Journey to become an AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate, simplified!

Worried about where to start? How to start? How difficult it would be? But want to clear AWS SysOps Administrator Associate Certification anyhow? Then take a deep breath and continue reading. :) Clearing the certification is not that difficult.

After clearing 4 certifications in a row so far, I have realized that if we follow a process then clearing the certification becomes easy. I am going to share the process with you, hoping that it will help you cut down on the time spent rummaging through multiple resources. There are too many resources available, so choosing the correct ones is very crucial in clearing the certification in limited time.

So where to begin?

Undoubtedly the best source of information is AWS documentation and whitepaper itself. AWS documentation is always up-to-date and is very comprehensive. Anything and everything is available in the documentation. AWS whitepapers are also very informative and recommended resources to go through before taking the exams. However, reading documentation and whitepapers has always been an exhaustive part for me. This takes away a lot of time. I find it much easier to watch videos of someone explaining stuff compared to reading documentation about it! So what to do? Online courses to the rescue.

Online courses

Popular online courses help you a lot. They are economical, to the point and you can play them anytime. Also, they stay with you for life. :)
Most of the courses are around 15 hours long. They help you clear the suspense of what all you need to cover to clear the exam. From my experience, I would suggest the following courses -

1) Udemy.com (a cloud guru or backstage academy)
2) Whizlabs.com

I see to it that I watch the course videos at least twice to understand the topics clearly. Watching it for the first time may take you off the grid due to the new words that you would learn but this is OKAY. This is normal. You need to revisit it to make it stick with you. However, the question arises — Are the videos enough? The answer is No. You need to do more.

Labs

Its time to get your hands dirty. This is the phase where you try out what you learnt during the video sessions. This is a very crucial step in building the much needed confidence. The more you do this, the better. This can also be done when you do not have an AWS account. Whizlabs provides you with a platform where you can follow the lab guidelines and execute them on the temporary AWS account (provided by whizlabs).

Practice exams

The most important phase is practicing. The more you practice, the better your chances are at clearing the exam. Again, there are many practice exam providers. Most of them have a trial exam that allows you to gauge whether the exam is adequate for your needs or not. I chose Whizlabs, it worked the best for me. There are 5–6 practice tests that you can take multiple times. The questions are fair and the answers are detailed. You can also try Udemy practice exams; they have an extensive coverage. I would recommend you to reattempt the exams until you score 90%+.

Group discussions

For me, this has worked wonders. If you have a study buddy or a group of people with whom you can share what you have learnt, you will find that your knowledge is growing at an exponential rate as you start thinking from the other person’s perspective as well.

Cheat sheet

This is very important when you want to quickly revise the topics. Jot down the important points from the content you read, viewed and listened. You can also find cheat sheets online. Revisit the cheat sheet before the exam.

Multiple online blogs are helpful. However, I found the blog written by JayendraPatil to be very insightful.

This process has helped me a lot. Only due to the process, it has been possible for me to give one exam every month. I used to study 2 hours daily. Also having practical experience of more than 2 years helped me. I hope this article helps you with your journey. All the best!!

Conclusion -

1) Don’t fear the exam. It’s simple but not that simple either :)
2) Follow a process or define one which suits you
3) Set a deadline
4) Practice Practice Practice

Be on CLOUD!!

— Milind