How I got my 1st AWS certificate as non-cloud developer

#aws #frontend #beginners

If you are reading this blog then either you must be planning to get a cloud certificate or preparing for one.

This blog is about my journey from non-cloud background to getting my AWS & Azure foundation certificate.

Yes, I have 2 certificates - Azure fundamentals, and AWS cloud foundation (I will explain why I have both. Keep reading it)

My Background

I am a front-end person. I do HTML, CSS, JS, and anything related to JS. I have never worked on the server-side or backend/cloud. I have 10+ yrs of experience.

Why I decided to go for AWS

I wanted to up-skill. Due to meetup influence, I was hearing Azure a lot. I started my cloud journey 3 years back with Azure.

If you are 100% new to the cloud then starting with the foundation certificate is a good path.

For Azure, they have a dedicated guide to prepare for the certificate. I only followed that website and after a month I gave an exam and cleared it too.

However, I was not confident in my Azure skills and I never look back at the cloud.

After 1.5 yrs of getting an azure certificate at work, my project got stuck because we need a cloud team to guide us but there was none. As a result, my lead developer and I decided to step up and get our hands on this. We learnt that we are using AWS and not Azure and little I knew at that time this will be my push.

I knew the problem and now that became my goal to solve it. However, I was leaving the organisation in 1 week but this unsolved issue stayed with me and this pushed me to learn AWS

I checked the AWS site, watched videos and decided to solve the problem and get the certificate(s) too.

Timelines & preprations

For me, AWS was not as easy as Azure was (not sure why?). So, I decided to take at least 2 months for preparation but I ended up taking the exam after 3 months of preparation.

This time I was not learning only for the certificate. I was learning to solve problems. Hence, I focused equally on practical as much as on theory.

Preparation Material:

1) Book: I started with this book. I was enjoying it and was very confident about my skills.

2) AWS Mock Test: I took a mock test from the Pearson. After a few weeks, I gave my 1st mock and I failed. I learnt that the book was just covering 5% of the exam. I panicked and start searching for new resources.

3) Udemy AWS course: I bought this course and I started from 0 again. This time, every weekend I used to take a mock test, do hands-on, watching the AWS youtube channel. I started discussing the AWS with folks, and start reading the case study. This helped me in getting comfortable with AWS services. As there are a lot of services in AWS which will sound similar you need to do hands-on a lot to get comfortable with them.

4) Booking the exam date: I got a lot into preparation and I was not feeling that I am there. Also, with a job it was not easy to have dedicated time and stay focused. So, I decided to book the date and just go for it.

5) Before the exam: Before exam for 3 days dedicated for mock test.

Tips

Book the advance exam date. It will help you to stay focused.
Start from YouTube or free resources to understand the concepts.
Buy one resource and stick to it. Move to the next resource only when either you are not happy with the first one or you have finished.
Make notes and revise.
Hands-on - you will forget everything if you won't do hands-on. Play with AWS console, IAM, S3, Cloud watch, etc.
Follow the AWS official exam guide.

What's next for me?

I am already preparing for my next certificate. As well as, developing a project which will use the AWS services. I tweet about my learnings at Twitter. Do follow me