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I wanted to ask the same thing. I am currently evaluating if diving into some AWS certification and wondering what would be best / more useful ( Solutions Architect or Developer Associate ).
How much effort is it required - considering a full time job?
I've been doing these posts for about four months but studying very, very slowly towards the Certification. I'm balancing a bit of study, a full-time job and have been posting here once a week at least for the last year.
I could certainly have gone faster with the study if I wasn't trying to put effort into writing blog posts too. I've got posts on Cloudwatch, CloudFront, Lambda and Dynamo lined up next in between my SQL ones. By then I'm hoping to feel prepared for the exam. Very slow progress indeed :)
A colleague of mine crammed for the Architect Associate exam and passed with high marks after studying for only a couple of months. It just depends on your experience on the tools and if you want to cram it all in. Every blog post I've read has said 120 hours or three months of study is recommended. I've really only had exposure to S3 and Aurora in my day job so have had a steep learning curve as I'm not trained in IT either. Before I headed off on this journey I didn't know much about networking in the conventional sense, let alone the way AWS do things.
As far as Architect v Developer goes, I think it's purely because the content appeals to me more.
For an overview of what is covered in each I really like the Cloud Academy pages:
Trouble maker and Problem solver ⚙️🔧
Loves simplicity, hates bullshit 💩.
Productivity obsessed, avid learner 🖥🚀
Sport and outdoor freak 🧗⛰
Metalhead 🎸🤘 Father of 2 👨👩👦👦
Opinions are my own
thanks Helen. it's really amazing what you are doing. working full time, AWS certification and blog posts every week ( i am been writing a blogpost each week since february and it requires a lot of effort and time..). Since I imagine you also have a private life, I am wondering how many hours you sleep? :-)
right now i am pretty busy with the blog and with public speaking training + always a little bit of German + i recently bought a guitar and i would like to learn how to play.. I have definitely too many interests and goals... maybe over the winter or beginning next year i will jump onto the Solutions Architect.. will see .
I set myself a goal to publish a quality post a week for a year, and while it's been incredibly rewarding I could do with some time to put into the Certification study. I'll be dropping back to once a fortnight after August to get this done by the end of the year. Hopefully.
That's awesome that you are committing to language studies and public speaking training as well. Sometimes I find it hard to narrow down what I want to learn about because it all looks so interesting. About a month ago I realised just how many articles, udemy courses, and videos on were on my to-do list. I've deleted or archived all of them to get rid of the mental pressure that I have all this work to do and no time to do it all.
Trouble maker and Problem solver ⚙️🔧
Loves simplicity, hates bullshit 💩.
Productivity obsessed, avid learner 🖥🚀
Sport and outdoor freak 🧗⛰
Metalhead 🎸🤘 Father of 2 👨👩👦👦
Opinions are my own
yeah well... I moved from Milan (Italy) to Hamburg (Germany) 6 years ago and learning the language is a must - even though I work in a fully English speaking company (actually that is exactly the problem with learning German - I speak English at work, and Italian at home, so exposure to German is very limited) . I try to read and watch as much content as I can in German - not really "deliberate practice" so far.
Yep. Everythings looks so interesting. ( i wrote about it here). At some point, you have to choose and prioritise.
Keep up with it! :-)
Hi Helen,
It looks like it is 4 months in your study journey.
I suppose you are studying part-time. How much time does it take to feel confident for the certification?
Why did you pick the developer one and not the architect which I suppose ( and correct me if I am wrong) is a superset in terms of what you learn?
I wanted to ask the same thing. I am currently evaluating if diving into some AWS certification and wondering what would be best / more useful ( Solutions Architect or Developer Associate ).
How much effort is it required - considering a full time job?
Besides this. Another amazing post. Thanx!
Hi Periklis and Davide
Thank you for the nice comments :)
I've been doing these posts for about four months but studying very, very slowly towards the Certification. I'm balancing a bit of study, a full-time job and have been posting here once a week at least for the last year.
I could certainly have gone faster with the study if I wasn't trying to put effort into writing blog posts too. I've got posts on Cloudwatch, CloudFront, Lambda and Dynamo lined up next in between my SQL ones. By then I'm hoping to feel prepared for the exam. Very slow progress indeed :)
A colleague of mine crammed for the Architect Associate exam and passed with high marks after studying for only a couple of months. It just depends on your experience on the tools and if you want to cram it all in. Every blog post I've read has said 120 hours or three months of study is recommended. I've really only had exposure to S3 and Aurora in my day job so have had a steep learning curve as I'm not trained in IT either. Before I headed off on this journey I didn't know much about networking in the conventional sense, let alone the way AWS do things.
As far as Architect v Developer goes, I think it's purely because the content appeals to me more.
For an overview of what is covered in each I really like the Cloud Academy pages:
cloudacademy.com/learning-paths/de...
cloudacademy.com/learning-paths/cl...
Hope that helps!
thank for your prompt reply Helen. Looks like I will need both eventually.
thanks Helen. it's really amazing what you are doing. working full time, AWS certification and blog posts every week ( i am been writing a blogpost each week since february and it requires a lot of effort and time..). Since I imagine you also have a private life, I am wondering how many hours you sleep? :-)
right now i am pretty busy with the blog and with public speaking training + always a little bit of German + i recently bought a guitar and i would like to learn how to play.. I have definitely too many interests and goals... maybe over the winter or beginning next year i will jump onto the Solutions Architect.. will see .
Sleep is definitely lacking at times :)
I set myself a goal to publish a quality post a week for a year, and while it's been incredibly rewarding I could do with some time to put into the Certification study. I'll be dropping back to once a fortnight after August to get this done by the end of the year. Hopefully.
That's awesome that you are committing to language studies and public speaking training as well. Sometimes I find it hard to narrow down what I want to learn about because it all looks so interesting. About a month ago I realised just how many articles, udemy courses, and videos on were on my to-do list. I've deleted or archived all of them to get rid of the mental pressure that I have all this work to do and no time to do it all.
yeah well... I moved from Milan (Italy) to Hamburg (Germany) 6 years ago and learning the language is a must - even though I work in a fully English speaking company (actually that is exactly the problem with learning German - I speak English at work, and Italian at home, so exposure to German is very limited) . I try to read and watch as much content as I can in German - not really "deliberate practice" so far.
Yep. Everythings looks so interesting. ( i wrote about it here). At some point, you have to choose and prioritise.
Keep up with it! :-)
Oh wow ... we're on exactly the same page. Great post!