An AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate is someone who has been certified by Amazon in the creation, design, and deployment of secure and dependable applications in AWS. Someone with the title of AWS Solutions Architect – Associate can be trusted to find the right tools for the job – they can be trusted to get to the bottom of a tricky technical implementation problem and make it work. Earning the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate certification validates your AWS expertise.
Let us know if the AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certificate is worthy!
Before we move on to access the worth of this certification, allow us to brief a little more about what the certification is all about.
About AWS Solutions Architect Associate
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam is intended for candidates who have the ability and skills to perform the role of solutions architect. They must have at least one year of hands-on experience on AWS designing available, cost-effective, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems. This exam validates candidates’ ability to architect and deploy secure and robust applications on AWS technologies. Furthermore, it increases your earning potential because the AWS Certified Solutions Architect’s Associate salary is $118,266 on average per year.
Recommended AWS Knowledge
Before you proceed to preparing for the exam you must know about the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate prerequisites :
- Candidates must have at least one year of hands-on experience on AWS designing available, cost-effective, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems.
- They should have practical experience with AWS compute, networking, storage, and database services, as well as AWS deployment and management services.
- Candidates must be capable of identifying and defining technical requirements for an AWS-based application.
- They must be able to determine which AWS services meet a specific technical requirement.
- They should be familiar with recommended best practises for developing secure and dependable applications on the AWS platform.
- Candidates must also understand the fundamental architectural principles of building in the AWS Cloud. This includes understanding and knowledge of AWS global infrastructure and network technologies.
Exam Format
The questions on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam are in multiple-choice format. Furthermore, this exam consists of 65 questions that must be answered in 130 minutes. The exam is offered in English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. Furthermore, the following types of questions can be understood:
- Multiple-choice questions require you to choose one correct option from a list of four.
- Multiple-choice questions: There may be multiple correct answers from the options provided.
Furthermore, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam costs $150 USD. To pass the exam, you must obtain a score of 70-75 percent. This exam is valid for three years.
To know more about the exam you can visit the online tutorials!
Course Outline
Domain 1: Design Resilient Architectures
1.1 Designing a multi-tier architecture solution (AWS Documentation: AWS Serverless Multi-Tier Architectures)
1.2 Designing highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures (AWS Documentation: Fault-Tolerant Components on AWS)
1.3 Designing decoupling mechanisms using AWS services (AWS Documentation: Using Amazon SQS Dead-Letter Queues to Control Message Failure)
1.4 Choosing appropriate resilient storage (AWS Documentation: Building Mission-Critical Financial Services Applications on AWS)
Domain 2: Design High-Performing Architectures
2.1 Identifying elastic and scalable compute solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: Compute Services, Elasticity)
2.2 Selecting high-performing and scalable storage solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: High-Performance Computing Storage Options, Developing High-Performance, Scalable, Cost-Effective Storage Solutions)
2.3 Selecting high-performing networking solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: Networking Solutions, Configuring Networking Solution)
2.4 Choosing high-performing database solutions for a workload (AWS Documentation: Selecting database solution, Best storage practices for running production workloads on hosted databases, Right Data Store for Your Workload)
Domain 3: Design Secure Applications and Architectures
3.1 Designing secure access to AWS resources (AWS Documentation: Best practices to help secure your AWS resources)
3.2 Designing secure application tiers (AWS Documentation: Building three-tier architectures, AWS Serverless Multi-Tier Architectures)
3.3 Selecting appropriate data security options (AWS Documentation: Best practices for securing sensitive data in AWS data stores, Overview of Security Processes)
Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures
4.1 Identifying cost-effective storage solutions (AWS Documentation: AWS Cost Optimization, Cost Optimization Pillar)
4.2 Identifying cost-effective compute and database services (AWS Documentation: Reducing database cost and improving availability)
4.3 Designing cost-optimized network architectures(AWS Documentation: Cost Optimization, Cost Optimization Pillar)
Now that we know about the exam, let us delve into the main point of the article –
Is the AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certificate worth it?
It’s a safe bet that the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate certification is well worth the time; effort, and money required to obtain it. While it may not be ideal for highly experienced and specialized.
Because the certification is essentially a test of your knowledge of everything AWS, studying and preparing for the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate exam – SAA-C02 – is a great way to identify which areas of AWS you’re familiar with and which areas you may be lacking in.
Another obvious reason people obtain certifications is to demonstrate or validate their expertise in a particular field. The AWS Solutions Architect – Associate certification is an industry-standard for confirming someone’s proficiency as an AWS operator. The exam covers every aspect of planning and implementing AWS services for a wide range of problems. With the certification, you’ll be recognized as a dependable AWS expert.
IT professionals, it is an excellent certification for architects or sysadmins who work or could work with AWS on a daily basis. If you already solve problems and implement solutions using AWS Cloud, this is one of the best certs for ensuring – and clearly stating – that you understand every aspect of AWS’ many tools and services.
Let us now go through the resources which can help you ace the exam –
Official AWS Training
The Official AWS Training will assist you in passing your AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification tests on the first attempt. Furthermore, there are numerous options for studying for your AWS CSS Exam on your own time and at your own pace. AWS also provides a plethora of preparation and training materials on its website. The courses there will help you prepare for the exam by researching the domains and planning your study accordingly.
AWS Whitepapers
AWS whitepapers are an excellent source of information on fundamental topics such as security, architecture, and economics. Some of the most highly recommended AWS Whitepapers are as follows:
- Firstly, Architecting for the Cloud: AWS Best Practices whitepaper, Feb 2016.
- Secondly, AWS Well-Architected web page (various whitepapers linked)
Online Tutorial
The AWS Solutions Architect Associate online tutorials are another important learning resource for passing the exam and gaining expertise. As an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, these tutorials provide a well-elaborated study guide that will assist you in gaining hands-on proficiency in applying the concepts of the AWS Security platform in practical scenarios.
Practice Tests
Using AWS Solutions Architect Exam Papers to practice will help you understand where you need to improve in your preparation. Practice papers, on the other hand, can come from a variety of sources. So, remember that the more you put yourself to the test, the better you’ll become.
Conclusion
The AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam assesses an aspirant’s knowledge of cloud computing, design, and networking on the AWS platform, as well as identifying its technicalities and balance. It’s worth it because of the market value and demand. So, what are you holding out for? Begin practicing right away.
