Dennis Riddick · Follow
5 min read · Jul 3, 2023
--
This was my first AWS Exam attempt. I studied for the most difficult exam first that way the remainder of the exams would be overlapped content as the AWS Pro includes pretty much all the Services. Top down approach.
This exam can absolutely land you a job opportunity with a VAR/MSP who is a partner with AWS. They are always looking to expand their portfolio and by becoming AWS Certified Professional will pave the way. Yes you will need experience but you can also leverage your way in with just the exam and preparation if you document your labs and exam preparation into Github where you can showcase your skills.
There are no labs, but the exam is multiple choice based with 75 questions that have to be done in 3 hours.
Did I pass? I failed the first time.
When you Fail don’t give up, its part of the process !! . I passed the SAA-C03 3 days later and got my confidence back up so I rescheduled the SAP-C02 for Jan 18th. I also passed the Cloud Practitioner on Dec 27, 2022. Which also helped with just a exam refresher.
I was able to pass #AWS #Amazon #SAPC02
Failed on Dec 19. Came back passed 30 days later.
#AWS #SAPC02 #SA #Professional
Neal Davis — Best Course out there.
SAP-C02 AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Professional — Fail Dec 19, 2022
Why Cloud Certifications:
In today’s highly competitive IT job market I recommend breaking into Tech utilizing Cloud certifications, they have become an essential tool for demonstrating one’s abilities and knowledge to potential employers. As cloud technology continues to evolve rapidly, with new services being offered every day, certifications can help professionals keep up with the latest trends and best industry practices. MSP’s have to attain a certain headcount of Cloud Certified individuals to maintain Partner status and will hire you just based on Cloud Certifications, then once you are on-board you will be able to work on projects to attain even more experience. Not all Tech Certifications will get you in the door w no experience but certain Cloud Certifications can possibly get you in the door.
o Udemy AWS Solution Architect Professional Course by Stephane Maarek
o Acloud Guru Courses (Subscription Based, Provides sandbox environment)
o AWS Solution Architect Professional Course by Adrian Cantrill
o WhizLabs (Hand on Labs, Free Sandbox and Lab environment)
Notes/Tips and Tricks:
Consider opening an AWS account, taking advantage of AWS free-tier services in your learning process, and work on designing and implementing prototypes like
- Set up a Multi-Account AWS environment, apply governance (Guardrails) to the child accounts and OUs, and enroll new accounts.
- Set up an n-tier web application and play with services like ELBs, auto-scaling, ec2 instances, route53, CloudFront, WAF, and more.
- Build serverless architecture using AWS Lambda, API Gateway, step functions, SQS, SNS, Event Bridge, and more.
- Set up a multi-account multi-vpc environment, including transit gw’s, VPN connection, gateway endpoints, and more.
Some of the tips I would recommend are:
- Use practices test and determine what your not good at then I recommend Whizlabs (Hands on Labs) to perform these services hands on and document each step in apps such as Notation or One Note. (LAB LAB LAB)
- Some questions can be long and span multiple paragraphs so learn to cipher out the key points and rule out any question you know for a fact don’t fit the scenario.
- I would spend 20% of watching a course and 80% of doing practice tests and Labs.
I found this out after the exam but there is a Course Readiness: Virtual Classrooms. Great resource:
Thanks for reading this article on my journey to AWS Professional Architect Exam. If you find these courses useful in your AWS Solution Architect -Professional certification preparation then please share with your family and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop me a note here or LinkedIN.
My name is Dennis Riddick and I have 30+ Years in IT dating back to 1997 starting at Lucent Technology for IBM. I have worked on some large projects at IBM, Roc Nation Sports, Sony Music, JP Morgan Chase, Dell Computers, EMC Technology and many more..as a Solutions Engineer, Migrations, Implementation and Pre-Sales Engineer. I’m currently a VP Of Cloud Engineering with a AWS/AZURE Solutions Partner and would love to provide my tips and tricks of fast tracking individuals into the Tech Industry.
