What are the AWS Certifications ?

What is AWS certification

AWS certification is a level of AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud expertise that an IT professional can obtain after clearing one or more exams provided by the tech giant Amazon. This certification is gained by IT professionals to manifest and validate their technical cloud knowledge and skills.

AWS provides various certification exams for Cloud Practitioner, Developer, and Architect, Administrator and Specialty. The specific certification lasts for two years can be recertified by the IT professionals after it expires. There are hundreds of test centers around the globe to take the exams for the same.

Types of AWS Certifications

There are ten individual certifications offered by Amazon Web Services, spread across four different experience levels – Foundational, Associate, Professional, and Specialty.

Foundational Level Certifications –

• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
• Scope: 10
• Depth: 2
• Qualification: None
• Recommended Experience: At least six months of general AWS cloud experience in any role (technical, managerial, sales, etc.) and industry knowledge.

Who it is for - This is for you if you need to know about the foundational concepts of the cloud and how AWS actually works at a high level, but you won’t be able to do the implementation. It's best to start for anyone who is new to cloud computing.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (Foundational)

• Format: Multiple Choice Questions
• Length of exam: 90 minutes
• Cost: 100 USD

This entry-level certification is designed to validate a person’s understanding of the AWS cloud overall. It just scratches the surface by providing a general overview of the services provided by the AWS and how it is structured.

Associate level Certifications –

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect
• AWS Certified Developer
• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator

• Scope: 8
• Depth: 4
• Recommended Experience: One year of experience working in AWS to solve problems and implement solutions.

Who is it for - It is for you if you are going to be working in AWS and need a firm grip for actually working in the cloud platform where your journey begins. It provides a solid conceptual grip in terms of day-to-day implementation.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate)

• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 130 Minutes
• Cost: 150 USD

This certificate gives you a much broader view of AWS and will form a valuable foundation on which you can build your career moving forward in the cloud.

This certification focuses on the core AWS services like IAM (Identity and Access Management, VPC (Virtual Private Cloud), S3, and EC2. Understanding these core services will give you a good understanding of how AWS handles security, networking, compute capability and data storage.

AWS Certified Developer (Associate)

• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 80 Minutes
• Cost: 150 USD

This certification is for anyone who uses AWS. It takes you a bit deeper into services like Elastic Beanstalk, Dynamo DB, SNS, and SQS. It expects you to know a little more about how you would use the services and how they present themselves to the outside world and environment through APIs and SDKs.

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator (Associate)

• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 80 Minutes
• Cost: 150 USD

This certification is a little misleading by its name as it's not only for the SysOps Admins only but it’s also for anyone who runs things on AWS. It goes rather deep on CloudWatch than other things. This certification gives you a much stronger grip on what’s actually going on in your AWS architecture.

SysOps Administrator is widely regarded as the hardest AWS Associate certification. Its really very important to finish off all the Associate's certification before going on this much harder Professional exam as the professionals would expect you to know everything about the Associate Level exams thoroughly, so skipping anyone could be a problem for you.

Professional Level Certifications –

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
  
  
• Scope: 10
• Depth: 8
• Recommended Experience: Two years of complete experience using AWS with hands-on experience of designing, operating, and troubleshooting cloud architecture and best practice knowledge of multi-application architecture design.

Who is it for – This is for you if you are already experienced working in AWS, mastered your AWS Associate Level certifications, and are ready to take the next step.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Professional)

• Prerequisites: Status as AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate)
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification is the culmination of general AWS expertise. With this certificate, you would be equipped to take any AWS service or feature and make good use of it. At this level, you will understand the ecosystem at such a deep level that it’ll be much easier to stay up to date as the AWS keeps on changing.

For a Solution Architect Pro, every single service in the entire AWS Architecture is in working and quite a bit of depth is required in specific areas like Direct connect and Security.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer (Professional)

• Prerequisites: Status as an AWS Certified Developer (Associate) or AWS Certified SysOps Administrator (Associate). Experience in managing AWS based applications, as well as a firm understanding of modern application development such as agile development methodology.
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification is all about combining development, operations, and a good mindset to guide systems through time. it requires you to think about the static systems as well as about the systems that change and evolve over time which means it has a narrower scope.

DevOps Engineer (Professional) actually goes deeper into specific areas such as deployments and lifecycles, and services like CloudFormation and OpsWork.

Specialty Level Certificates -

• AWS Certified Advanced Networking
• AWS Certified Data Analytics
• AWS Certified Security
• AWS Certified Machine Learning
• AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder
• AWS Certified Database
  
  
• Scope: 3
• Depth: 10
• Recommended Experience: Two or Five years of hands-on experience and comprehensive knowledge of AWS in the specific specialty area.

Who is it for – This is for you if you’re already highly experienced in a specific area of AWS and are ready to use that experience to take the next big step in your career.

AWS Certified Advanced Networking (Specialty)

• Prerequisites: Should hold an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner or a current Associate Level Certification: AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate), AWS Certified Developer (Associate) or AWS Certified SysOps Administrator (Associate)
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification is designed to validate a candidate’s skills and experience in connection with performing complex networking tasks on AWS and hybrid IT networking Architecture. It covers designing, developing, and deploying cloud-based solutions using AWS and implementing core AWS services according to the basic architecture, designing, and maintaining network architecture for all AWS services.

AWS Certified Data Analytics (Specialty)

• Prerequisites: At least 5 years of experience with data analytics technologies, At least 2 years of hands-on experience working with AWS, Experience, and expertise working with AWS services to design, build, secure, and maintain analytics solutions.
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 180 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification is for those with a data analytics background and experience using AWS services for designing and architecture big data solutions. It is designed in such a way that it validates a candidate’s experience in extracting values from data using AWS services and understand how they integrate with each other.

AWS Certified Security (Specialty)

• Prerequisites: At least 2 years of hands-on experience in securing AWS workloads, Security Controls for workloads on AWS, Minimum of 5 years of IT security experience designing and implementing security solutions.
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification covers topics that security pros and teams need to master security fundamentals and build a deep knowledge of key services that are unique to the AWS platform. It is designed to validate your AWS knowledge across security topics like encryption and data protection, infrastructure security, identity, incidence response, monitoring and logging, and access management.

AWS Certified Machine Learning (Specialty)

• Prerequisites: 1-2 years of experience in developing, architecture, or running ML/Deep Learning workloads on the AWS cloud. Ability to express logic behind ML algorithms. Experience performing basic hyperparameter optimization. Experience with ML and Deep learning frameworks.
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification validates your ability to create, implement, and maintain machine learning solutions for a range of business problems. It covers choosing and defending the best ML approach for a given business problem, identifying the relevant AWS solutions to create and deploy your ML solution, designing and implementing scalable, reliable, and secure ML solutions.

AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder (Specialty)

• Prerequisites: At least 6 months of hands-on experience building Alexa skills using Alexa Skills Kit including AWS cloud incorporative skills. Proficiency in a programming language. Must have published an Alexa skill.
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification validates your technical expertise in creating, testing, and deploying Amazon Alexa skills. This exam is for anyone who performs any role as an Alexa skill builder. It covers explaining the value of voice, user experience design, Following AWS, and Alexa's best practices for security, working with Alexa Developer Console.

AWS Certified Database (Specialty)

• Prerequisites: At least 6 months of hands-on experience building Alexa skills using Alexa Skills Kit including AWS cloud incorporative skills. Proficiency in a programming language. Must have published an Alexa skill.
• Format: Multiple-choice, Multiple-answer
• Time: 180 Minutes
• Cost: 300 USD

This certification validates your overall comprehension of all the AWS database services that are offered, as well as how to bring value to your business by optimized database integration and architecture. It is for anyone who works closely with the database and database solutions. It covers database design, deployment and migration, management and operations, monitoring and troubleshooting, and security.