Is the AWS Big Data Certification Worth It?

Introduction

It does not matter whether it rains in your city or not, Cloud platforms are raining data heavily worldwide for years now. Cloud computing is not a new concept but it was introduced around two decades back and slowly gained popularity in terms of consumers and businesses.

Today, almost every IT organization is using cloud technologies and others are planning to switch over the cloud platform. There may be different cloud solutions introduced by different cloud providers. Here, we will learn all about the AWS cloud platform and how it is worth taking AWS Big Data certification for freshers and experienced professionals.

My journey as a Data Scientist

Henry is a data scientist and has been working with a leading IT company for the last two years. According to Henry, it was worth taking Big data certification training as he gained a solid idea of data science fundamentals from beginner to the advanced level. Also, he was able to communicate better with his co-workers that helped him to become a better and more flexible data scientist than usual.

Moving ahead, Let us know more about Henry’s career journey and how he gains benefits from AWS big data certifications.

Henry, I was working as a data scientist in an IT firm for the last 2 years and I always had the strong feeling that I don’t know much about the data infrastructure. So, a few months back, I decided to take AWS training online. A total of 100 days’ studies gave me more confidence in my domain and I was able to clear my certification exam in the first attempt.

Is it Worth taking AWS big data certification for data scientists?

For data scientists who are looking for benefits of certification and how it can shape their career, go through our blog and know all about AWS big data certifications. Before we move to the actual discussion, let us learn about the Data Science Hierarchy of Needs first.

Data Science Hierarchy of Needs

Learning the data science hierarchy of needs is critical for each data professional that helps to collaborate better with your team and stay more functional in your workplace. So, what does it mean exactly? Let us understand the concept with the help of a diagram below.

• In the first step, you must know how to collect data from multiple external sources in different formats.
• Also, you must be sure of the reliable data flow, what is the infrastructure, data pipelines, data extraction tools, data formats that may be structured or unstructured, and data storage tools.
• Once data is fetched and stored well, you should clean it using data transformation tools, and convert to a meaningful format.
• Now, club the data together based on logic or their needs. It is one of the most important steps that will make data handling much easier than your expectations.
• You should know how to optimize the data using simple algorithms, A/B testing, and various data analysis techniques.
• At the top of the hierarchy, there are AI/deep learning methods that can make your data more sensible to make informed business decisions.

The data science hierarchy gets complex as you move up the level. The AWS Big Data Certification helps you to boost your skills at the lower levels of hierarchy typically where DBA and data engineers step in.

How are AWS and Big Data platforms connected?

Before we start our discussion with AWS Big Data Certification benefits, let us know how AWS and Big Data are connected. According to IDC, big data analytics will reach $260 billion by 2022. Also, it is rapidly adopted by industries worldwide like the banking sector, education, government, or manufacturing industries, etc. The way how AWS is used for managing data in a huge amount validates the demand for AWS Big Data Certification worldwide.

AWS certified big data professionals help individuals in managing complex data through amazing AWS solutions. AWS helps in four ways, Data collection, data storage, Data processing, and data transformation. So, Aws Big data certification validates your ability to use various AWS solutions for managing big data in a robust manner. Now, when you are sure of how big data and AWS are connected, let us learn the benefits of getting AWS Big Data certified.

Read: AWS Tutorial - A Detailed Guide to Cloud Computing for Beginner

What are the Benefits of getting AWS certified?

Here are a few major benefits to consider before you get started with the training and earn a certification.

• Skills Validation: It validates your professional skills and makes your position stronger in the market. Anyone who has already cleared the AWS certification exam is considered a more suitable profile for getting hired.
• AWS Salaries: It is not easy to clear the certification exam in the first attempt but you should be skilled enough and practice a minimum 100 hours before you appear for the exam. This is the reason why AWS Big Data certified professionals are usually getting higher salaries when compared to non-certified professionals.
• Digital Badges: AWS offers digital badges to make your professional channel a bit stronger and more marketable. It will add more value to your profile and makes you one of the most demanding IT resources like never before.
• Costs: Generally, all AWS certification costs lie between $100 to $300 but you may avail a discount of up to 50 percent as per the offers applicable during that time period.
• Get hired Worldwide: It is not just the US who needs AWS professional but it is used worldwide. So, demand for AWS professionals can be felt everywhere where AWS cloud computing services are implemented. The IT world will welcome you with open arms if you are an AWS certified expert.
• Free Subscription: AWS certifications witness lower prices and have a dominant share in the market. AWS offers a one-year subscription for free and training materials are also less expensive when compared to other similar offerings.
• Variety of Job Options: When you start your career as a big data professional, you are free to choose your career path. You may get into AI/deep learning, if interested. You may get into server-based computing or learn about instance storage more. I am not sure of your career choice still I am excited to hear from you what you have chosen to grow your career immensely.
• Events: Further, AWS organizes special events where they invite all certified professionals who can interact together and grow their professional network. So, be a part of it and get more recognition among skilled professionals.
• Free Practice sessions: When you enroll for the AWS Big data certification exam, you will get free access to assignments and MCQs to strengthen your knowledge base.

Improve Communication with Team Members

The major difference you will notice after the certification is how you communicate with Data engineers and DBAs. Your conversations will become more professional and meaningful. You can give reasons for everything and add everything to the system documentation too.

My studies for AWS Big data certification gave me the sound idea of how to perform job functions accurately. It is not necessary that data scientists will play the same everywhere but different companies may have different job roles, still, you will stay more functional at the workplace than usual.

Moreover, you will learn about tools that are used by DBAs and data engineers regularly. In brief, learning will speed up your ability to learn things rapidly and how to step into different data scientist roles.

You will Earn Certification!

These days certification plays an important role in getting hired by top companies and increasing your salary package too, once you are certified. In simple words, certification is a true market of skills and knowledge proficiency. passing the AWS certification exam in the first attempt is not easy but you have to work harder to earn these credentials.

Here, JanBask Training, one of the premier IT training institutes can help you to prepare for the AWS big data certification in-depth and you can clear the exam in the first or second attempt. A certification is a definite proof of your skills that you are good at something.

AWS Certifications for Big Data Engineers

AWS certification exams are distinguished based on the difficulty level. AWS Big Data Certification is a special exam that generally requires two to five years of deep technical expertise in the industry segment. This training will validate your skills and learn to implement AWS services to derive values from the available data.

You can also perform complex data analysis and computations with ease while accommodating the best architecture practices too. Further, you will get a sound idea of big data tools and how to use them for quick data manipulation. Big data has become important today and industries also understand the significance of data analysis. They are looking for professionals who can perform expert data analysis in a budget that can further help in making sound business decisions.

Read: Amazon Redshift vs Amazon RDS vs DynamoDB vs SimpleDB

Study Tips for Learners

The first step is joining the AWS Training online and starting your study. Self-study is a must exercise for learners where you should give a minimum of 100 hours for the preparation of the AWS Big Data Certification exam. Make a schedule and study 2 hours daily either you can pick morning or evening times as per your schedule.

Getting up early in the morning was the best habit that I developed during my learning. When you wake up early in the morning, you have the time for everything that seems important to you. You may feel frustrated in the beginning but eventually, you start feeling great when everything seems aligned and completed on time. To speed up your learning curve, here are four best tips as shared by certified AWS professionals who have already passed the exam in the first attempt.

1). Take AWS Training Online

There are millions of courses built for AWS professionals and you should know about the AWS concept in depth before you appear for the exam. This objective is taken care of by training institutes where learning material is aligned to the certification exam and you don’t have to put much effort to become a certified AWS professional.

2). Review the Course Outline

Getting trained is not enough but you should understand the outline of course well. You should know what is included exactly and how much time you should spend on each of the topics. don’t forget to check a few sample papers to get the idea of the real certification exam paper. The objective of taking training is getting a desired set of skills before you apply them to the workplace.

3). Study Whitepapers, Blogs, Articles

Whitepapers include the researched content where you get industry-based knowledge to use in the workplace. Also, you may prefer blogs, articles, PPTs to learn basic fundamentals of the AWS.

4). Practice, Practice, and Practice

Don’t forget to attempt AWS practice sessions. There is a time limit and difficulty-level defined for each session. You can start with the easy level then jump to the advanced level later.

Massive Increase in Income as a Certified AWS Big Data Professional

It is not easy to clear the certification exam in the first attempt but you should be skilled enough and practice a minimum 100 hours before you appear for the exam. This is the reason why AWS Big Data certified professionals are usually getting higher salaries when compared to non-certified professionals.

Read: Top AWS Certifications And The Salary You Will Get

For example, if you are taking 100K before getting certified then your salary may increase up to $160K after certification. After 3 years of experience with a leading IT industry, salary hikes up to $250K per annum. So, your career graph improves like a super start and there is nothing to stop you. Based on your performance, there are just endless opportunities you can enjoy as a certified AWS Big Data Professional.

Here are a few high paid AWS skills according to Indeed.com. If you choose any one of them and highlight these skills in your resume then there are more chances of getting noticed by recruiters and getting hired quickly.

• DynamoDB $141,813
• Elastic MapReduce (EMR) $136,250
• Cloud Formation $132,308
• Elastic Cache $125,625
• CloudWatch $121,980
• Lambda $121,481
• Kinesis $121,429
• Key Management Service $117,297
• Elastic Beanstalk $114,219
• Redshift $113,950

Please add these stats in picture format otherwise it will show plagriasm issue.

When you start your career as a big data professional, you are free to choose your career path. You may get into AI/deep learning, if interested. You may get into server-based computing or learn about instance storage more.  I am not sure of your career choice still I am excited to hear from you what you have chosen to grow your career immensely.

Also, there is an expected huge demand for AWS professionals in 2020 and beyond. So, if you clear the certification in the first attempt then it can make your profile more marketable and stay demanding in the IT marketplace for many years to come. More than 60 percent of cloud computing jobs ask for AWS skills that increase demand for AWS professionals naturally.

Further, it is not just the US who needs AWS professional but it is used worldwide. So, demand for AWS professionals can be felt everywhere where AWS cloud computing services are implemented. You can quickly enter the IT world and grow immensely if you are an AWS certified expert. AWS certifications witness lower prices and have a dominant share in the market. AWS offers a one-year subscription for free and training materials are also less expensive when compared to other similar offerings.

What’s Next?

AWS rules the cloud computing world and gives a tough competition to leading companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, etc. If we talk about Microsoft Azure then it causes a lot of glitches that take many expenses to fix. Google cloud platform is cheap but the support system is not much stronger. IBM cloud is a dark horse in the race with a lot of offers and benefits. if you have a thirst for achievement and want to go abroad then you must opt for the AWS.

So, what are you waiting for? Get enrolled for the AWS big Data Certification exam and start your journey to become the next most sought after IT professionals in the town!