critique this AWS cert plan

dsp2267

I am thinking about pursuing some AWS certs of interest, in this order;

1) AWS CCP
2) AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
3) AWS Certified - Advanced Networking or Security

at this point in my life, I have little interest in SW development aside from scripting out device configs.

AWS certs are certainly affordable, but would the above trio get my foot in the door of an enterprise-scale employer?

thanks

cochi78

I'd skip the CCP as you seem to have a technical background. That exam mainly is a "name the service" exam with some TCO and support questions, mainly geared towards non-tech people like sales and marketing.

The SysOps administrator is currently the hardest of the (old) associates and very technical on VPC and EC2. So while that one might be a good choice, I would also replace the CCP with the SolutionArchitect Associate exam. Thus, you can show that you know the broad (SolA) as well as the depth of operations (SysOps). Pick the old one here, as all prep materials so far are geared to that one. Avoid the official study guide as it is too old to be really valuable and avoid the new Well Architected Framework based one, unless you like challenges

While the Advanced Networking exam is fun, I personally would rather go for the Security. It is focused very much on understanding stuff like IAM policies/S3 bucket policies and incident response on AWS. That knowledge is valuable, even more valuable than the BGP and VPC details in networking. Security is also very enterprise-relevant, while you might have problems matching some seasoned enterprise networking guy on BGP internals

Prep materials as usual: acloud.guru (Associates cheaper via Udemy) or, if you prefer, Linux Academy for some video bootcamps - most videos can be watched x2 if needed. Read some whitepapers but don't overdo it (only for the Professionals or the Specialty that's a good idea). Do much testing of edge cases in your own environment. Quiz with apps like the CloudPros ones and/or get the practice tests from WhizLabs.

If you have any more questions about AWS certs, feel free to PM me.

dsp2267

So...

1) AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
2) WS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate
3) AWS Certified Security - Specialty

I am a reader rather than video watcher, so I was bummed to find that the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam 1st Edition does not apparently fully cover the 2018 version of the CSA-A exam.

lacagrl17

Here's advice from Certified AWS expert, Tom Haslett on the AWS certification paths for IT professionals and non-professionals.

DoubleNNs

I like your revised plan. Feel free to replace the specialty cert w/ any other cert.

Just know, that with your current plan, that is 3 different certs paths you need to keep up to date every 2 years.