AWS Certs Are The Real Deal

I just wanted to give anyone some perspective of how passing the AWS exams (Architect - Associate and Developer - Associate) can help your career based on an offer letter given to me today for a new position created, so I didn't get poached away from my current employer:
My professional profile:
==================
10+ years of IT experience
Master's Degree in IS
Cert before passing the AWS exams: CISSP
Salary: ~$76,000 (USD)
Offer letter for new cloud position created after passing AWS Architect - Associate and Developer - Associate: $120,000 (USD).
Still kind of freaking out about this, but I wanted to let you know the AWS exams were totally worth passing.
My professional profile:
==================
10+ years of IT experience
Master's Degree in IS
Cert before passing the AWS exams: CISSP
Salary: ~$76,000 (USD)
Offer letter for new cloud position created after passing AWS Architect - Associate and Developer - Associate: $120,000 (USD).
Still kind of freaking out about this, but I wanted to let you know the AWS exams were totally worth passing.
Comments
I will add - in 2 years my salary has increased 78%! All due to my experience and certifications in AWS. My job has me broadening my cloud experience into Azure and GCP as a lot of our developers are expressing interest in those CSP's. If you are a Security guy like me, I would say these type of certs are what will make you stand out from the others... at one point my previous director before leaving the company said to me, there is probably a handful of people who have their CISSP and AWS PSA - demand whatever salary you want and they will pay.
Care to share the industry or area you work at?
that said i wouldnt say AWS certs will give everyone a 40k bump, though it doesnt hurt. i dont have a degree...only certs and i clear just north of 125 after bonus.
experience trumps all!
its harder than CSAA, but not by much. theres a lot of material overlap
source: have both
This made me think about getting back to AWS cert studying until I realized I really prefer vSphere. Maybe Azure.
2015 Start WGU (Feb) Net+ (Feb) Sec+ (Mar) Project+ (Apr) Other WGU (Jun) CCENT (Jul) CCNA (Aug) CCNA Security (Aug) MCP 2012 (Sep) MCSA 2012 (Oct) Linux+ (Nov) Capstone/BS (Nov) VCP6-DCV (Dec) ITILF (Dec)
I noticed VMware on AWS awhile back, it sounds interesting but the AWS nuances I'm guessing are still there. The most I've done is used a vCenter plugin for AWS to migrate VM's, what a mess that was. Does anyone have experience with vCenter on AWS?
2015 Start WGU (Feb) Net+ (Feb) Sec+ (Mar) Project+ (Apr) Other WGU (Jun) CCENT (Jul) CCNA (Aug) CCNA Security (Aug) MCP 2012 (Sep) MCSA 2012 (Oct) Linux+ (Nov) Capstone/BS (Nov) VCP6-DCV (Dec) ITILF (Dec)
The resources I used to study for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect was:
[FONT="]AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam
[/FONT]https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Solutions-Architect-Official-Study/dp/1119138558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509417010&sr=8-1&keywords=aws+certified+solutions+architect+official+study+guide&dpID=51fX5ppXJuL&preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
If you read the book, do all of the exercises in this book, and most importantly spend a lot of time practicing with the online testing engine, you'll know a good portion of what is on the exam. I met the authors at AWS re:Invent 2016, and they all had a hand in writing the exam, so there is a reason the test questions look awfully similar to the exam.
acloud.guru
It has been my experience that this resource by itself is not enough to pass the exam, but where I found value is in watching the concepts explained in good detail that was easy to understand. Especially in that they highlighted new services that may appear on the exam.
www.whizlabs.com
The test exams here were much needed practice beyond the official guide's testing engine.
Hope that helps!
I am a Security Analyst who evaluates software and server configurations for security issues before they are put into production. My job that I'm moving into is the same thing, except AWS implementations and evaluations as well as the Certified Architect - Associate was explicitly written into the job description.
I would start with the Certified Solutions Architect - Associate then the Certified Developer, as I notice that in my studying for the SysOps - Associate that there is a lot of lead up and overlap from those to the SysOps exam.
That is pretty incredible! My goal is to pass all of the big 5 AWS certs, so if anyone has done it, I'd be curious how it has affected your career. I wonder if you get free entry into re:Invent in Las Vegas?
Already passed: Oracle Cloud, AZ-900
Taking AZ-104 in December.
"Certs... is all about IT certs!"
You probably are right. I saw a video with the people who had all 5 certs and they had some glass trophy. Only 10% discount to re:Invent? I got that code through our AWS reps and I wasn't even certified at the time.
Thanks for the advice!
I must be mistaken then, because I saw a picture from re:Invent where people were holding up glass trophies. It might have been one of those like I saw on acloud.guru, where Ryan Kroonenburg got some "AWS Community Hero" award (I think it was called).