I've been working in AWS for over 2 years now, and I've always put off acquiring my official AWS certification. I've known it's a worthwhile goal and ever since I started working with cloud applications, I've wanted to do it. Nevertheless, I fall back to that famous sentiment, the well-worn axiom wielded by the slightly too busy: "I'll do it later".

Well, it's officially later, and I'm starting my AWS Solutions Architect exam prep today. I was going to schedule my AWS Cloud Practitioner exam but that's the foundational certification. It's aimed towards business/marketing majors and professionals from a "non-IT" background.

It's the base level of competency and I've already been operating in that capacity for the past 2+ years.

Do you have 1-3 years of IT or STEM background? Start with: An Associate-level AWS Certification that aligns with your role or interests. Outcome: Validation of AWS Cloud knowledge and skills; confidence and credibility to build your cloud career.

Looking at the Certification Paths recommended by AWS, It's recommended that individuals in my position skip the cloud practitioner certification and go straight to an associate-level cert like Developer or Solutions Architect. I'd like to get both and also go for the DevOps professional-level cert (What AWS calls the pathway of the "Application Architect") but I'm pretty sure associate-level and higher exams cost over 200AUD so we'll see. At the very least, I need to decide which one to go for right now.

The Solutions Architect role looks to be almost exactly what I've been doing for the past 2 years. Just better. The Developer role, however, seems almost fundamental to getting a tech job but is also not quite as familiar to me.

For now, I'll begin the Solutions Architect exam prep. Solutions Architect will be the fastest to achieve and I can always do the developer one afterwards (if I have the time and funding). I'll be updating this blog as I go with my learnings and thoughts.