This cool thing called “Amazon Web Services” was first mentioned to me last spring.
My friend recently passed the certification exam and was offered a job with great benefits, and a high pay. “Oh, Amazon. I know Amazon. I have just cancelled my Prime subscription,” I stated. What does this have to do about a job?”
Amazon Web Services has very little to offer in the way of kitchenware and clothing unless you host an eCommerce site on their servers.
Amazon Web Services, also known by “AWS”, Amazon’s cloud computing platform. It is taking the world by storm! AWS is currently the most well-known cloud service provider and has surpassed both Microsoft Azure (and Google Cloud) in terms of market share.
AWS holds a lead in cloud computing for more than ten years and powers nearly half of the world’s cloud resources. While other platforms are slowly increasing their capacity, it will be a while before any major competitors catch up to AWS.
A few months later, after learning about Amazon Web Services, I took and passed AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.
I am not only AWS Certified, but I also have access to certain venues and participate in events at AWS Summit that are only available to AWS certification holders.
AWS certification does not mean that you can only work with Amazon Web Services, or companies that use AWS. AWS is a dominant cloud provider so certifications that demonstrate your “cloud computing expertise” are important.
You might end up working for AWS competitors, or companies that use many cloud computing platforms. As they say, the sky is the limit or rather, the cloud.
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AWS Certifications 2019
This article was written in Fall 2019, when there were 11 AWS certifications at four levels. AWS certifications are a validation of the candidate’s knowledge about AWS Cloud. The company also offers role-based certifications to highlight the in-demand skills of this rapidly-growing industry.
AWS offers a foundational set of certifications for entry-level users. These certifications are known as Foundational Certifications. This category currently only contains one certification: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification. AWS recommends you have at least six months of industry knowledge and AWS Cloud expertise before you take this exam.
The Associate Certification level follows. This level can be used to obtain three certifications.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
AWS Certified Developer – Associate
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate
AWS recommends that candidates have a minimum of one year of experience in problem solving and implementation using AWS Cloud before they take the exam. Which of the three exams you choose will depend on the role the candidate is currently in or the career they are pursuing.
The Professional Certifications are one step higher than the Associate Certifications. There are two of them.
AWS Solutions Architect – Professional
AWS DevOps Engineer – Professional
AWS recommends you have at least 2 years experience in “designing and operating AWS Cloud solutions” before you take these exams.
To prove your technical proficiency, you can use the AWS Cloud With Specialty Certificates. These certifications can only be obtained by those with extensive experience in complex Specialty-related tasks and operations. There are five specialties certifications available:
AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
AWS Certified Big Data – Specialty
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