Being in an organisation full of competitive and highly skilled people motivates you to do things you might have thought were beyond your limit.
Achieving every AWS certification was certainly one of those things I never thought I could achieve, let alone write about one day. This blog is as much about my journey as it is about the culture of Cevo Australia, which is incredibly rewarding for new learnings and encourages stepping out of your comfort zone.
What was the motivation?
Learning
The motivation for pursuing certifications was quite simple: to deepen my knowledge of AWS. I absolutely believe that studying for certifications is one of the best ways to stay updated with the constantly evolving landscape of AWS services. There is a reason all the certifications come with a three-year expiry: technology evolves rapidly and continuous learning is essential to stay current.
Cevo Values – Be Curious
At Cevo, one of our main values is ‘Be Curious.’ This means that we always want to learn new things every day. It is part of our culture to always seek knowledge and share what we learn with others. By being curious, we stay innovative and keep improving, helping each other grow and succeed.
Cevo's Financial Incentives
To encourage continuous learning in attaining AWS certifications, Cevo not only covers the cost of AWS certification exams, but also offers additional incentives. For instance, you receive Prezzee gift cards—$250 for Specialty and Professional certifications and $100 for Associate and Practitioner certifications. These benefits not only ease the financial burden but also provide a tangible reward for your efforts.
How much did I study and prepare for the certifications?
I have been asked this question quite often. The answer is, “It depends.”
- For my first certification, AWS Certified Security Specialty, I prepared for about a month. This was manageable because I was already working extensively with the in-scope AWS services on a daily basis.
- However, the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty was the most challenging. Lacking extensive networking experience, I found the terminology and concepts entirely new. Consequently, it took around 3-4 months of thorough preparation. My study routine included Udemy courses, reading AWS white papers, understanding various networking solution patterns, and watching YouTube videos.
- Next, I took the AWS Solutions Architect Professional and AWS Certified DevOps Professional exams within a gap of 15 days (about 2 weeks). These were relatively easier compared to the Networking Specialty, likely because I was constantly working with the AWS stack.
- For the associate exams— AWS Certified Developer Associate, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate, and AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate — I focused on practicing with AWS Skill Builder sample exams and self-paced labs. This approach helped me revise all the concepts and pass the exams with ease.
- The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam was the easiest of all. It is designed for beginners who are just starting their AWS cloud journey.
- I then tackled the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate, the newest exam recently launched by AWS. The focus of this exam is on understanding major AWS data services. I utilised AWS Skills Builder for self-paced labs, which took about 2-3 weeks of intensive preparation. I had to make a few educated guesses during the exam but was pleased with the result.
- Finally, I took the AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty, which was honestly very tough. I wanted to complete all the certifications as soon as possible, so I dedicated many hours over the next four weeks to learning about various machine learning algorithms and their use cases. If you come from a Data Science or Machine Learning background, this might not be as difficult for you. Despite the challenge, I found the preparation process enjoyable and rewarding. Again, there were a lot of educated guesses while answering the questions, but I was glad to end up on the right side of the result.
Study Material
- Udemy Courses: These courses were incredibly helpful for structured learning, offering comprehensive content that was easy to follow and understand.
- AWS Skills Builder: This platform provided a wealth of resources, including self-paced labs and sample exams, which were essential to strengthening my knowledge and preparing for the exams. It is a paid offering from AWS, but since Cevo is an AWS partner, we received free licenses.
- AWS White Papers: Reading these documents gave me an in-depth understanding of AWS services and best practices, which was crucial for both the theoretical and practical aspects of the exams.
- Understanding Various Networking Solution Patterns: This was vital for grasping complex networking concepts, especially for the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty certification.
- YouTube Videos: Watching videos is my go-to method for learning new topics. They helped me understand practical applications and visualise theories more clearly. Practical examples and real-world applications made the concepts more tangible and easier to comprehend. I highly recommend YouTube Premium; it is worth every cent. There is a wealth of resources not just about AWS certifications but about virtually every topic imaginable.
AWS Certification Journey
My AWS exposure started back in 2018, when I got to work with serverless services. Like many others, I took the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam and then completed the remaining two Associate exams (Developer and SysOps Administrator) over the next two years.
As I gained more experience and confidence, I decided to challenge myself further by pursuing professional-level certifications. The journey was demanding, requiring a deep understanding of AWS services, best practices and real-world application. I spent countless hours studying, practicing and sometimes doubting my ability to succeed.
AWS Solutions Architect Associate
My journey to AWS certifications began with the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification. This certification provides a comprehensive view of most AWS services, challenging you to think critically and strategically about architecting systems in the AWS cloud.
It allowed me to start understanding AWS terminology and begin building and architecting solutions for real-world use cases.
Through this certification, I gained knowledge in designing resilient, high-performing and cost-effective architectures, and I learned how to implement secure applications on AWS.
My first attempt was in November 2018, and it expired after three years, requiring me to retake the exam in May 2024. Generally, clearing the Solutions Architect Professional exam renews the Associate-level certification, but this was not the case for me.
AWS Developer Associate
The AWS Developer Associate certification focuses on developing and maintaining applications on the AWS platform. This certification helped me understand key services, such as DynamoDB, S3 and AWS Lambda, and how to utilise them effectively in application development. It also covered best practices for writing code that interacts with AWS services and how to use the AWS SDKs and CLI. I learned about CI/CD pipelines and how to automate deployments using AWS tools, which significantly improved my efficiency in developing and deploying applications.
Like the AWS Solutions Architect Associate, I took the Developer Associate exam twice. My first attempt was in August 2019, and it expired after three years, so I renewed it in April 2024.
AWS SysOps Administrator Associate
The AWS SysOps Administrator Associate certification covers the deployment, management and operations on the AWS platform. This certification gave me in-depth knowledge of monitoring, automation and optimisation techniques, crucial for operational excellence.
AWS CloudWatch and Sessions Manager were the two biggest services included in this exam.
I learned how to manage and maintain AWS infrastructure, monitor system health and troubleshoot common issues. The certification also covered automation techniques using CloudFormation and other AWS tools, which have been invaluable for maintaining efficient and reliable systems.
AWS Security Specialty
The AWS Security Specialty certification focuses on securing the AWS environment. It covers important topics like data protection, identity and access management, and monitoring. This certification enhanced my skills in securing applications and data in the cloud. I learned how to implement robust security controls, manage secure access to resources and monitor potential security threats. This knowledge has been crucial in ensuring that the systems I design and maintain are secure and compliant with industry standards.
I decided to pursue this certification due to a pressing need at the time, as several high-profile security breaches highlighted the importance of having a strong knowledge of security services. This motivated me to develop highly secure AWS solutions.
AWS Advanced Networking Specialty
The AWS Advanced Networking Specialty certification delves into complex networking concepts on AWS. It covers topics like hybrid IT connectivity, network architecture and automation.
This was undoubtedly the toughest of all the AWS certifications for me. Coming from a non-networking background, I had to invest almost three months in studying and picking up many new concepts.
But achieving this certification equipped me with the skills to design and implement scalable, secure and highly available networks on AWS. I learned how to optimise network performance, troubleshoot network issues and implement advanced networking features such as VPC peering, Direct Connect, and VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). This knowledge has been critical for designing robust network architectures that meet the needs of diverse applications.
AWS Solutions Architect Professional
The AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification validates advanced technical skills and experience in designing distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform.
Time management is the key among both Professional level certifications. By this time, I had a good 5 years of hands-on experience working on various AWS solutions.
This certification required a deep understanding of various AWS services and how they integrate to create robust solutions. It covered complex scenarios such as multi-account environments, disaster recovery and cost optimisation strategies.
Achieving this certification demonstrated my ability to design and implement large-scale AWS architectures that are scalable, reliable and secure
AWS DevOps Engineer Professional
The AWS DevOps Engineer Professional certification focuses on provisioning, operating, and managing distributed application systems on the AWS platform.
Being primarily in the DevOps space and working on DevOps services allowed me to take this exam within a couple of weeks after completing the Solutions Architect Pro certification.
This certification emphasises automation, monitoring and continuous delivery, which are crucial for managing complex cloud environments. I learned how to implement CI/CD pipelines, manage infrastructure as code using CloudFormation and Terraform and monitor application performance using AWS CloudWatch.
Furthermore, this certification covers best practices for operating and managing applications in a production environment, ensuring high availability and reliability.
AWS Cloud Practitioner
Having already completed all three associate level exams, taking the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification was a seamless process due to the established rhythm.
This certification provides a fundamental understanding of the AWS cloud. It covers core services, pricing and support models. This certification is an excellent starting point for anyone new to AWS.
If you possess over two years of hands-on experience, I would anticipate this certification to be straightforward for you.
AWS Data Engineer Associate
The AWS Data Engineer Associate certification covers data engineering on AWS, including data ingestion, storage, processing and visualisation.
I do not have much experience working on data-related AWS services. Given that this certification was released recently after AWS decided to retire the other two Data-related Specialty exams, the level of this exam was quite high. Honestly, I did not find it to be at the Associate level. I cleared this by making some educated guesses.
Overall, this certification helped me understand how to build and maintain data infrastructure on the AWS platform. I learned how to use services like AWS Glue, Redshift and Athena to build data pipelines and process large datasets. The certification also covered best practices for data security and governance, ensuring that data is processed and stored securely. This knowledge has been critical for designing scalable and efficient data solutions.
AWS Machine Learning Specialty
The AWS Machine Learning Specialty certification focuses on building, training and deploying machine learning models on AWS. It covers the entire machine learning workflow and how to use AWS services like SageMaker to implement scalable Machine Learning solutions.
With no prior experience in Machine Learning or Data Science, preparing for this certification was quite challenging. I had to first learn the basics of Machine Learning before even looking at the console screen of AWS SageMaker. So, I had to put in a lot of effort to even make educated guesses on the test.
Preparation: First, I took Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course, which was fantastic. It gave me a solid understanding of the AWS services and machine learning basics. After that, I watched a ton of YouTube videos about general machine learning concepts. These videos helped fill in the gaps and gave me different perspectives on how machine learning works. Plus, seeing practical examples and real-world applications made the theories much clearer.
I did not get a chance to look at many of the Skills Builder resources for this one.
Exam: Please note this exam is not only about AWS services; it also covers machine learning in general. Without a doubt, Amazon SageMaker was the biggest theme. Many questions focused on the use cases for different types of algorithms like RCF, XGBoost, K-means, KNN, object detection, DeepAR, and others. There were also a few questions related to Amazon Rekognition and using Kinesis Data Streams and Kinesis Firehose to store data in S3.
I ended up getting a score of 816 but felt like there were many questions that could have gone either way.
Pro Tips
AWS / Pearsons Vouchers
Keep an eye on AWS/Pearson vouchers periodically. Pearson often provides coupon codes for a free retake, which can be incredibly useful and boost your confidence when taking Specialty or Professional level exams.
Certification Results
If you, like me, tend to refresh your CertMetrics browser anxiously after completing the exam, the results are out on the same day at 8 PM AEST.
You can expect to receive the result email in your inbox before 8:20 PM.
Final Thoughts: Dare to dream
Achieving all of these certifications not only validated my skills but also opened new opportunities for career growth and professional development. It was a rewarding experience that taught me the value of perseverance and continuous learning.
The culture at Cevo plays a significant role in this journey. Being part of a team that values continuous improvement and supports each other’s growth makes a tremendous difference. It is not just about the certifications; it is about being in an environment that constantly pushes you to be better and provides the resources and encouragement to get there.
I am aware that there are many fellow Cevons who are on the brink of achieving similar milestones, and I extend my heartfelt wishes to them.
Checkout my Credly Profile – https://www.credly.com/users/puneet-punj.54a032ca
