Passed AWS SysOps Administrator - Associate
Claymoore
Member Posts: 1,637
I passed this last week with an 83%. 3 AWS exams down, 2 to go.
The SysOps is considered the most difficult of the Associate level exams, and I can appreciate that opinion. It is easier than the CSA Pro (even though I scored the same) and probably harder than the CSA Associate (even though I scored worse there). I took the CSA Associate 18 months ago and had limited exposure to AWS prior to that, so that colors my view of the CSA difficulty. There is a great deal of topic overlap between the CSA Pro and the SysOps exam. The ACloud.Guru courses even share sections between the 2 courses. After all the effort I put in for the Pro a few months ago, I didn't need to put in much effort here. I went the ACloud.Guru SysOps course and the Security course - and I recommend both courses, really all the courses. I supplemented with a couple of old re:Invent presentations on YouTube and a couple of service FAQs. I worked through those over a couple of weeks and scheduled my exam before I had to travel for month or so. I focused on areas that were different or expanded from the Pro exam.
I passed this exam last Wednesday and the MS 70-385 exam on Friday. First time I have ever tried exams from 2 different vendors in a week.
The AWS Developer Associate exam is next, followed by the DevOps Pro exam to complete the set. The Developer exam may prove to be the most challenging Associate exam for me since I am not a developer. I have already covered a few of the areas from previous exams and that will allow me to focus on topics that are new to me. That effort should carry over to the DevOps Pro exam soon after.
The SysOps is considered the most difficult of the Associate level exams, and I can appreciate that opinion. It is easier than the CSA Pro (even though I scored the same) and probably harder than the CSA Associate (even though I scored worse there). I took the CSA Associate 18 months ago and had limited exposure to AWS prior to that, so that colors my view of the CSA difficulty. There is a great deal of topic overlap between the CSA Pro and the SysOps exam. The ACloud.Guru courses even share sections between the 2 courses. After all the effort I put in for the Pro a few months ago, I didn't need to put in much effort here. I went the ACloud.Guru SysOps course and the Security course - and I recommend both courses, really all the courses. I supplemented with a couple of old re:Invent presentations on YouTube and a couple of service FAQs. I worked through those over a couple of weeks and scheduled my exam before I had to travel for month or so. I focused on areas that were different or expanded from the Pro exam.
I passed this exam last Wednesday and the MS 70-385 exam on Friday. First time I have ever tried exams from 2 different vendors in a week.
The AWS Developer Associate exam is next, followed by the DevOps Pro exam to complete the set. The Developer exam may prove to be the most challenging Associate exam for me since I am not a developer. I have already covered a few of the areas from previous exams and that will allow me to focus on topics that are new to me. That effort should carry over to the DevOps Pro exam soon after.
Comments
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TheFORCE
Member Posts: 2,297 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats! Are you using AWS on a daily basis or for work also? -
Claymoore
Member Posts: 1,637
Unfortunately, I don't use AWS everyday. My company is expanding our cloud practice and I am leading the AWS effort. In between AWS engagements I'm still doing my usual Exchange/O365/AD work. Gotta pay the bills, you know.
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DoubleNNs
Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
Congrats on the pass!
I think the Developer exam will be the easiest for you -- you don't need to know anything about software developing or even really scripting. You just need to know the CLI tools, API/SDKs exist, and a handful of things about them, many of which you've likely covered in the previous certs.Goals for 2018:
Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
Learn: Terraform, Kubernetes, Prometheus & Golang | Improve: Docker, Python Programming
To-do | In Progress | Completed -
JoJoCal19
Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
Congrats on the pass! I just started the CSA myself.Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework -
blargoe
Member Posts: 4,174 ■■■■■■■■■□
Congratulations sir!
I have also started learning AWS; I'm about 80% done with the A Cloud Guru series for CSA Associate, then trying to get as much hands on on my own initiative since my current company is vehemently anti-cloud for any use case (I can't get out of this place fast enough).IT guy since 12/00
Recent: 11/2019 - RHCSA (RHEL 7); 2/2019 - Updated VCP to 6.5 (just a few days before VMware discontinued the re-cert policy...)
Working on: RHCE/Ansible
Future: Probably continued Red Hat Immersion, Possibly VCAP Design, or maybe a completely different path. Depends on job demands... -
beach5563
Member Posts: 344 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats, I am studying for AWS CSA. I am also using cloud academy. Just trying to figure out what role I should play in the AWS world. I come from a telecom\network tech background. I have also had some basic web application monitoring and testing using HP tools. For some reason I think the SysOps would be a better fit but I will see how it goes. Was working on Cisco CCENT but decided to go cloud. -
thinhduckhoi
Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hello,
I passed the SA associate exam last month and i'm aiming for SysOps exam, may be 2-3 months later.
Can you provide some of the needed re-invent video as well as which FAQ i need to go through, please?
