My experience of AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
I recently appeared for AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate) exam and cleared it comfortably. I would like to share my experience and journey so far which may help you if you are preparing for it too. So let’s begin this post by sharing my background.
My technical background
I basically am a Datawarehouse consultant who has expertise in ETL development. I am highly proficient in writing SQL queries on various platforms like Teradata, Oracle, Netezza and even Hive & Spark. I did work on Redshift but it was limited hands-on experience.
Switching to AWS
So switching to AWS services is not very challenging especially if you are targeting Migration to Cloud projects. There is lot of information available online and official AWS developer guides should be your first pick. I generally follow this approach whenever I learn any new AWS service like Redshift or Glue. Also please do consider hands-on labs while learning any AWS service. No book or pdf can teach you what hands-on project can so consider doing labs often to build some confidence before you actually work on any project.
Thought of AWS Certificate
When I switched to AWS, my obvious choice was to explore Redshift & Glue because of comfort level I already have with Datawarehouse & ETL concepts. And very soon I realised AWS is so much more than just these two services. Unlike my existing professional experience, where I stick to a single technology like working on Teradata for 10+ years or on Spark for 5+ years I wish to experience multiple services which AWS offers. So I started learning more & more about different services available and how to use them in different situations. I just can’t cover all the AWS services as it is ever growing at rapid pace. However I can limit to some important ones. This approach is exactly how AWS Associate certificate came into picture.I could have hand-picked few AWS services and then would have started learning about it all by myself. But it would have taken so much time and definitely was not measurable in terms of learning curve. So best option I saw was to appear for AWS Solutions Architect (Associate) exam. This would have covered all important services and also clearing the exam one can validate the learning.
Preparation for AWS Certificate
I started my preparation with Linux Academy. The course is 50+ hours long and some videos I watched multiple times to build understanding of concepts. Since I have primarily worked as SQL developer , some concepts of networking and administration required extra time. After spending 3-4 hours daily, I switched to “acloudguru” after couple of weeks which has 20+ hours of videos. So I decided to complete videos on acloudguru first. Also one must consider that it is not easy to sit with headphones on for 3-4 hours every day on laptops. Gradually you get used to it but till then it will be a fight to just sit and listen. So it took me ~1.5 months to complete video tutorials on acloudguru & linux academy with labs.
Now when I was going for full length exams on these two portals I was getting less than 70% which made me nervous. So I sign up for Whizlabs and tried the full length practice papers in it. Whizlabs has 8 Full length practice exams which give you feeling of actual exam. I was getting anywhere between 65%-85% in practice exams. The best part is it gives you very good description when you select wrong answers. This helps in learning topics right away.
One week before exam
I was only doing practice exam on Whizlabs/acloudguru/LinuxAcademy one week before the exam. And I could feel the confidence which was evident in the scores I was getting. I was consistently getting above 90% even for some exams which I attempted for first time. Also I knew few topics which I was not very comfortable with like ECS, Dockers, FSx so I read some online posts on it. I also refer to few github resources where people have shared their preparation notes. It was really helpful as quick refresher. Also please consider rule of elimination to pick the right answer when you are not sure about correct answer. This technique may take some time but it is the second best strategy to answer correctly.
Preparing for Online Exam
Due to Covid-19, all the test centres are closed. So I register for online exam via Pearson. Before the exam , you may want to run a system test which checks microphone, internet speed & webcam of your laptop. Also to sit for 2 hours and give exam is not something I do every day. So sitting for 2 hours also need some practice. Try to give practice exam in the same room you intent to use for online exam.
Exam Day
I picked exam slot in late evening because it was a working day and my office work also take some good time. First thing I did in the morning was complete “final” practice exam on whizlabs. I score above 90% in it. Then I started working for my office tasks. 1 hour before the exam , I stopped working on my office tasks and took some rest. The exam begins 30 mins before the schedule time. So in this time you can take photos of yourself, your government ID, front-back-left-right photos of your workstation and upload to the weblink shared on the portal. Once you are done, you have to wait for online proctor to come and release your exam. For me , this process took around 15 mins.
Exam Hour
I started my exam confidently , moving to next questions quickly. One of the reason was I was taking exam from my home and we do get frequent power cuts which could have restarted internet modem. So my strategy was to quickly cover all 65 questions and then come back in second round for review. However when I was at question 16, I saw “loading” gif on screen and then “Connection lost” prompt on screen. I was little confused because I was sure internet was not the problem. After waiting for 15 mins, I was not sure what to do and was about to give up on exam due to technical challenges. To my surprise, the internet issue was resolved and I got the VOIP call from proctor and she confirmed relaunching my exam and it resumed from the point of failure. With very much distracted mind I resumed my exam, followed the same strategy of completing all 65 questions quickly and then re-visiting all questions later. I completed my exam with almost 45 minutes left and I could see “PASS” as the result. Next day, I got the badge and certificate from AWS.
What’s next ?
After passing my first AWS exam, I am motivated to take another one quickly in next 3-4 months. Data Analytics speciality is something which I can related to my day to day job however machine learning is something which I find interesting. So I will pick one of these two and shall appear for next certificate exam in next quarter.
Hope my experience help you guys too.
My experience of AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty certificate
I recently appeared for AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty exam and was able to clear it in my first attempt. In this post I have shared my experience with the exam and the preparation required for it.
Preparation for AWS Certificate
I tend to keep preparation for AWS Certificate into two phases.
- Courses – Online courses that cover the topics end to end
- Practice Exams – Simulation of certificate with relevant questions for practice.
Online Course
When I started preparing for this certificate many online portals like acloudguru, linuxacademy does not have dedicated courses for this certificate. Though BigData Speciality courses were available and it has good overlap with the new Data Analytics Certificate.
So I started my preparation with courses on BigData Speciality certificate. However it was also clear to me that I will wait for few more months before dedicated course for this certificate is available.
After few months I could find “AWS Certified Data Analytics Specialty 2021 – Hands On!” course on Udemy by Frank & Stephane. I bought this one in Nov 2020 and decided that I will keep it as my primary course refresher.
I went through the course material quickly at the speed of 1.5-2 in my first attempt. It helped me in identifying the topics included in the certificate and also the topics which will need more attention.
Something which worked in favor of me was my technical background. I have been working on Data & Analytics projects past 10+ years. And also have worked on multiple AWS services like Redshift, EMR, Athena, Glue etc in the past projects. 2 topics which required more attention for me were Elasticsearch & Kinesis.
In the second run of the course I covered it at speed of 1-1.5 and saw few slides multiple times for the topics which were new to me. I did not make any hand-written notes this time. May be because I was pretty comfortable with the topics.
I did not invest dedicated time to the course. Primarily because my project tasks were keeping me busy and also I gave good 5-6 months to myself for this certificate completion. Hence I was taking it lightly and going slow.
Practice Exam
Once I was very comfortable with the online course , next step was to work with practice exams. For this I bought “AWS Certified Data Analytics Specialty Practice Exams” on Udemy by Jon Bonso. I bought this course in Feb 2021.
This is one of the best practice exam available over the internet and I will highly encourage you to go through it once. The questions are relevant and give good feeling of actual exam.
Once I covered all the practice exam I was confident to appear for the certificate exam.
Booking the Certificate Exam
Once ready I went to AWS certificate website and booked PSI Test Center near my home for Data Analytics certificate. The slot was booked for Apr 2021. However due to surge in Covid-19 cases, I re-scheduled it May 2021 and then eventually cancelled it. Considering the spike in Covid cases in India, I did not find it safe to travel and visit test centre for the exam.
Reason why I booked test centre was I wanted to focus on certificate exam only and not on setting-up the home for online exam. But once I cancelled it I knew now I have to take it from home.
First thing I did is I bought a UPS for my internet modem router. This was really required because if there is power failure my modem shuts down and I lose the internet. So I wanted to cover this problem first.
Next I booked the certificate again in July 2021 but this time with Online Proctored Pearson option. Also I picked the time slot of afternoon so that even if there is power failure I will have some daylight in my room. I have already given one certificate online and have shared my experience with home-setup for Pearson online exam here.
One week before Exam
I started preparing for this exam in Nov 2020 and was appearing for exam in July 2021. It is way more than sufficient time for this exam however I never had dedicated time for study. So it was on-off during this 6 months. Also in the last 6 months there were new topics added to the certificate exam. So I have to cover those new topics as well. On Monday, I decided to appear for this exam and on Tuesday I booked online exam for Friday same week. So I had 4 days to do final preparation.
I decided to take one day off on Thursday from my office for preparation. I went through few slides in the online course. Most important slides were related with integration between different aws services. Once that is done I re-appeared for the practice exams. Good thing about these online courses is the creator keeps on updating it as and when changes happen to certificate exams. So I find new questions and new slides in the courses to cover as well.
Exam Day
On the exam day, I did not login into Udemy. I was confident about the exam. I login into Pearson exam 30 mins before schedule time and in next 10 mins all formalities were done. Started my exam and was able to complete it in 2.5 hours. The exam was really well formatted into different sections.
The integration between different AWS services is really important. You should know how to handle real-time ,near real-time and batch data and how to process it. What all AWS services should be used and how to pass data between these services is very important.
Should you appear for this exam ?
The answer depends on your objective. If you already are in Data & Analytics space with AWS exposure then you must give it a try. It will not only add a certificate badge to your profile but the knowledge will complement your profile very well too.
If you are new to AWS cloud however have Data & Analytics background then I will recommend going for Associate Architect certificate level first. This will help you in understanding core services in AWS.
If you are new to Data & Analytics then I will not recommend to take this one. The reason being is you have to understand the concepts first and then to support those concepts you will need AWS services. So this certificate should be level 2 for you.
Conclusion
To conclude this post I will say I really enjoyed preparing for this one. The main reason is I could relate to most of the AWS services covered as part of this certificate. Also I am using many of the services as part of my day to day job. This really helped me in quickly getting comfortable to the topics covered in exam. I actually enjoyed the journey of this certificate more than the final certificate itself.
What’s next ?
After completing my AWS Data Analytics Certification I see two options for me in AWS Certifications – Database Speciality and Architect Professional.
However I am also considering non-technical certifications like project or product management at this time as well. The reason being is I have worked as Individual contributor primarily over the last 12+ years. I did play some roles which require people management and vendor management in the past. But now I am considering full fledged project management roles as well. I will share update in next few weeks about what I decided and what am I going to do about it.
Hope my experience helps you in determining how to prepare for this one and whether this certificate is for you.
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