monitoring, it is important to understand how load balancers work. Applications become very complex when it gets deployed in a cluster with multiple nodes. Testing these applications will become complex as well, where you need to understand read-write replicas of databases and how Master-slave architectures work in a clustered environment.
5) I am well experienced in AWS. Do I need to be certified?
Well, having experience is not a quantifiable measure. Once you get a job interview, you will be able to easily answer questions with your experience. But, what will really help you to get a shot at the interview? What can you include in your CV to say that you are experienced in AWS.
AWS certification is the card that you will hold to say, that you are experienced beyond the syllabus in the specific certification.This is the badge that you can use to brand yourself, and to gain higher pays during your appraisals. If you feel like you still know more than the content of the examination, you can always decide to do a higher certification and test your self.
Not only this is a certification,this will actually test your skills and abilities. When you say you are highly experienced, it would indeed mean that you know in depth about certain areas. But what about the breadth of your knowledge?
If you are still concerned about this, read the sections below, which will help you understand the importance.
Step by Step Guide to Prepare for your Exam
First of all, you need to be able to commit yourself to the following, to ensure that you will definitely pass the exam with flying colors.
1) Invest considerable amount of Time
2) Have around USD 200 in your hand or more (prices vary based on your certification)
3) Take down notes of small but important areas
4) Practice the questions over and over again until you are confident.
5) Don't panic at the exam. The questions will be super easy.
The following guide is based on what I did. My colleagues followed the same and we all passed with flying colors. Keep a 2 month period and focus very well for these 2 months and sit for the exam.
Step 1: Purchase a set of Video Tutorials (1 Month)
It could be from any tutor. It does not necessarily have to be from Udemy. By I would recommend the course by ACloud Guru. Always check for the ratings and reviews before you purchase the course. This would cost around USD 20.
Important: Take down notes while watching these videos.
Step 2: Purchase the Paper Set from Whiz Labs
Try out the set of papers for 2 weeks and get a score of above 60 percent. The paper set will cost around USD 20.
1) Select the certification that you will be doing
2) The exam papers will look like this
3) Question Set interface will look like this
4) Exam questions are very descriptive. Given below is a failed attempt at a question and how they explain the answer.
Step 3: Register for the Exam (Schedule in 2 weeks)
1) Go to this link and sign in with your Amazon Account email: https://www.certmetrics.com/amazon/
2) Click on "Schedule New Exam"
3) Next select on the exam you want to carry out. Don't forget to select the correct course which you studied for.
4) Select the details and your preferred language. Please read the instructions given at the end of the page.
5) Next select the Nearest Exam Center for you.
6) Select an Exam Center and Choose the appropriate date for your exam
7) Make the payment and you will get a confirmation email
Step 4: Do the Paper Set Again until you reach closer to 100% score (2 Weeks)
This time, keep on repeating the papers until you feel confident about the exam. How I did it was, I did the papers until I got almost everything correct. It is an exhaustive process, but trust me, it works.
Step 5: You are ready
Go the exam center on time. Read the items on the following image and carry them with you when you go.
Step 6: How your results and badge will look like
1) How you will get your instant score, once the exam is finished. You will be able to see the score you obtained and its breakdown.
2) Your Digital Badge will look like this. Start sharing this to gain Industry Visibility.
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