AWS Certified Systems Architect - Associate
June 2020
On 19 June 2020, I passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C02) exam, and am now an AWS Certified Systems Architect - Associate.
This certification marks the true start of my journey into the AWS Cloud and in one way serves as a milestone in my career. Before I started studying for this certification I had not used AWS or other cloud technologies very extensively, my only experience with AWS up until I started studying was hosting this website on S3 and Cloudfront.
The study process itself was fairly straightforward and took several months of on-off study, this was assisted greatly by work running an AWS Certification Drive to help certify more staff in AWS. Study resources included:
- Work provided challenges to build practical AWS experience
- Official AWS documentation and FAQs
- A Cloud Guru’s exam-specific AWS training course
- Stephane Maarek’s exam-specific AWS training course on Udemy
- Practice Exams by Whizlabs
When first looking at practice exams, I found that the A Cloud Guru course was not enough on its own and further study was required. I then found the course by Stephane Maarek and discovered there were gaps between the two courses. Doing both of these courses combined with a leisurely study pace and reading up on AWS documentation were able to provide the knowledge that was tested by the exam.
As this was my first AWS exam, I studied as much as I could to help ensure I was able to pass the exam. I found that actually booking the exam to be excellent motivation to help combat study procrastination. After the exam, I felt that I probably could have taken the exam sooner and still passed.