Which AWS certificate should I get first?
In my role, I help application teams migrate their applications to Public Cloud, mostly AWS. During the interaction, often I come across people asking me this question, which AWS certificate should I get first? AWS Certificates are really worth and definitely proves that at least you have covered the fundamentals of the subject. People would like that AWS badges on their sleeve and why not?
AWS offers 11 certifications currently. Let’s have a quick glance at current AWS certifications list. You can find updated information from official AWS certification page.
As you can see AWS does suggest learning path based on your role like Architect, Operation or Developer. Still it is confusing to decide the right certification since it does not cover all the roles like BA, QA etc and also many people play dual roles like Architect and Developer or DevOps. Another important thing to understand is that while people have been doing Solutions Architect Associate as the first certification, it need not be any more. To understand this in detail, let’s look at recent changes made in AWS Certifications curriculum.
Till couple of years back, there were not many certification choices for your first certification. Total, there were 3 associate certificates, couple of professional ones and another couple of specialty certificates but holding Associate certificates were mandatory to sit for professional and specialty exams. That left people with just 3 choices to start their certification journey. Despite all the DevOps popularity in industry, we did still have very clear roles defined between Developer and Operations so that left developers with just two choices, Solutions Architect and Developer Associate, while for Operations/Support Engineers, SysOps Administrator Certificate was the only available choice. Since 80% of course content were the same between Solutions Architect and Developer exams, developers did not have to put much thought to decide between them, though most ended up choosing Solutions Architect Associate exam and made it most popular and became the default choice. Developer exam focused additionally on Lambda and Developer tools. Developer certification became natural second choice since you could get it easily with covering a few more topics.
Recent changes to the AWS Certifications
Over the last one year, AWS has made a few significant changes which changes the game and gives you many options.
- Introduced new Category, Foundational, with AWS Cloud Practitioner certification
- Introduced more Specialty certifications, AWS Big Data Specialty, AWS Machine Learning Specialty and Alexa Skill Builder
- Revamped the Developer Associate exam completely which is now very different from Solutions Architect exam.
- Most importantly, AWS removed the Associate certifications as prerequisite requirement to appear in Professional or Specialty exam. Here is the official Announcement.
What does this mean to you?
This means you have more choices now. Instead of 3 certificates, now you have 11 certificates to choose from as your first AWS certificate. This also means that if you are a Big Data Developer and understand the subject very well, you can directly go for AWS Big Data Specialty certification with little additional effort rather than going for AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification which focuses on AWS as a whole and may require more effort. Similarly if you have been very proficient with AWS Services and have been using it for a few years, then you can directly go for AWS Solution Architect Professional certification rather than sit for Associate certification first.
Let’s look at each certification and understand why these can be your first choice?
I hope now you got a clear picture and you know your choices. AWS Certifications are definitely worth and provides you a competitive edge in the current era. I learnt a lot during my preparation for AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam and really cherished the positive result. Like most, my first certificate was also AWS Solutions Architect — Associate.
Go and get yours first, if you haven’t got already. All the best with your exams!
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