How and Why Did I Get Certified as an AWS Solutions Architect Associate?

The article describes the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam, its main domains, and the study path the author used to get certified. It also lists the reasons he pursued the certification, including learning, credibility, and career visibility.

Reading notes

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• The post focuses on AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02), while noting that SAA-C03 is the latest version.
• The certification validates knowledge of architecting and deploying secure and robust AWS applications.
• The exam is split into four domains: secure architectures, resilient architectures, high-performing architectures, and cost-optimized architectures.
• The author recommends a Stephane Maarek Udemy course because it covers the services in the exam and includes practice tests and slides.
• He suggests filling knowledge gaps before moving on, especially in areas like networking and VPC.
• He recommends practicing directly in AWS, using free tier resources when possible, and deleting services afterward to avoid charges.
• He advises reading user guides, developer guides, and FAQs for core services such as IAM, S3, CloudFront, EC2, Lambda, ELB, RDS, VPC, API Gateway, and DynamoDB.
• He also suggests reviewing FAQs for other exam services like Route 53, EBS, WAF, VPN CloudHub, Kinesis, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Direct Connect, KMS, Cognito, Organizations, and Glue.
• He recommends studying the AWS Well-Architected Framework, including its six pillars, plus the Disaster Recovery whitepaper and other AWS whitepapers.
• He advises taking practice exams on Whizlabs, repeating the study cycle after each exam, and aiming for 80% to 90% before taking the real test.
• He notes that non-English speakers may request an extra 30 minutes for the exam.
• He says the certification may help with job search and visibility, learning software architecture and AWS, credibility in consulting, and filling knowledge gaps.
• He stresses that hands-on experience matters most, but certification can add value when combined with practice.
• He says he timeboxed the learning and practice to keep it focused.