If you’re here, you’re probably aware that Amazon Web Services, or AWS, offers a variety of certifications that purport to “validate technical skills and cloud expertise to grow your career and business”, according to AWS.
The certifications available are the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, AWS Certified Developer — Associate, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator — Associate, AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate (SAA-C02), AWS Certified DevOps Engineer — Professional, AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Professional, AWS Certified Advanced Networking — Specialty, AWS Certified Security — Specialty, AWS Certified Machine Learning — Specialty, AWS Certified Database — Specialty (DBS-C01), and AWS Certified Data Analytics — Specialty (DAS-C01). Whew, that’s a mouthful.
At the end of the day, are these certifications worth it? A lot of that is subjective, so this article will gather a variety of internet opinions for you to best make your decision since at the end of the day your money and time will be at stake to balance against the possible gains.
I learned a lot studying for the AWS exam (it helped me pass System Design interviews).
I find studying for a certification the best way to get a broad stroke understanding of a particular technology. But that’s me.
In terms of the cert itself in your job search, it won’t help much beyond adding a keyword to your resume.
Companies are desperate for people with cloud knowledge cause there’s just not enough to fill the demand. Our team had to hire multiple developers without much prior experience in cloud for that reason. Having any sort of certification that shows you are at least somewhat familiar with the technology will get you noticed by recruiters.
Here are the benefits I got from my AWS Solutions Architect cert:
Opened doors for me. Got me a job in DevOps
Definitely got an uptick in messages from recruiters after I added it to LinkedIn and it checks a box for certain companies
Gave me a good starting point for another job as a Full Stack Engineer where I had to architect/build a website from the ground up.
Building off that last point, it helps with System Design interviews — you can reference real technologies.
Helped me standout in Amazon interview. By no means is having a cert some major advantage, but the Amazon interviewers were definitely impressed that I had one.
Absolutely. That and msft certs are almost identical. If you can do one, you can do the other. Do one, then do the other the next week. Looks great. Employers LOVE mine and ignore my red Hat certs which were 1000x harder. It’s frustrating how much time, money& headaches i put into the red Hat certs that are worth nothing (as far as attention from recruiters & managers). Yet the cloud certs that were crazy easier get all the attention and we’re a LOOOOOT cheaper to get
It depends. I have the Associate Solution Architect cert and my current company doesn’t really care (they’re more about proven work / projects than certifications). But I actually learned a lot about not just AWS services, but general IT networking and system design as a whole from studying for the test, so even though it’s not immediately useful career-wise, it’s helped me in my personal growth and knowledge. AWS Certs are also really cheap compared to other certifications so if you already work w/ AWS tech (aka, won’t have to study for months to take an Associate level exam) I’d say go for it..
Word of wise: look at the practice exams before committing to which exam you take. If you’re working mostly with S3 and Lambda you’re gonna be in for a shock when you take the Solutions Architect exam and see that it’s all about EC2 and VPC setup.
I would say yes, from my own experience. I got a cloud practitioner and and an SA associate. I’ve never had IT experience and dropped out of colloge.
After about 6 months of no stop applications I got a call from a recruiter and got a contracted position at amazon datacenter… now i work there full time looking to move up.
All I can say is that most certs are valuable. Its worth the work, but your not done there you’ll have to consistantly apply and prove your worth in the field. Its more than possible and most of my co-worker are from the same backround
There are plenty of jobs that require AWS certs as prerequisites. Security jobs demand security certs. K8 certs are very popular.
I agree that something like a Java cert doesn’t hold much value since that can be checked in a programming test, but certain certifications prove you have at least high level knowledge over something so broad it’s hard to test.
As certs go, AWS certs are among the cheapest to acquire. Certs get you interviews. The rest is up to you.
But I thought I might point out something else that you may want to consider. AWS also has some specialty exams on machine learning, big data, data analytics, and databases. Once you pass your associates, you may want consider pursuing some of those specialty certs which could be a cloud based extension. Of the type of work you already do.
The result is you can set yourself up with a niche in the cloud space that can help set you apart AND allow you to directly tie your existing experience to the cloud space.
Instead of looking at it as a certification, see it as a learning path.
Starting from zero, training for a certification (using a good course) will teach you a lot of what you need to know to be at least familiar with a lot of the services. You don’t need to take the exam, but passing can help get a foot in the door if you lack industry experience with AWS.
Experience with real-world projects will usually carry more weight than a certification, at least at the Associate level.
I think being a developer and having certs is very advantageous. It comes up in job listings as mentioned above, because AWS parters are required to have lots of certified individuals on staff. Advanced and Premier partners need a truck loads of certs.
Learn to apply your knowledge of developing a web app, to solving a real world problem with cloud services. In fact, start thinking and building web apps, using serverless AWS services. API Gw, dynamo , lambda etc. read the developer guides to get going. That, and the cert, is a winning combination.
In my experience, the Associate level certs from AWS are not very useful. They let you get past some HR droids that are looking for checkboxes to fill, but they don’t actually teach you a lot or require a lot of knowledge, and I have some fundamental problems with the premise behind some of the questions. And some are just plain wrong. But, if you want to pass, you have to know what the official “right” answers are, even if they’re not actually correct.
That said, having an Associate level cert can be seen as an indicator that you’re willing to start down the road to something that is more useful. You’re willing to put in the work necessary to achieve a certain goal, and put up with the hassle that AWS makes you go through in order to take the exam and get your cert.
Over the 30+ years of my career, I haven’t seen many certs that were worth the paper they were printed on. Netware certs were actually good. As are some Cisco certs. But most of the others aren’t.
Even so, I now actually have my first work-related cert. Yes, it is an AWS Associate level cert. But it is just the first step on my path to the Professional level certs that I believe do demonstrate some value, and require that I actually learn some new stuff.
I will also point out that certs are not a “one and done” thing. You have to go back and refresh your knowledge every so often. Almost 40 years ago, when I was in Boy Scouts, I got certified for CPR, and that cert did not come with an expiration date. They don’t do that anymore, because you need regular refresher courses. Best Practices change. You need to change with them.
So what do you think? Agree with most of the Redditors?
