The Wombelix Post

Becoming a AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate is part of my On-boarding at AWS, but I would do it either way ;)

I passed the Exam today after around three weeks preparation, with a couple of hours studying per day. That I already took the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam in July, before it was even clear that I will become an Amazonian, helped a lot and saved quite some time. It's not mandatory to take the Cloud Practitioner first, but I highly recommend it.

I tried a lot of learning resources, actually too much, after some frustrating experiences with (expensive) online courses and a lot of wasted time I suggest: Keep it simple!

You don't need multiple courses and AWS SkillBuilder offers already a lot of good and free content, like Solutions Architect Learning Plan. I also found the eBook and Practice Exam from Tutorials Dojo very helpful, that's already enough learning material to pass the Exam.

Important: First the Trainings, then (or in parallel if you want) the eBook, then the practice exams. Don't start with the practice exams and don't do them over and over again, you would just start to memorize the answers but to pass the Exam it's important to understand the actual concept.

Last but not least, I played AWS Cloud Quest which for sure also had a positive impact in my understanding and Hands-On experience. I guess it's just hard to measure how large the influence was, but either way, it was fun and if you have the time, just start playing and enjoy it.