The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner examination is intended for individuals who have the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively demonstrate an overall understanding of the AWS Cloud, independent of specific technical roles addressed by other AWS Certifications.
I had previous experience with AWS services such as EC2 and S3 from a previous role, but when I switched jobs in June my usage of AWS went through the roof. Call me boring, but I tend to learn best when I have a curriculum to follow, so I figured I’d better get some certifications under my belt. Especially as my company is kind enough to pay for them.
I decided to play it safe and start with the Cloud Practitioner exam, rather than going straight for one of the associate tier certifications.
I used the following resources, and I’m happy enough with them. I imagine the much-recommended courseware by the likes of a cloud guru are objectively better, the Cloud Practitioner exam is also straightforward enough that you can probably pass it without shelling out the big bucks for polished video courses.
- The exam guide, sample questions and whitepapers listed in AWS’ own certification prep section
- AWS’ (free) Cloud Practitioner Essentials course
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Practice Tests 2020
- The summary/pricing pages for individual AWS services
- My wonderful (ex-)colleague Max, who would occasionally surprise me with a pop quiz
I can’t remember exactly when I started seriously studying for it, but I’d say it was about three months from deciding to gain the certification to receiving the email with the good news.
Congratulations, You are Now AWS Certified!
Next, I’ve set my eyes on one of the associate level certifications. Probably Solutions Architect because it sounds fancy I’ve seen a few recommendations to start with that one before moving on to the others. Admittedly, most of these recommendations were from companies with a financial interest in people needing the training materials for as many exams as possible, but hey.
I’ve never regretted taking the time to build a strong foundation yet.
tl;dr
- It took me 2-3 months, your mileage may vary
- Free or inexpensive resources were more than adequate
