AWS Recertification

mnashemnashe Member Posts: 136 ■■■□□□□□□□
I have another AWS question. It seems AWS Associate exams have to be renewed every 2 years, but if I'm reading it right, unlike other vendors (cisco/vmware), each exam has to be renewed

For instance, If I pass AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, Sysop Associate and Devop Associate exams, I'll have to take 3 more exams to recertify them all?

Comments

  • MitechniqMitechniq Member Posts: 286 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I would re-certify by taking the professional exam, then you do not have to be concerned with lower level certifications.
  • mnashemnashe Member Posts: 136 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Mitechniq wrote: »
    I would re-certify by taking the professional exam, then you do not have to be concerned with lower level certifications.

    Yes, but I believe (based off what I read on AWS site), if you have Solutions Architect Associate and Developer Associate, taking the Architect Professional exam will only recertify the Solution Architect Associate, not both of them
  • DoubleNNsDoubleNNs Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
    I'm curious of this too. I just sent Amazon an inquiry ticket, asking about what exams re-certify which exams and where we can find expiration dates of our exams. When they respond, I'll let you know what they say.
    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
  • DoubleNNsDoubleNNs Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
    I got a response from Amazon within an hour of submitting the ticket. I was very surprised at the prompt response.
    Their recertification scheme sucks. And it doesn't make as much sense to get all their certifications.

    It's just as you mentioned mnashe -- I currently have the 3 Associate level AWS certifications. They expire next year, in 2018. In order to keep them up to date, I will need to re-certify all 3 of them separately by taking their individual exams.

    Another option I could do is take the Solutions Architect Professional exam, which will ONLY renew my Solutions Architect Associate exam. And then I can take the DevOps Professional exam which will renew my SysOps and my Developer Associate exams. Moving forward, I will then have to renew both of my Professional level exams in order to renew all 5 of my AWS exams.

    Not horrible. But doesn't seem like the best model unless you're specializing in AWS.

    Let me know if I didn't explain any of that well enough and you need clarification.
    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
  • MitechniqMitechniq Member Posts: 286 ■■■■□□□□□□
    That is why I didn't feel any value in taking all three associates exam - besides bragging rights. The Solution Architect-Professional weighs more than having 3 associate exams and you only to need to focus on one re-certification exam.
  • JoJoCal19JoJoCal19 Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
    DoubleNNs wrote: »
    I got a response from Amazon within an hour of submitting the ticket. I was very surprised at the prompt response.
    Their recertification scheme sucks. And it doesn't make as much sense to get all their certifications.

    It's just as you mentioned mnashe -- I currently have the 3 Associate level AWS certifications. They expire next year, in 2018. In order to keep them up to date, I will need to re-certify all 3 of them separately by taking their individual exams.

    Another option I could do is take the Solutions Architect Professional exam, which will ONLY renew my Solutions Architect Associate exam. And then I can take the DevOps Professional exam which will renew my SysOps and my Developer Associate exams. Moving forward, I will then have to renew both of my Professional level exams in order to renew all 5 of my AWS exams.

    Not horrible. But doesn't seem like the best model unless you're specializing in AWS.

    Let me know if I didn't explain any of that well enough and you need clarification.

    All of that taken together makes me not want to bother. I was wanting to pursue them to add another dimension to my skillset (I deal in cloud security, but not vendor specific), but between a 2 year recertification and having to individually recert both, that's kind of a deal breaker.
    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
  • MitMMitM Member Posts: 622 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I was wondering about this from reading their site. Seems way too much.
  • DoubleNNsDoubleNNs Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
    I think I'm going to let my AWS CSA lapse.

    I do plan on taking the AWS DevOps exam, however. From there I can just focus on renewing that one cert every 2 years and I'll have AWS 3 certifications total.
    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
  • mnashemnashe Member Posts: 136 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Thanks for clarifying the info!!

    That seems like a good plan. For me, maybe I'll only go for the associate architect and professional. I'm still trying to figure out if this is the route I should be going
  • gkcagkca Member Posts: 243 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Great info! I was planning to take all of the tests but now I guess I'll just take the solutions architect associate and possible upgrade to professional or security specialty down the road. Better to re-target to other stuff with better shelf life like CISSP.
    "I needed a password with eight characters so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." (c) Nick Helm
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