The AWS Certified Developer Associate certification is a popular certification offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for developers who want to demonstrate their expertise in developing and deploying applications on the AWS platform. The certification validates the developer’s ability to use AWS services and tools to develop, deploy, and debug cloud-based applications.
The AWS Certified Developer Associate Study Guide is a comprehensive guide designed to help developers prepare for the certification exam. The study guide covers all the topics and concepts that are tested on the exam and provides sample questions and practice exams to help developers evaluate their knowledge and readiness for the certification exam.
Skills Validated in the Exam:
The AWS Certified Developer Associate Examination equips you with the following skills and knowledge-
- Firstly, demonstrate an understanding of core AWS services, uses, and basic AWS architecture best practices
- Secondly, demonstrate proficiency in developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications using AWS
- Thirdly, Application of AWS services and understanding the cloud-native applications in coding
- Further, Knowledge in maintaining and debugging code modules on AWS
- Then, Understanding the AWS core services, its use, and having the best practice in AWS architecture
- Also, Using AWS security best practice which includes IAM roles in coding
Importance of the certification for developers
The AWS Certified Developer Associate certification is important for developers for several reasons:
- Career advancement: The certification demonstrates a developer’s expertise in developing and deploying applications on the AWS platform, which can lead to career advancement and higher salaries.
- Industry recognition: The certification is recognized by the industry as a standard for validating a developer’s skills and knowledge in AWS development.
- Increased credibility: The certification adds credibility to a developer’s resume and increases their chances of being hired by companies that use AWS.
- Improved skills and knowledge: Preparing for the certification exam requires developers to learn new skills and gain in-depth knowledge of AWS development, which can improve their ability to develop and deploy applications on the AWS platform.
AWS Certified Developer Associate Prerequisites
AWS Certified Developer Associate exam is for individuals who perform a Developer role. It is important to have knowledge and experience in the following to be eligible for the exam:
- To begin with, more than 1 years of hands-on experience developing and maintaining an AWS based application
- Also, knowledge of at least one high-level programming language
- Further, knowledge of core AWS services, uses, and basic AWS architecture best practices
- Moreover, ability to develop, deploy, and debug cloud-based applications using AWS
- Then, proficiency to use the AWS service APIs, AWS CLI, and SDKs to write applications
- Lastly, Ability to write code for serverless applications
Key Areas to Focus
Here are some key terms related to the AWS Certified Developer Associate certification:
- AWS SDK: AWS Software Development Kit (SDK) is a collection of tools and libraries that developers can use to create applications that interact with AWS services.
- AWS CLI: AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) is a command-line tool that developers can use to manage AWS services and automate tasks.
- AWS Lambda: AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service that allows developers to run code without managing servers. Developers can use Lambda to build event-driven applications and backend services.
- AWS Elastic Beanstalk: AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a fully managed service that makes it easy for developers to deploy and scale web applications and services.
- AWS CloudFormation: AWS CloudFormation is a service that allows developers to create and manage AWS resources using templates. Developers can use CloudFormation to automate infrastructure deployment and configuration.
- AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM): IAM is a service that enables developers to manage access to AWS resources securely. Developers can use IAM to create and manage users, groups, and permissions.
- AWS Simple Queue Service (SQS): SQS is a managed message queuing service that enables developers to decouple and scale microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications.
- AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS): ECS is a fully managed container orchestration service that allows developers to run Docker containers on AWS.
- AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR): ECR is a fully managed Docker container registry that makes it easy for developers to store, manage, and deploy Docker images on AWS.
- Amazon S3: Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is a highly scalable and secure object storage service that allows developers to store and retrieve data from anywhere on the web.
Study Guide For AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam
AWS Certified Developer Associate Study Guide will provide you with the roadmap to pass the exam with flying colors.
Step 1- Refer the AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam Objectives
Refer to the exam objectives as the first step. To learn more about the test course, go to the Official Guide. Furthermore, familiarising yourself with the course contents is necessary before commencing your preparations. The following 5 domains are covered in the AWS Certified Developer Associate course:
AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02) updated course outline.
Domain 1: Development with AWS Services
Task statement 1: Develop code for applications hosted on AWS.
Knowledge of:
- Architectural patterns (for example, event-driven, microservices, monolithic, choreography,
orchestration, fanout) (AWS Documentation: What is an Event-Driven Architecture?) - Idempotency (AWS Documentation: Ensuring idempotency)
- Differences between stateful and stateless concepts (AWS Documentation: Stateful or Stateless)
- Differences between tightly coupled and loosely coupled components (AWS Documentation: Loosely Coupled Scenarios, Tightly Coupled Scenarios)
- Fault-tolerant design patterns (for example, retries with exponential backoff and jitter, deadletter queues) (AWS Documentation: Building well-architected serverless applications, Timeouts, retries, and backoff with jitter)
- Differences between synchronous and asynchronous patterns (AWS Documentation: Synchronous and Asynchronous Express Workflows)
Skills in:
- Creating fault-tolerant and resilient applications in a programming language (for example, Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go) (AWS Documentation: What is AWS Lambda?, Resilience in AWS Lambda)
- Creating, extending, and maintaining APIs (for example, response/request transformations, enforcing validation rules, overriding status codes) (AWS Documentation: Use a mapping template to override an API’s request, Amazon API Gateway concepts)
- Writing and running unit tests in development environments (for example, using AWS Serverless Application Model [AWS SAM]) (AWS Documentation: Build and Test a Serverless Application, Getting started with AWS SAM)
- Writing code to use messaging services (AWS Documentation: Creating an example messaging application)
- Writing code that interacts with AWS services by using APIs and AWS SDKs
- Handling data streaming by using AWS services
Task Statement 2: Develop code for AWS Lambda.
Knowledge of:
- Event source mapping (AWS Documentation: Lambda event source mappings)
- Stateless applications
- Unit testing
- Event-driven architecture (AWS Documentation: What is an Event-Driven Architecture?)
- Scalability
- The access of private resources in VPCs from Lambda code (AWS Documentation: Configuring a Lambda function to access resources in a VPC)
Skills in:
- Configuring Lambda functions by defining environment variables and parameters (for example, memory, concurrency, timeout, runtime, handler, layers, extensions, triggers, destinations) (AWS Documentation: Configuring Lambda function options, Using AWS Lambda environment variables, Configuring AWS Lambda functions)
- Handling the event lifecycle and errors by using code (for example, Lambda Destinations, dead-letter queues) (AWS Documentation: Amazon SQS dead-letter queues, Using Lambda with Amazon SQS)
- Writing and running test code by using AWS services and tools (AWS Documentation: Developer Tools)
- Integrating Lambda functions with AWS services (AWS Documentation: Using AWS Lambda with other services)
- Tuning Lambda functions for optimal performance (AWS Documentation: Profiling functions with AWS Lambda Power Tuning)
Task Statement 3: Use data stores in application development.
Knowledge of:
- Relational and non-relational databases (AWS Documentation: What is NoSQL?, Relational (SQL) or NoSQL)
- Create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations (AWS Documentation: Performing Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations)
- High-cardinality partition keys for balanced partition access
- Cloud storage options (for example, file, object, databases) (AWS Documentation: Storage)
- Database consistency models (for example, strongly consistent, eventually consistent) (AWS Documentation: Read consistency, Consistency Model)
- Differences between query and scan operations (AWS Documentation: Best practices for querying and scanning data)
- Amazon DynamoDB keys and indexing
- Caching strategies (for example, write-through, read-through, lazy loading, TTL) (AWS Documentation: Caching strategies)
- Amazon S3 tiers and lifecycle management (AWS Documentation: Managing your storage lifecycle)
- Differences between ephemeral and persistent data storage patterns (AWS Documentation: Comparing your on-premises storage patterns with AWS Storage services)
Skills in:
- Serializing and deserializing data to provide persistence to a data store
- Using, managing, and maintaining data stores
- Managing data lifecycles
- Using data caching services
Domain 2: Security
Task Statement 1: Implement authentication and/or authorization for applications and AWS services.
Knowledge of:
- Identity federation (for example, Security Assertion Markup Language [SAML], OpenID Connect [OIDC], Amazon Cognito) (AWS Documentation: SAML identity providers (identity pools))
- Bearer tokens (for example, JSON Web Token [JWT], OAuth, AWS Security Token Service [AWS STS]) (AWS Documentation: Using bearer tokens)
- The comparison of user pools and identity pools in Amazon Cognito (AWS Documentation: What is Amazon Cognito?)
- Resource-based policies, service policies, and principal policies (AWS Documentation: Identity-based policies and resource-based policies, How IAM roles differ from resource-based policies)
- Role-based access control (RBAC) (AWS Documentation: Role-based access control)
- Application authorization that uses ACLs (AWS Documentation: Access control list (ACL) overview)
- The principle of least privilege (AWS Documentation: Security best practices in IAM)
- Differences between AWS managed policies and customer-managed policies (AWS Documentation: Managed policies and inline policies)
- Identity and access management (IAM) (AWS Documentation: What is IAM?)
Skills in:
- Using an identity provider to implement federated access (for example, Amazon Cognito, AWS Identity and Access Management [IAM])
- Securing applications by using bearer tokens
- Configuring programmatic access to AWS
- Making authenticated calls to AWS services
- Assuming an IAM role
- Defining permissions for principals
Task Statement 2: Implement encryption by using AWS services.
Knowledge of:
- Encryption at rest and in transit (AWS Documentation: Encrypting Data-at-Rest and -in-Transit)
- Certificate management (for example, AWS Certificate Manager Private Certificate Authority) (AWS Documentation: What is AWS Private CA?, Requesting a private PKI certificate)
- Key protection (for example, key rotation) (AWS Documentation: Rotating AWS KMS keys)
- Differences between client-side encryption and server-side encryption (AWS Documentation: Client-side and server-side encryption)
- Differences between AWS managed and customer-managed AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) keys (AWS Documentation: AWS KMS concepts, Basic concepts)
Skills in:
- Using encryption keys to encrypt or decrypt data
- Generating certificates and SSH keys for development purposes
- Using encryption across account boundaries
- Enabling and disabling key rotation
Task Statement 3: Manage sensitive data in application code.
Knowledge of:
- Data classification (for example, personally identifiable information [PII], protected health information [PHI]) (AWS Documentation: Personally identifiable information (PII))
- Environment variables (AWS Documentation: Environment variables to configure the AWS CLI)
- Secrets management (for example, AWS Secrets Manager, AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store) (AWS Documentation: Referencing AWS Secrets Manager secrets from Parameter Store parameters, AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store)
- Secure credential handling (AWS Documentation: AWS security credentials)
Skills in:
- Encrypting environment variables that contain sensitive data
- Using secret management services to secure sensitive data
- Sanitizing sensitive data
Domain 3: Deployment
Task Statement 1: Prepare application artifacts to be deployed to AWS.
Knowledge of:
- Ways to access application configuration data (for example, AWS AppConfig, Secrets Manager, Parameter Store) (AWS Documentation: AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store)
- Lambda deployment packaging, layers, and configuration options (AWS Documentation: Lambda deployment packages, Creating and sharing Lambda layers)
- Git-based version control tools (for example, Git, AWS CodeCommit) (AWS Documentation: What is AWS CodeCommit?, Getting started with Git and AWS CodeCommit)
- Container images
Skills in:
- Managing the dependencies of the code module (for example, environment variables, configuration files, container images) within the package
- Organizing files and a directory structure for application deployment
- Using code repositories in deployment environments
- Applying application requirements for resources (for example, memory, cores)
Task Statement 2: Test applications in development environments.
Knowledge of:
- Features in AWS services that perform application deployment (AWS Documentation: AWS Deployment Services, Overview of Deployment Options on AWS)
- Integration testing that uses mock endpoints (AWS Documentation: Set up mock integrations in API Gateway)
- Lambda versions and aliases (AWS Documentation: Lambda function aliases)
Skills in:
- Testing deployed code by using AWS services and tools
- Performing mock integration for APIs and resolving integration dependencies
- Testing applications by using development endpoints (for example, configuring stages in Amazon API Gateway)
- Deploying application stack updates to existing environments (for example, deploying an AWS SAM template to a different staging environment)
Task Statement 3: Automate deployment testing.
Knowledge of:
- API Gateway stages (AWS Documentation: Setting up a stage using the API Gateway console)
- Branches and actions in the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflow (AWS Documentation: CI/CD on AWS)
- Automated software testing (for example, unit testing, mock testing) (AWS Documentation: Integrating with automated tests)
Skills in:
- Creating application test events (for example, JSON payloads for testing Lambda, API Gateway, AWS SAM resources)
- Deploying API resources to various environments
- Creating application environments that use approved versions for integration testing (for example, Lambda aliases, container image tags, AWS Amplify branches, AWS Copilot environments)
- Implementing and deploying infrastructure as code (IaC) templates (for example, AWS SAM templates, AWS CloudFormation templates)
- Managing environments in individual AWS services (for example, differentiating between development, test, and production in API Gateway)
Task Statement 4: Deploy code by using AWS CI/CD services.
Knowledge of:
- Git-based version control tools (for example, Git, AWS CodeCommit) (AWS Documentation: What is AWS CodeCommit?, Getting started with Git and AWS CodeCommit)
- Manual and automated approvals in AWS CodePipeline (AWS Documentation: Manage approval actions in CodePipeline)
- Access application configurations from AWS AppConfig and Secrets Manager (AWS Documentation: AWS AppConfig integration with AWS Secrets Manager)
- CI/CD workflows that use AWS services (AWS Documentation: CI/CD on AWS)
- Application deployment that uses AWS services and tools (for example, CloudFormation, AWS Cloud Development Kit [AWS CDK], AWS SAM, AWS CodeArtifact, Copilot, Amplify, Lambda)
- Lambda deployment packaging options (AWS Documentation: Lambda deployment packages)
- API Gateway stages and custom domains (AWS Documentation: Setting up custom domain names for REST APIs)
- Deployment strategies (for example, canary, blue/green, rolling) (AWS Documentation: Rolling Deployments)
Skills in:
- Updating existing IaC templates (for example, AWS SAM templates, CloudFormation templates)
- Managing application environments by using AWS services
- Deploying an application version by using deployment strategies
- Committing code to a repository to invoke build, test, and deployment actions
- Using orchestrated workflows to deploy code to different environments
- Performing application rollbacks by using existing deployment strategies
- Using labels and branches for version and release management
- Using existing runtime configurations to create dynamic deployments (for example, using staging variables from API Gateway in Lambda functions)
Domain 4: Troubleshooting and Optimization
Task Statement 1: Assist in a root cause analysis.
Knowledge of:
- Logging and monitoring systems (AWS Documentation: Designing and implementing logging and monitoring)
- Languages for log queries (for example, Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights) (AWS Documentation: CloudWatch Logs Insights query syntax, Analyzing log data with CloudWatch Logs Insights)
- Data visualizations (AWS Documentation: Data visualization)
- Code analysis tools
- Common HTTP error codes (AWS Documentation: Supported status codes for custom response, Common Errors)
- Common exceptions generated by SDKs (AWS Documentation: Exception handling for the AWS SDK for Java 2.x)
- Service maps in AWS X-Ray (AWS Documentation: Using the service map)
Skills in:
- Debugging code to identify defects
- Interpreting application metrics, logs, and traces
- Querying logs to find relevant data
- Implementing custom metrics (for example, CloudWatch embedded metric format [EMF])
- Reviewing application health by using dashboards and insights
- Troubleshooting deployment failures by using service output logs
Task Statement 2: Instrument code for observability.
Knowledge of:
- Distributed tracing (AWS Documentation: AWS X-Ray, What is AWS X-Ray?)
- Differences between logging, monitoring, and observability (AWS Documentation: Monitoring and observability)
- Structured logging (AWS Documentation: Centralized and structured logging)
- Application metrics (for example, custom, embedded, built-in) (AWS Documentation: Publishing custom metrics)
Skills in:
- Implementing an effective logging strategy to record application behavior and state
- Implementing code that emits custom metrics
- Adding annotations for tracing services
- Implementing notification alerts for specific actions (for example, notifications about quota
limits or deployment completions) - Implementing tracing by using AWS services and tools
Task Statement 3: Optimize applications by using AWS services and features.
Knowledge of:
- Caching
- Concurrency (AWS Documentation: Configuring reserved concurrency)
- Messaging services (for example, Amazon Simple Queue Service [Amazon SQS], Amazon Simple Notification Service [Amazon SNS]) (AWS Documentation: Fanout to Amazon SQS queues, Sending Amazon SNS messages to an Amazon SQS queue in a different account, What is Amazon Simple Queue Service?)
Skills in:
- Profiling application performance
- Determining minimum memory and compute power for an application
- Using subscription filter policies to optimize messaging
- Caching content based on request headers
Step 2- AWS Learning Path
– AWS Technical Essentials
The AWS Technical Essentials beginning course will teach you about AWS’s products, services, and common solutions. Furthermore, you will acquire practical experience with the principles of recognizing AWS services. This will allow you to make more educated judgments regarding IT solutions based on the needs of your company.
Key AWS Services Included:
- Firstly, Foundational services: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
- Then, Database services: Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
- Lastly, Management services: AWS Auto Scaling, Amazon CloudWatch, Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), and AWS Trusted Advisor
– Developing on AWS
Developing on AWS is a three-day course created by AWS for those interested in taking the AWS Developer Associate test. This course is designed to teach applicants how to use the AWS SDK to create safe and scalable cloud apps.
This course will teach you how to communicate with Amazon Web Services (AWS) using code. The course also covers fundamental AWS ideas, best practices, and troubleshooting techniques.
– Advanced Developing on AWS
AWS specialists also built the Advanced Developing on AWS course to familiarise applicants with the real-world situation of converting an on-premises monolithic application into a serverless microservices architecture. This three-day advanced training covers subjects such as architecting for a cloud-native environment, deconstructing on-premises legacy apps, and repackaging them into cloud-based, cloud-native architectures. This course also teaches you how to use the Twelve-Factor Application methodology’s concepts.
– Exam Readiness
AWS offers Exam Readiness for the AWS Certified Developer Associate Training in three different formats –
- Firstly, Classroom training – It is a physical or virtual classroom to train candidates with an AWS-accredited instructor
- Secondly, Free digital training – It is an online training platform for candidates to schedule their sessions at their convenience.
- Also, Free webinars – These webinars include presentations from AWS-accredited instructors. This is followed by a live Q&A session.
Step 3: Study AWS services and concepts
The exam covers a broad range of AWS services and concepts, so it’s important to have a strong understanding of these areas. AWS documentation, whitepapers, and online training courses are excellent resources for learning about AWS services and concepts.
Step 4: Develop hands-on experience
Developing hands-on experience with AWS services can help you gain a deeper understanding of how they work and how to use them effectively. Consider setting up a personal AWS account or working on projects that involve AWS services.
Step 5: Join an AWS community
Joining an AWS community, such as the AWS Developer Forums, can provide opportunities for networking, learning from others, and getting answers to questions.
Step 6: Refer AWS Recommended Books
AWS recommends some verified books for the ones seeking to take its certification exam. These books are designed to help you grasp a firm proficiency in AWS administration.
- Firstly, All in One AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam Guide
- Secondly, AWS for Developers for dummies
- Also, AWS Development Essentials
- Then, AWS Certified Developer Associate Guide: An Effective Guide for Developers
Step 7: AWS Whitepapers
AWS team offers several whitepapers, in order to enhance your technical knowledge. These whitepapers are produced exclusively by the AWS team, analysts, and other AWS partners.
Here is a list of some highly recommended AWS Certified Developer Associate White Papers
- Firstly, Architecting for the Cloud: AWS Best Practices
- Secondly, AWS Security Best Practices
- Thirdly, Amazon Web Services: Overview of Security Processes
- Subsequently, AWS Well-Architected Framework
- Moreover, Development and Test on AWS
- Further, Backup and Recovery Approaches Using AWS
- Also, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Connectivity Options
Step 8: Solve Practice Tests
All you need to check yourself is AWS Certified Developer Associate Practice Exams. Practice papers are beneficial in a variety of ways. The more correct answers you get on a practice exam, the more secure you’ll feel about the real thing. You’ll also know how much time and effort you’ll need to devote to each section of the question paper. Your brain will train to be at its highest potential for the duration of the exam. All of these variables can have a significant impact. Remember that your grade is based on how much you wrote, not how much you know. Familiarise with the real exam environment by preparing through Practice Tests!
Step 9: Time management
The exam has a time limit of 130 minutes, so it’s important to manage your time effectively. During the exam, you can flag questions for review and return to them later if time permits.
Step 10: Relax and be confident
Finally, try to relax and be confident on exam day. You have prepared and studied hard, and you are ready to demonstrate your knowledge and skills. Taking deep breaths and remaining calm can help you focus and perform your best on the exam.
Final Words
AWS is continuously expanding and improving its services, which means that AWS certifications will continue to be in demand in the future. As more companies move their operations to the cloud, the need for developers with AWS certifications is expected to increase. However, passing the AWS Certified Developer Associate certification is important for developers for several reasons:
- Validating skills and knowledge: Passing the certification exam validates your skills and knowledge in AWS development, demonstrating your ability to work with AWS services and build applications using AWS technologies.
- Career advancement: The certification can help you stand out in the job market and increase your chances of getting hired or promoted to a higher position. AWS certifications are highly valued by employers, and having a certification can give you a competitive advantage.
- Salary increase: According to the AWS Certified Salary Survey, certified developers earn higher salaries compared to non-certified developers. In addition, obtaining the certification can open up new job opportunities with higher salary ranges.
- Professional credibility: The certification demonstrates your commitment to professional development and your willingness to invest time and effort into learning and mastering AWS technologies. This can enhance your professional credibility and reputation among your peers and employers.
- Access to AWS resources: As an AWS Certified Developer Associate, you gain access to exclusive AWS resources, such as online training, webinars, and events. This can help you stay up-to-date with the latest AWS technologies and enhance your skills and knowledge.
