How to Become an AWS Certified Solution Architect?

Amazon is considered the market leader of the cloud service providers in the cloud computing space. It is the leader of public cloud adoption. Therefore, it offers nine professionals AWS certifications that cover both fundamental and advanced cloud computing topics.

As the number of Companies moving to the cloud is increasing, the core competency between organizations is also getting higher. This shift has amplified the demand for new skills set of designing, managing and deploying cloud computing.

Today, in this blog, we would discuss the Solution Architect Certification details along with a brief introduction to other AWS certifications. We would also go through the importance and requirements of AWS certifications.

Importance of AWS Certification

Even the enterprises adopt multi-cloud strategies, but the AWS cloud is still being used by several business organizations. It has more than one million customers, and it is the provider of choice for public cloud adoption. Around 64% of enterprises and 68% of SMBs are running their applications through AWS cloud.  AWS is continuously expanding, and it has an intelligent community spread all across the globe. This worldwide expansion of AWS services is proof that there is much more to come for this service and certification and you should also know how to become AWS certified professional. 

Popular AWS Certifications

Currently, nine certifications are offered by AWS among them one is foundational certification, three are associate-level certifications and two professional level certifications and three specialty level certifications. You must follow the complete learning path to get any of the available certifications. All available certifications are:

• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
• AWS Certified Developer- Associate
• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• AWS Certified Big Data – Specialty
• AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
• AWS Certified Security – Specialty

AWS Solution Architect Certification Exam Details

The certification exam is held at the testing centers. It consists of 60 questions (sometimes multiple responses), the time limit to solve questions is 80 minutes, and the minimum passing score for the exam is 65%. Most of the questions have only one answer. Exam questions are scenario based, and it has four major sections as given below:

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• Designing cost-efficient, highly available, scalable and fault-tolerant systems (60%)
• Implementation/Deployment (10%)
• Data Security (20%)
• Troubleshooting (10%)

Among all sections, the first section is compulsory. In this section, you will find several questions about building a modern cloud system. Here, you can find real-world problems examples that are to be solved by the students or candidates.

The second section of the exam is of implementation or deployment questions. Troubleshooting questions are the easiest ones as these questions are of basic facts or problems. You may be already familiar with such questions or basic concepts.

Data security questions are complicated, and you must have a good understanding of complete security processes. The process is described in AWS whitepapers. Even you can find the exam details on AWS website as well. 

Five Most Useful Resources for AWS Solution Architect Exam

Without proper study material and proper resources, you cannot prepare for the certification exam. Here these resources can help you in getting familiar with all basic and essential concepts that are required for the AWS exam. Most imperative and valuable resources are listed below. Well, with the help of these resources, you can get sufficient study material and exam preparation material. 1). Sample Questions

You can find several sample questions on the AWS website that can give you an idea of exam questions. You can also go through online blog posts for a list of questions.

2). Whitepapers

One of the most important whitepapers for the AWS solution architect exam is Overview of Security Processes. As data security is one of the most difficult sections of this exam, so you should prepare for this section properly. This whitepaper covers all important points of data security that are important for the exam and help you in solving the data security-based questions that are considered the most difficult among other questions.

3). FAQ

Amazon’s official preparation site has many FAQs highly worth for the exam. By reading and going through these questions, you can get the idea of exam questions. It will be an addition to your knowledge and give you the idea of the real exam.

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4). Documentation

You can find plenty of documentation to prepare for the AWS certification exam on the internet. You may already be familiar with many of them. But if you are not expert of any particular topic, then you can read the relevant documentation to get the exact idea. You can get the idea of study material and know the important topics in depth.

5). Practice Exam Question online

Well, there are plenty of sites where you can access and practice the exam questions. But most of the questions on these sites are similar, so you can see them for reference to evaluate your preparation. Moreover, some of the sites are also offering courses for AWS solution architect exam; you can enroll for any of the course to prepare for the exam.

An AWS Certified Solution Architect certified professional has to evaluate the requirement of the organization and make the recommendations of system architect to implement and deploy AWS applications. A high-degree, technical skill and designing experience is required for AWS based applications. As far as exam format is concerned then below-listed points are required for AWS Solution Architect professional exam and to become AWS solution architect:

• Two Year hands-on-experience of designing and deploying cloud architect for AWS and the experience of multi-application architectural design
• Cost: 300 USD
• Time: 170 Minutes
• Prerequisite: Status as AWS Certified Solution Architect - Associate

Below-listed areas are covered for this certification:

• Cost optimization strategy knowledge
• Knowledge of migration of complex application systems to the AWS
• Best practices for designing and architecting the AWS applications
• Knowledge of selecting the right service for an application.

Recertify to acquire the latest AWS skills

Every year Amazon releases new services, and therefore the number of these services are increasing tremendously. In the annual conference of AWS, Amazon has announced around 30 new services and products. Even in Q4 alone, AWS added 497 services and features, so now it had total 1,430 launches in 2017.

To demonstrate the skills for every newly launched service and product of AWS, candidates have to recertify themselves every two years. Either you may pass the professional level certification for recertification. The cost to recertify exam is 75 USD and the time duration for the exam is around 80 minutes.

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Any certification can add skills and show your specific knowledge at a certain point in time. Most of the experienced certified professionals do not wait for their certification to expiry; instead, they inculcate the good habit to remain obsessed with learning experiences. With the help of the following tips, you can keep your certification updated:

• Read a lot, just subscribe to the release note newsletter of AWS cloud academy blog post and know the latest release and updates
• Get hands-on experience of newly released services in AI and machine learning using the Hands-on-labs of cloud academy.
• Take AWS practice exams to test your skills regardless of whether you are going to sit for your exam or not.
• Try to build a team of candidates who are going to appear for the exam. By surrounding yourself with the like-minded and goal individuals, you can get better grow and practice for the exam.

Exam Days Tips

When you are done with your exam preparation, then the next step for you is to register at AWS training site. You should register through APN partner central. For the day of the exam, you should consider the following points to get good marks:

• Find or Set Your Fixed Study Time: Everyone has some fixed time for study, just study at your best time. You can also book your exam time slot in the same slot as well.
• Practice for time-management: As you will have limited time to attempt questions that may be of multiple choice and descriptive type questions, so prepare for the questions in the way so that you can attempt maximum questions in the allotted time.

Apart from this, you should book your slot only when you feel that you have done enough preparation for the exam. Moreover, you should focus equally on theory and practical questions. Do not think that only sample questions will be there; even you can find similar but somewhat different questions in the exam.

During your exam, if you do not feel confident for any question then leave or skip that question. In the first attempt of the question paper, leave difficult ones and try to attempt these questions in the second attempt. 

Final Words:

If you are planning to appear for the AWS professional level exam and become an AWS professional, then plan your exam preparation strategy well. With proper planning, you can not only clear the exam in a single attempt but also get your dream job with minimum efforts. If AWS solution architects have associate level certification, they should also try to maintain their certification up-to-date to the professional level.