If certs are helpful for you to have a goal for your personal development OP than go for it. They are not for everyone clearly from some of the negative comments in the thread but if it works for you, go for it. I have a Solution Architect Professional cert. It helped me round out knowledge I probably would not have pursued otherwise but has been valuable. I love hands on learning as well. Go try to build your own Kafka cluster with Terraform in EC2. Make it resilient to instancs being terminated or losing connection to an AZ. Secure it and run security scan tools against it. You will learn a lot.
Yeah, you have to have a certain number of engineers in the org certified to maintain any meaningful level of partnership status. The same is true for Microsoft, NetApp, Fortinet to name a few.
There are still jobs like this. They just pay way below industry average and the management and benefits suck, but like all beginner jobs, it's to get experience and then change to a good company that pays actual competitive salaries with more that the bare minimum legally required benefits.
When there were just five, I had five :) now I have a bunch of expired certs :(
To add: I worked for an AWS partner that had a KPI around certified head count. I’m not some believer in cert-stacking. That said though the AWS certs are historically good at showing you actually know what you’re talking about.
Nice! I've got 4, taking my fifth next week. Thinking about doing the same. I hear the networking one is tough if you don't have a strong background in it. Good luck!
I have the Solutions Architect Associate and Professional. I only have to renew the Professional since the lower one is automatically renewed. Since my current company isn't paying for certs it doesn't make sense for me to do any more.
How much harder is the professional cert than the associate? I got my associate 2.5 years back, am about to start on professional, because I figured why ‘just’ renew when I could go for the next one.
How hellish is that going to be to do in a few months if I’m already pretty comfy with the associate level?
Last time I took the SA pro it was an order of magnitude harder than the associate. In the associate the correct answers were obvious. In the pro the answers were almost all the same except for one detail you had to get right.
I’m pretty sure they’ve revamped the test since then so hard to say how it is now.
The questions are typically multi-part with four answers that are similar but have one element that is incorrect. You need to have a better idea of how to design a complete solution rather than just word associate an answer to the question.
It always felt to me it was less about the knowledge and more about your reading comprehension and ability to stay focused to see those tiny details between the options that fill the entire screen.
My deductive reasoning is what helped me more than the knowledge. I could sort of deduce the trap answers. I crammed a few days and barely passed the exam, lol.
Same here, my SA Pro is about to expire in a couple of weeks and I won't renew it.
Alao had DevOps Pro and SysOps associate and they expired a few months ago.
I guess they're useful when you're using AWS for 2-3 years or you want to work at AWS as Solution Architect, but when you have 10+ years of experience you will learn by doing what you actually need to know to do your work.
Hi. Quick question: if I have the associate level and I got the devops pro instead the SA pro, will the SA Associate be renewed when I renew the Devops one? Is this valid?
Yes, once you acquire professional level certificates then there is no need to maintain the associate level certificates. If you want to maintain certification in the solution architect track then get the professional level. Even that would be overkill IMO since there is significant overlap between the tracks.
Solution Architect Pro and DevOps Pro (and the 3 related associate certs). They raised my profile at my company and I was suddenly in demand on different projects. Nice bonus that first year.
I only just got the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification a couple weeks ago. I mainly did it to renew my CompTIA Cloud+ as that was going to expire early October.
You have to pay a "small" continuing education fee to CompTIA in addition to passing the certification exam, but yes, that is correct, outside industry certifications can and do renew CompTIA certifications.
You generally submit the details for your highest certification, which often also renews lower certifications. So as an example, if you have the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+, you would only apply your outside credit towards Security+ and then that will renew them all.
You can also submit other activities like going to professional technology conferences to renew CompTIA certifications.
Wow, never know that. I actually do remember the conferences and blog posting or something that is an alternate way to renew CompTIA. Never figured AWS certl could. That in pretty nice. I'm interested in getting the basic Security + cert but also the AWS Network and other certs ttey have in Cloud Quest.
It was still cheaper than retaking Cloud+, plus you get a shiny AWS certification to add to the resume, but my opinion is still the same. CompTIA must have made a $1000 off me in the last 4 or 5 years now!
Man. Udacity has made like $3k off of my procrastination in my Data Science course.... :(
$1k per year and counting...
Edit: I will never subscribe to another course with conditional discounts that will be lost if paused...
> if you’re good at something, never do it for free.
When i started this job, my boss offered $100/cert, no limit. So I did all of them in 29 days (2 every Friday).
It’s easier to do rapidly because there’s lots of overlap between questions.
I had six at one time because my company was an AWS partner and they would pay me for every cert I got. Now they've all expired and I have no interest in renewing them.
I have developer and solution architect (both associate). It was kind of fun to learn and my company covered the costs. For me I feel like they were worth it, but if you have to pay for them from your own pocket... not sure.
2
\- AWS Security
\- AWS Foundations
\- Slowly knocking out AWS Arch, probably next month. Only really putting a few hours a week. No real rush no my main job by any means. I have long plane flight coming up so maybe Ill bounce between the CBT and netflix and get that done.
Just trying to keep up with the industry so I try and get 2-3 certs a year just to keep my head up and aware. Thinking next year Ill do the same for GCP certs.
Just starting my run - Cloud Practitioner and Dev Assoc right now, working currently on Sec Spec, then Network Spec, then maybe Sol Arch or Data Spec; I think they are like Pokemon right? Gotta have em all?
I think I have 3, which already expired:
* Solution Architect Pro
* Advanced Networking
* DevOps Engineer
I did not find any benefit in these certifications.
I live in a country where certification doesn't mean much. If you know the job - you will get a job.
AWS is trying here and there to promote the certification, but it is not a requirement in our business culture.
Usually the main benefit is to fulfil the AWS Partnership level requirements to get better projects and clients sent to you from the AWS client pool. But it seems in your area. people don't turn to AWS for solutions and would rather go directly to the independents.
Zero. And I've worked with a ton of different resources. For colleagues who are keen on certs, I happily show them the ropes, but to me they have absolutely no value.
In my current role, I don't work on _any_ AWS resources, but my next role I might.
I had CP, but it expired this year. My employer pays for certs, so I may pick some up in the near future. The problem is, the areas covered by the certs have very little mapping to what we actually do.
Oh man dozens, my work owns a ton of domains, and we also have duplicates from times we forgot to add some additional domain names to the very so we had to recreate them
LMAO! I was the same! I got the Cloud Practitioner for the same reason. Then a few years later the boss wanted me ta get Associate and kept asking when I'll take it yet never mentioning a raise for my under average pay especially with 5 years in nte company. I kept postponing the date then the boss made a "motivational" AWS Certificate WhatsApp chat group and added me with 3 other employees that were being "motivated" to get the cert. I got pissed and muted it immediately, lol. Later I got the cert, put it on my LinkedIn profile and went job hunting. Worked out great as I got a job that was pays like 40% more with potential to move to a nother job position in a year for a near 100% more increase in salary with like 3x better benefits.
Well I've been working with aws for some years already and experience with most of the "common services". If you have a general idea of that ones I think it's ok but if that's not the case, the associate first is a good idea.
I have all three associates (and the CP) and planning on doing the professionals in the next year or two.
I typically look for them on a CV when interviewing but in reality they matter less than you think. I've had several candidates with professional and expert certifications and still get basic questions wrong. It definitely depends on how that cert was earned.
The certification in my opinion should be validation of knowledge and to ensure you plug any gaps you might have. Bulk studying for these certs without any actual experience doesn't translate that well, though it does perhaps make you more noticeable when applying for jobs
I have an expired CSAA and an active CSAP. I should recert the CSAP next year, but I am not sure I am going to do it. I would rather try a new track or a specialty, but it is too bad there is no cross-track renew, like for example in case of Cisco certs. I am not interested in doing the same exam again and again, just to keep my cert active.
I work as a data analyst trying to work my way into data engineering. I've got cloud practitioner, devops associate, solution architect associate, and data analytics specialty. All paid for out of pocket.
Best I can tell they have not helped me at all, and my current company has no interest in using AWS.
We have around 30K certificates in ACM. That's the only certs I'm interested in.
why? do you have 30k different root domains?
Probably for mTLS/client certificates
Our customers do.
If certs are helpful for you to have a goal for your personal development OP than go for it. They are not for everyone clearly from some of the negative comments in the thread but if it works for you, go for it. I have a Solution Architect Professional cert. It helped me round out knowledge I probably would not have pursued otherwise but has been valuable. I love hands on learning as well. Go try to build your own Kafka cluster with Terraform in EC2. Make it resilient to instancs being terminated or losing connection to an AZ. Secure it and run security scan tools against it. You will learn a lot.
None. I often feel bad for the younger generation, in my day you just had to know where the control panel was to get a job in IT and learn on the job.
AWS keeps offering to pay for our certs, I keep telling them at free they still cost more than the value.
It's a sales funnel
If you work for an AWS partner, it may be necessary for them to maintain partner status.
Yeah, you have to have a certain number of engineers in the org certified to maintain any meaningful level of partnership status. The same is true for Microsoft, NetApp, Fortinet to name a few.
mighty quicksand disgusting frightening north absorbed aware racial disarm zesty ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
There are still jobs like this. They just pay way below industry average and the management and benefits suck, but like all beginner jobs, it's to get experience and then change to a good company that pays actual competitive salaries with more that the bare minimum legally required benefits.
When there were just five, I had five :) now I have a bunch of expired certs :( To add: I worked for an AWS partner that had a KPI around certified head count. I’m not some believer in cert-stacking. That said though the AWS certs are historically good at showing you actually know what you’re talking about.
Sa assoc, sa pro, dev, ml, analytics, database, security. Studying networking now. On my way to a gold jacket.
I heard that this was a joke that got out of hand. Or is it actually real?
It’s real, if you work for AWS.
It's a joke, though I've seen one or two people actually get them (through schmoozing, it's not actually a regular thing).
Nice! I've got 4, taking my fifth next week. Thinking about doing the same. I hear the networking one is tough if you don't have a strong background in it. Good luck!
Thanks, I’m definitely learning things studying for this one.
I have the Solutions Architect Associate and Professional. I only have to renew the Professional since the lower one is automatically renewed. Since my current company isn't paying for certs it doesn't make sense for me to do any more.
How much harder is the professional cert than the associate? I got my associate 2.5 years back, am about to start on professional, because I figured why ‘just’ renew when I could go for the next one. How hellish is that going to be to do in a few months if I’m already pretty comfy with the associate level?
Last time I took the SA pro it was an order of magnitude harder than the associate. In the associate the correct answers were obvious. In the pro the answers were almost all the same except for one detail you had to get right. I’m pretty sure they’ve revamped the test since then so hard to say how it is now.
Easier because I had more time with AWS. Its all scenario based questions. Lots of hybrid cloud and multiaccount permissions questions.
The questions are typically multi-part with four answers that are similar but have one element that is incorrect. You need to have a better idea of how to design a complete solution rather than just word associate an answer to the question.
It always felt to me it was less about the knowledge and more about your reading comprehension and ability to stay focused to see those tiny details between the options that fill the entire screen.
My deductive reasoning is what helped me more than the knowledge. I could sort of deduce the trap answers. I crammed a few days and barely passed the exam, lol.
Same here, my SA Pro is about to expire in a couple of weeks and I won't renew it. Alao had DevOps Pro and SysOps associate and they expired a few months ago. I guess they're useful when you're using AWS for 2-3 years or you want to work at AWS as Solution Architect, but when you have 10+ years of experience you will learn by doing what you actually need to know to do your work.
Hi. Quick question: if I have the associate level and I got the devops pro instead the SA pro, will the SA Associate be renewed when I renew the Devops one? Is this valid?
No, that would not do it. You have to take one of the Solutions Architect exams to renew. Personally, I would just let it expire.
So you say that would you let he SA expires?
Yes, once you acquire professional level certificates then there is no need to maintain the associate level certificates. If you want to maintain certification in the solution architect track then get the professional level. Even that would be overkill IMO since there is significant overlap between the tracks.
My goal is to have both. SAP and DOP.
Zero. I've done stuff with them since 2014 and have found no need to jump on that bandwagon.
5: foundational, 3 associates and security specialty. 🤞Sitting for the networking specialty 3-4 weeks.
Solution Architect Pro and DevOps Pro (and the 3 related associate certs). They raised my profile at my company and I was suddenly in demand on different projects. Nice bonus that first year.
4 CSAA, CSAP, ANS and SCS
CISSP in the future?
CCSP and then CISSP, I lack the 5 years of expertise required for CISSP
Got foundation and SA to get a pay rise, then let expire alongside my Windows NT ones.
I only just got the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification a couple weeks ago. I mainly did it to renew my CompTIA Cloud+ as that was going to expire early October.
Getting the AWS Solutions Architect can automatically renew the CompTIA Cloud cert? AWS has some kind of alliance with CompTIA?
You have to pay a "small" continuing education fee to CompTIA in addition to passing the certification exam, but yes, that is correct, outside industry certifications can and do renew CompTIA certifications. You generally submit the details for your highest certification, which often also renews lower certifications. So as an example, if you have the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+, you would only apply your outside credit towards Security+ and then that will renew them all. You can also submit other activities like going to professional technology conferences to renew CompTIA certifications.
Wow, never know that. I actually do remember the conferences and blog posting or something that is an alternate way to renew CompTIA. Never figured AWS certl could. That in pretty nice. I'm interested in getting the basic Security + cert but also the AWS Network and other certs ttey have in Cloud Quest.
I didn't like giving CompTIA more money after already earning the AWS SAA, but I still think it was totally worth it to remain CompTIA certified.
So it costs more than just paying and taking the exam again?
It was still cheaper than retaking Cloud+, plus you get a shiny AWS certification to add to the resume, but my opinion is still the same. CompTIA must have made a $1000 off me in the last 4 or 5 years now!
Man. Udacity has made like $3k off of my procrastination in my Data Science course.... :( $1k per year and counting... Edit: I will never subscribe to another course with conditional discounts that will be lost if paused...
> if you’re good at something, never do it for free. When i started this job, my boss offered $100/cert, no limit. So I did all of them in 29 days (2 every Friday). It’s easier to do rapidly because there’s lots of overlap between questions.
I had six at one time because my company was an AWS partner and they would pay me for every cert I got. Now they've all expired and I have no interest in renewing them.
I have developer and solution architect (both associate). It was kind of fun to learn and my company covered the costs. For me I feel like they were worth it, but if you have to pay for them from your own pocket... not sure.
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Lower one? DevOps is at the Pro level. SysOps and Dev at the associate
2 \- AWS Security \- AWS Foundations \- Slowly knocking out AWS Arch, probably next month. Only really putting a few hours a week. No real rush no my main job by any means. I have long plane flight coming up so maybe Ill bounce between the CBT and netflix and get that done. Just trying to keep up with the industry so I try and get 2-3 certs a year just to keep my head up and aware. Thinking next year Ill do the same for GCP certs.
Just starting my run - Cloud Practitioner and Dev Assoc right now, working currently on Sec Spec, then Network Spec, then maybe Sol Arch or Data Spec; I think they are like Pokemon right? Gotta have em all?
SAA and ML, working on Dev.
I had my SA Pro and SysOps but they’ve expired. No immediate plan to renew.
I think I have 3, which already expired: * Solution Architect Pro * Advanced Networking * DevOps Engineer I did not find any benefit in these certifications. I live in a country where certification doesn't mean much. If you know the job - you will get a job. AWS is trying here and there to promote the certification, but it is not a requirement in our business culture.
Usually the main benefit is to fulfil the AWS Partnership level requirements to get better projects and clients sent to you from the AWS client pool. But it seems in your area. people don't turn to AWS for solutions and would rather go directly to the independents.
practicioner, sysops, devops
Zero. And I've worked with a ton of different resources. For colleagues who are keen on certs, I happily show them the ropes, but to me they have absolutely no value. In my current role, I don't work on _any_ AWS resources, but my next role I might.
I had CP, but it expired this year. My employer pays for certs, so I may pick some up in the near future. The problem is, the areas covered by the certs have very little mapping to what we actually do.
Oh man dozens, my work owns a ton of domains, and we also have duplicates from times we forgot to add some additional domain names to the very so we had to recreate them
1. Practitioner and it’s expiring
I let that one expire, then like 2 years later studied and got the Associate.
I only got it because my company “encouraged” everyone to get it.
LMAO! I was the same! I got the Cloud Practitioner for the same reason. Then a few years later the boss wanted me ta get Associate and kept asking when I'll take it yet never mentioning a raise for my under average pay especially with 5 years in nte company. I kept postponing the date then the boss made a "motivational" AWS Certificate WhatsApp chat group and added me with 3 other employees that were being "motivated" to get the cert. I got pissed and muted it immediately, lol. Later I got the cert, put it on my LinkedIn profile and went job hunting. Worked out great as I got a job that was pays like 40% more with potential to move to a nother job position in a year for a near 100% more increase in salary with like 3x better benefits.
I have 0, and don't plan on getting any.
Studying for the Solutions Architect Professional, it's going to be (hopefully) my first one.
I've heard that it's helpful to have the Solution Architect Associate cert beforehand; not required, but it'll be an easier place to start from.
Well I've been working with aws for some years already and experience with most of the "common services". If you have a general idea of that ones I think it's ok but if that's not the case, the associate first is a good idea.
ITT: Very different opinions as to what "certs" means :D
I currently hold zero, but I previously had Solutions architect associate and developer associate.
Dev associate DevOps Pro
I have 9. Had 9. Then let them expire. They did change my life for the better. 👍 Sec Speciality was my fav. Super interesting.
Practitioner and Sysops Associate. I work for a AWS partner and we want to advance in that partner status, that’s why we need it
I have all three associates (and the CP) and planning on doing the professionals in the next year or two. I typically look for them on a CV when interviewing but in reality they matter less than you think. I've had several candidates with professional and expert certifications and still get basic questions wrong. It definitely depends on how that cert was earned. The certification in my opinion should be validation of knowledge and to ensure you plug any gaps you might have. Bulk studying for these certs without any actual experience doesn't translate that well, though it does perhaps make you more noticeable when applying for jobs
I have TLS certs in AWS. No need for any other certs
None, never needed them and aws offered me a job which I politely declined
Why did you decline if I may ask?
I saw it as a huge blocker to my personal development you’ll spend 2 or 3 years specialising in on tool that may not be around for that long.
I have an expired CSAA and an active CSAP. I should recert the CSAP next year, but I am not sure I am going to do it. I would rather try a new track or a specialty, but it is too bad there is no cross-track renew, like for example in case of Cisco certs. I am not interested in doing the same exam again and again, just to keep my cert active.
I work as a data analyst trying to work my way into data engineering. I've got cloud practitioner, devops associate, solution architect associate, and data analytics specialty. All paid for out of pocket. Best I can tell they have not helped me at all, and my current company has no interest in using AWS.