AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification: What, Why, How?

Jonathan Souza — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 11:50:49 +0000

This guide provides an overview of the AWS certification process, highlighting its importance and outlining what you'll learn.

What to Expect from the Certification

The AWS certification exam tests your knowledge on the following tasks:

The significance of the AWS Cloud.
The AWS shared responsibility model.
Best practices for AWS security.
Understanding AWS Cloud costs and billing.
Describing core AWS services including compute, network, databases, and storage.
Identifying AWS services for various use cases.

Breakdown of Exam Domains:

Update: The AWS Cloud Practitioner certification exam underwent changes, transitioning from the CLF-C01 version to the CLF-C02 version on September 19, 2023. These changes not only involve the exam's structure but also the domains it covers and the weightage of scored questions in each domain. The table below illustrates the distinctions between the two versions:

C01 Domain	Percent of Scored Questions	C02 Domain	Percent of Scored Questions
1: Cloud Concepts	26%	1: Cloud Concepts	24%
2: Security and Compliance	25%	2: Security and Compliance	30%
3: Technology	33%	3: Cloud Technology and Services	34%
4: Billing and Pricing	16%	4: Billing, Pricing, and Support	12%

The exam delves deep into AWS services, ensuring your comprehension of the value and functionality they offer. By the end, you'll have a holistic understanding of AWS, allowing you to assist AWS customers, developers, partners, and other stakeholders. You'll also acquire the skills to create a high-performing static website using AWS tools such as CloudFront, Route 53, and Athena.

Remember, most exam questions are scenario-based. Thus, merely memorizing answers won't suffice. A holistic understanding of AWS services is vital.

Question Format:

Multiple choice: One correct out of four responses.
Multiple response: Two or more correct out of five or more options.

Your exam score will range from 100–1,000, with 700 as the passing score. Explore more about the exam content here.

Can Beginners Handle the Exam?

Switching to a cloud-centric role without prior knowledge can be daunting. I remember when I first embarked on this journey, the thought of mastering AWS was overwhelming. But with determination and a structured approach, and with zero prior knowledge, I found a way. The preparation for the exam took one month.

Strategy:

Completed the Cloud Guru Cloud Practitioner course, including videos, quizzes, and practice exams.
Gained hands-on experience by experimenting with AWS services.
Followed AWS's recommended preparation method.
Undertook practice tests on Udemy.
Reviewed parts of the official AWS Cloud Practitioner course.
Took the official AWS practice exam.

Examination Details:

Format: 90 minutes with 65 questions (multiple choice or multiple response).
Delivery: At a testing centre or via an online proctored exam.
Cost: 100.00 USD.

Post-exam, you'll receive preliminary results immediately, with the official results arriving within 24 hours to 2 days.

Staying Motivated:

Maintaining enthusiasm is essential. Here's what kept me going:

Booking the exam a month in advance.
Completing comprehensive courses like CloudGuru.
Engaging in practical AWS exercises.
Reading AWS white papers.
Discussing progress with friends and family.

Endeavour to take the leap and earn your certification. You'll be cloud-surfing before you know it!

For further details, visit the AWS Certification Preparation page.

Renaming the Master Branch to Main On GitHub

Jonathan Souza — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 12:28:48 +0000

Update: You can now rename it directly from GitHub 🎉.
Check it out: Renaming a branch on GitHub!

Original Post:
Since October 1, 2020, all new repositories on GitHub have defaulted to using main as the branch name. If you created repositories before this date, your branches will be named master. GitHub, along with the broader Git community, is gradually transitioning the default branch name from master to main, a convention that's slowly being adopted across the community. In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of renaming your branch, step by step.

Step 1: Select Your Repository

Navigate to the main page of your repository on GitHub
Copy the URL provided

Step 2: Clone the Repository to Your Local Machine

Open your terminal
Change the current working directory to the desired location where you want to save the project.
Type git clone, followed by the URL you copied earlier.

Step 3: Modify the Branch Name

While still in your terminal, navigate to the root folder of your project using cd <your-project-folder> and execute the following command:
git branch -m master main

This command creates a new branch named main and switches to it, with the -m flag transferring all the commit history from master to your new main branch.

Step 4: Remove the “master” Branch

Now it's time to remove the old branch.

Execute the following command to set your local machine to track the new branch and update your remote GitHub repository:
git push -u origin main.

Next, point the HEAD to the current branch reference with: git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main

You can now verify your tree using:
git branch -a

Navigate to your GitHub repository, go to the Settings section, find the branches section, and switch the default branch to “main”, as shown below.

Return to your terminal and delete the old branch both locally and remotely with: git push origin --delete master

Step 5: Celebrate!

You've done a fantastic job! 😎

DEV Community: Jonathan Souza