Getting AWS Certified

Last week I earned my AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification! At first glance the AWS CSAA can appear daunting as it covers a wide breadth of knowledge. Fear not as there are lots of resources out there to help you learn and prepare for the exam. In this post I'll give a quick review of the material I used to pass the exam.

1. A Cloud Guru - "Hello Cloud Gurus" In an Austrailian accent will be stuck in your head for a while, along with alternate pronunciations of "routing" and "cache". ACG is a popular resource that was recommened to me by friend who hold an AWS CSAP credential and worked at Amazon. Look for the Associate level course on Udemy where it can reguarly be found at a discount with sitewide coupon codes, don't pay more than $20 for it.
2. Digital Cloud Training - Another Aussie to guide you through the AWS landscape. Digital Cloud Training offers some great free review content including cheat sheets and YouTube content. I also used their practice exams.
3. freeCodeCamp.org - Last but certainly not least is freeCodeCamp.org's 10-hour free (duh) video course on YouTube. I found this just a few days before my exam but I wish I had known about it earlier. In the YT comments you'll find point in time links broken down by each topic. The material is quick and concise and it's probably where I'd suggest people start out.

FYI there is a new version of the AWS CSAA exam out now, the CSA-02, which will soon become the only version. Due to COVID-19 they've extened the CSA-01 exam through June 2020. If you're preparing to exam please make sure the resources you're using to prepare align with the test version you plan on taking.

Good luck!