As more and more organizations shift their workloads to the public cloud, cloud computing has evolved from being an optional precious commodity to a must-have service.

Amazon Web Services or AWS alone owns over 60% of the public cloud market. Therefore, there is no denying the fact that the AWS platform is an excellent option to use as well as to work.

What is the AWS Certification?

AWS Certification enables cloud experts to train professionals to enhance their in-demand skills and facilitates companies to build effective and innovative teams for cloud initiatives using AWS. It has various certification exams to choose from based on role and specialty, designed to empower the respective teams and individuals to meet their unique goals.

Different role-based certifications are offered as under:

Cloud Practioner

Architect

Developer

Operations

Engineers

Administrator

IT professionals earn AWS certification to demonstrate and validate the technical knowledge and skills of the cloud. The certification is valid for two years, and so professionals are required to recertify their certifications when they expire.

Why is AWS Certification Important?

Cloud computing is the hottest trend in the information technology industry. Every organization, irrespective of its size, is willingly transferring their applications, infrastructure, legacy systems to the cloud. Therefore, there is much demand for cloud computing professionals in the industry. In this vast market of cloud services, Amazon Web Services hold a majority share and so offers many benefits as well. The benefits can help cloud professionals to grab opportunities in AWS career.

Earning an AWS certificate gives you the following benefits:

Digital Badge

Flaunt your Certification with a digital badge on your social media and email signatures. You also gain immediate access to exclusive AWS sponsored certification events.

Exam Discount

Get access to a 50% discount voucher to apply toward recertification or any other exam.

Event Recognition

Receive invites to regional Appreciation Receptions and use your digital badge to get exclusive access to AWS Certification Lounges at AWS to reinvent and select AWS Summit events.

AWS Certified Global Community

Gain access to the AWS Certified LinkedIn Community and network with your peers.

Free Practice Exams

Prepare for your next AWS Certification with a practice exam voucher.

AWS Certified Store

Unlock access to exclusive AWS Certified merchandise.

Which are the Best AWS Certifications?

As of now, AWS offers 11 certifications that help candidates to stand out from the rest and make it big with the world’s biggest cloud platform. Each of them categorizes into four levels:

Foundational – 1 certification

Associate – 3 certifications

Professional – 2 certifications

Specialty – 5 certifications

Although each certification test varies in exam time and exam cost, all of them follow a multiple-choice, multiple-answer exam format.

Also, all certification tests are available in some non-English languages except the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty certification, which is available only in English. Each one of the AWS Cloud certifications (Amazon Web Services Certification) is explained in detail as follows:

Foundational Level

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner is an entry-level certification meant to validate a candidate’s understanding of the AWS Cloud. It is the newest AWS certification.

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner recommended for gaining AWS Specialty certification or Associate certification.

Prerequisites:

A basic understanding of IT services and their applications in the AWS Cloud platform

Minimum 6 months of general AWS Cloud experience in any role: financial, managerial, purchasing, sales, or technical

How to Get Certified?

Take an AWS Training Class to enhance your technical skills as well as for learning the best practices

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Study AWS Whitepapers written by the AWS team, AWS partners, and independent analysts to extend your technical know-how

Take a Practice Exam to test your knowledge gained so far

Schedule the exam and clear it to get certified

Exam Details:

Cost – 100 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Modality – Testing center/Remote online proctor

Time – 90 minutes

Topics:

Underlying security and compliance, the shared responsibility model for security

Core deployment and operating principles

Essential AWS services and their everyday use cases

Knowledge of basic AWS architectural principles

The value proposition of the AWS Cloud

You can signup here.

Associate

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is designed for candidates with some experience in developing cost-effective, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems on AWS. The associate-level certification validates the following abilities:

Coming up with an effective solution using architectural design principles as per customer requirements

Offer implementation guidance to the employer organization through the entire lifecycle of a project

The know-how of architecting and deploying secure and robust applications on AWS technologies

Prerequisites:

A good understanding of the AWS global infrastructure, basic architectural principles of building on the AWS Cloud, network technologies, and security features and tools provided by the AWS

Practical experience of using computing, database, networking, and storage AWS services as well as AWS deployment and management services

The ability to identify which AWS services meet given technical requirements and define requirements for an AWS-based application

Understanding of recommended best practices for building secure and reliable applications on AWS

How to Get Certified?

Take an AWS Training Class to build technical skills and learn best practices

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Study AWS Whitepapers, written by the AWS team, AWS partners, and independent analysts, and FAQs to expand your technical understanding

Take Exam Readiness Training to prepare for the AWS Cloud Certification exam

Take a Practice Exam to assess your present level of knowledge

Schedule your exam and clear the same to get certified successfully

Exam Details:

Cost – 150 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 130 minutes

Topics:

AWS-related data security practices, disaster recovery techniques, and troubleshooting

Building secure and reliable applications on the AWS platform

Deploying hybrid systems having an on-premises data center and AWS components

Designing highly available and scalable systems

How do: The AWS-based applications work The client interfaces connect to the AWS

Implementation and deployment in AWS

Network technologies and how they work in the AWS platform

You can signup here.

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification is related to developing and maintaining AWS-based applications. Meant for individuals who have one or more years of professional experience in developing and preserving AWS-based applications.

Following are the abilities validated by the AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification:

A working understanding of the underlying AWS architecture, core AWS services and uses, and best practices

Proficiency in developing, debugging, and deploying cloud-based applications using AWS

Prerequisites:

Ability to: Apply a good understanding of cloud-native applications to write code Author, debug and maintain code modules on AWS Identify key features of AWS services Use a CI/CD pipeline for deploying applications on AWS Use and interact with AWS services Use the AWS service APIs, CLI, and SDKs to write applications Write code while following AWS security best practices

Have a good understanding of underlying AWS architecture best practices, AWS services and uses, AWS shared responsibility model, application lifecycle management, and use of containers in the development process

In-depth understanding of at least one high-level programming language

Proficiency in developing, debugging, and deploying cloud-based applications with AWS

Skilled in writing code for server-less applications

How to Get Certified?

Start with taking an AWS Training Class for advancing in your technical skills and learning best practices

Review the Exam Guide

Study FAQs and AWS Whitepapers written by the AWS team, AWS partners, and independent analysts

Prepare for the Certification exam with the Exam Readiness Training

Take a Practice Exam

Schedule your exam and pass it to get certified

Exam Details:

Cost – 150 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 130 minutes

Topics:

Application development using essential AWS services, including databases, notifications, storage and change management, and workflow services

Basic AWS architecture

Core AWS services

Designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining applications

You can signup here.

The only certification focusing on system administrators is the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate certification. Designed for professionals with at least one year of experience in deployment, management, and operations on AWS.

Clearing the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam requires both conceptual knowledge as well as the technical expertise of the operations aspects of the AWS platform. The AWS certification validates a candidate for:

Deploying, managing, and operating highly-available, fault-tolerant, scalable systems on AWS

Estimating AWS usage costs and identifying cost control mechanisms

Identifying the suitable use of AWS operations best practices

Implementing and controlling the flow of data from and to AWS

Making the best AWS service pick based on computing, data, and/or security requirements

Migrating on-premises workloads to AWS

Prerequisites:

A sound understanding of: Networking concepts, such as DNS, firewalls, and TCP/IP Network technologies and how they relate to AWS The AWS tenets – architecting for the cloud Various security concepts along with hands-on experience in implementing compliance requirements and security controls Virtualization technology

Ability to translate architectural requirements

Experience with: Monitoring and auditing systems The AWS CLI and SDKs/API tools



How to Get Certified?

Take an AWS Training Class to improve your technical skills and learn best practices

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Read the Official Exam Study Guide written by AWS experts

Study AWS Whitepapers and FAQs to broaden your technical knowledge

Take Exam Readiness Training

Take a Practice Exam to evaluate your present knowledge

Schedule your exam and pass it to get certified

Exam Details:

Cost – 150 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 130 minutes

Topics:

Applications deployment to the AWS platform

Choosing the most suitable AWS services as per organizational needs

Exchanging data among data centers and AWS

Managing, provisioning, and securing systems in an AWS environment

You can signup here.

Professional

An individual with the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification can evaluate an organization’s needs to make architectural recommendations for implementing and deploying applications on AWS.

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect –Professional certification meant for professionals with one or more years of experience as a Professional Solutions Architect role involved with managing and operating systems on AWS. The accreditation validates the following abilities:

Choose appropriate AWS services for designing and deploying an application based on given requirements

Design and deploy dynamically scalable, fault-tolerant, highly-available, and reliable applications on AWS

Design as well as use enterprise-level scalable operations on AWS

Implement cost-control strategies

Migrate complex, multi-tier applications on AWS

Prerequisites:

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate [Mandatory]

Ability to: Architect a continuous integration and deployment process Evaluate cloud application requirements and come up with architectural recommendations for deploying, implementing, and provisioning applications on AWS Offer best practices guidance for architectural design across multiple enterprise applications and projects

Design a hybrid architecture by using key AWS technologies

Explain and apply the five pillars of the AWS Well-Architected Framework

Familiar with: A scripting language AWS CLI, AWS APIs, AWS CloudFormation templates, the AWS Billing Console, and the AWS Management Console Windows and Linux environments

Map business objectives to application or architecture requirements

Two or more years of experience in designing and deploying cloud architecture on AWS

How to Get Certified?

Get started with taking an instructor-led AWS Training Class to learn best practices and enhance technical skills

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Study AWS Whitepapers prepared by the AWS team, AWS partners, and independent analysis

Take the Exam Readiness Training

Take a Practice Exam to test your knowledge

Schedule your exam and clear the same to get certified

Exam Details:

Cost – 300 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Best practices involved with architecting the designing applications on AWS

Choosing the ideal AWS service as per the requirements of an application

Know-how of cost optimization strategies

Migration of complex application systems to AWS

You can signup here.

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional certification is intended for professionals having two or more years of experience as a DevOps Engineer and involved with operating, managing, and provisioning AWS environments.

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional certification is about managing, operating, and provisioning applications on the AWS platform. The AWS certification validates the following abilities:

Defining and deploying metrics, monitoring, and logging systems on AWS

Designing, managing, and maintaining tools for automating operational processes

Implementing: As well as automating security controls, compliance validation, and governance processes And managing continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS Highly-available, scalable, self-healing systems on the AWS platform



Prerequisites:

AWS Certified Developer – Associate OR AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate [Mandatory]

Associate AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate [Mandatory] A good understanding of modern development and operations related processes and methodologies

Experienced in: Administering operating systems Building highly automated infrastructures Developing code in a high-level programming language



How to Get Certified?

Begin with taking the AWS Training Class

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Study AWS Whitepapers and FAQs

Take Exam Readiness Training

Take a Practice Exam

Schedule the exam and clear it to get certified

Exam Details:

AWS Certification Cost – 300 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Basics of modern CD methodologies

Designing and managing tools that automate production operations

Implement highly-available, scalable systems on AWS

Know-how of implementing CD systems

Setting up monitoring and logging systems on AWS

You can signup here.

Specialty

Designed for those with a background in data analytics, AWS Certified Big Data – Specialty certification is meant for those individuals with at least two years of experience using AWS technology and performing complex Big Data analysis.

The AWS Certified Big Data – Specialty validates a candidate’s knowledge of:

Designing and maintaining Big Data

Implementing core AWS Big Data services as per the underlying architecture best practices

Leveraging tools for automating data analysis

Prerequisites:

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner/AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate/AWS Certified Developer – Associate/AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate

Background in defining and architecting AWS Big Data services and understanding of how the same fit in the data life cycle of collection, ingestion, storage, processing, and visualization

Experience in designing the cost-effective and scalable architecture to process data

How to Get Certified?

Take an AWS Training Class that will help you advance your technical skills along with allowing you to learn AWS best practices

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Take Exam Readiness Training

Schedule your exam and clear it to get certified

Exam Details:

AWS Certification Cost – 300 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Architecting best practices to implement core AWS Big Data services

Designing and maintaining Big Data

AWS Tools for automating data analysis

Knowledge of AWS services, such as Athena, Kinesis, Quicksight, and Rekognition

Security best practices for Big Data solutions

You can signup here.

The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification is for professionals involved with performing complex networking tasks. Candidates interested in the AWS certification must have a background in architecting and implementing network solutions on AWS.

Following abilities are validated by the AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification:

Designing, developing, and deploying cloud-based solutions using AWS

Creating and maintaining network architecture for all AWS services

Implementing core AWS services in accord with the underlying architecture best practices

Leveraging tools for automating AWS networking tasks

Prerequisites:

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner/AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate/AWS Certified Developer – Associate/AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate

Ability to develop automation scripts and tools

Advanced understanding of AWS networking concepts and technologies

Capability to come up with generic solutions for network security features, such as DDoS protection, EDoS, IDS, IPS, and WAF

Know about the networking technologies within the OSI model and how they affect implementation decisions

Knowledge of advanced networking architectures and interconnectivity options

Understanding of IPv6 transition challenges, and CIDR and subnetting

How to Get Certified?

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions to double-check the concepts covered in the exam

Read the Official Exam Study Guide written by AWS experts

Take the Exam Readiness Training to prepare for the AWS certification exam

Schedule the exam and pass it to get certified

Exam Details:

AWS Certification Cost – 300 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Automating AWS tasks for network deployments

Designing, developing, and deploying cloud solutions with the AWS platform

Implementing core services concerning architectural best practices

Network optimization and troubleshooting

Security and compliance design as well as implementation

You can signup here.

The AWS Certified Security – Specialty certification offers topics that are required by security professionals and teams to follow best practices, champion security fundamentals, and build in-depth knowledge of critical services about the AWS platform.

Intended for professionals serving a security role for two or more years with practical experience in securing AWS workloads, the AWS Certified Security – Specialty validates following abilities:

A good understanding of: Data encryption methods and AWS mechanisms to implement the same Secure Internet protocols and corresponding AWS mechanisms for implementation Security operations and risk Specialized data classifications as well as AWS data protection mechanisms

Competency in production deployment using AWS security services and features

Knowledge of AWS security services and features of services to offer a secure production environment

Make suitable trade-off decisions regarding cost, deployment complexity, and security as per a set of application requirements

Prerequisites:

A minimum of 5 years of IT security experience and knowledge of designing and implementing security solutions

At least two years of experience in securing AWS workloads

Knowledge of security controls for workloads on AWS

How to Get Certified?

Start with taking AWS Training classes to learn best practices and advance your existing technical skills

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Take Exam Readiness Training

Take a Practice Exam to assess your current knowledge

Schedule the exam and pass it to get certified

Exam Details:

AWS Certification Cost – 300 USD

Languages Available – English/Japanese/Korean/Simplified Chinese

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Inspector, Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon Key Management Service, AWS CloudTrail, AWS Config, AWS Identity and Access Management, and AWS Trusted Advisor

Implementing logging and monitoring solutions for detecting and analyzing security vulnerabilities within an infrastructure

Selecting suitable data protection techniques, such as encryption mechanisms

Using a variety of AWS services for choosing the best level of security based on deployments and data sensitivity

You can signup here.

The AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty certification is designed for individuals assuming a Development or Data Science role. The AWS certification validates the following abilities:

Choosing an appropriate ML approach for a given set of business requirements

Designing and implementing cost-effective, reliable, scalable, and secure machine learning solutions

Identifying the best AWS services for implementing optimum ML solutions

Prerequisites:

Two or more years of experience in developing, architecting, and/or running ML or Deep Learning workloads on the AWS Cloud

Experience in using Deep Learning and ML frameworks

Ability to: Express the intuition behind basic ML algorithms Follow model-training, deployment and operational best practices Perform basic hyperparameter optimization



How to Get Certified?

Start with taking AWS Training Classes

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions to check the concepts covered in the certification exam

Take a Practice Exam

Schedule the exam and clear it to get certified

Exam Details:

Cost – 40 USD (Practice Exam)/ 300 USD (Certification Exam)

Languages Available – English/Japanese

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Designing and implementing cost-optimized, reliable, and secure Machine Learning solutions

Identification of the relevant AWS solutions for creating and deploying the best ML solution

Selecting and justifying the best ML approach for some given business problem

You can signup here.

Bonus AWS Certification

For individuals with an Alexa Skill Builder role, the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty is the ideal AWS certification to go for. The AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty certification validates these abilities:

An understanding of the value of voice

Designing the best user experiences and architecture to build the skill

Develop, test, troubleshoot, and verify the skill

Follow Alexa and AWS security best practices for the skill

Manage: The skill-publishing process and work with the Alexa Developer Console Skill operations and lifecycle



Prerequisites:

Six months or more experience in building Alex skills with the Alexa Skills Kit, including capabilities that incorporate services from the AWS Cloud

Have published at least one Alexa skill

Knowledge of at least one programming language

How to Get Certified?

Take the Alexa Skill Training Courses

Review the Exam Guide and Sample Questions

Take Exam Readiness Training

Take a Practice Exam

Schedule your exam and pass it to get certified

Exam Details:

Cost – 300 USD

Languages Available – English

Time – 170 minutes

Topics:

Alexa and AWS best practices for security

Creating, testing, and validating the skill

The Alexa Developer Console

The value of voice

User experience design

You can signup here.

The total number of AWS features and services increases every year. Therefore, to demonstrate an up-to-date knowledge of AWS services and best practices, certification holders need to recertify every two years.

There are two ways to recertify for an AWS certification:

Pass the professional-level exam for the same certification

Pass the recertification exam for the existing certification

Every recertification exam has a total time duration of 80 minutes and costs 75 USD. It’s a better idea to take the recertification exam quite ahead of your AWS certification expiration.

You can signup here.

How to Become AWS Certified?

Although there are no specific steps to get certified, however, some steps are mentioned below for your reference:

Enrolling in an AWS training class increases your knowledge of cloud computing and AWS.

Study and review the exam guides and test yourself.

Go through multiple AWS whitepapers as they hold some invaluable information.

Practice, practice, practice! Practice exams would help you prepare and train you for the final day easing your worries or stress you may be having.

Schedule the exam once you are thorough with your preparation. It typically takes anywhere from 80-120 hours of practice/studying to be prepared for the exam based on experience and the certification you are pursuing.

Conclusion

Amazon Web Services is continuously expanding in terms of products and features. Hence, anyone aiming to make it big with AWS must stay up-to-date with the latest happenings.

Having an AWS certification on your resume will put you a distance ahead of your peers to grab a lucrative AWS opportunity. So, better get started today.

These best AWS tutorials will also help you prepare for your AWS certification exam.

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