Forging Gold: The Journey to the AWS Golden Jacket

Every great journey begins with a single step, or in my case, my first AWS certification. What started as a personal goal to understand cloud computing turned into a transformative journey that led to achievement that few have secured: the AWS Golden Jacket.This prestigious recognition can be achieved when you earn every single AWS certification.

With all certifications under my belt and a Golden Jacket in my closet, I look back and see a journey of resilience, learning, and support. I want to share with you the steps I've taken and my experiences along the way. Maybe you'll find something in my journey that can help you on your own path and achieve that same dream

These were the certifications that I have achieved, AWS has announced some updates, please refer to AWS certifications website for updated information about available certificate

Start with the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Embarking on the journey to earn the AWS Golden Jacket—is a formidable endeavor. However, the rewards are substantial. According to a report by Pluralsight, more than 80% of individuals experienced a salary increase as a direct result of cloud certification.

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner provides the ideal starting point for anyone pursuing AWS certifications. It delivers a comprehensive overview of cloud computing concepts, AWS core services, security, architecture, pricing, and support. This foundational certification validates your general understanding of the AWS platform.

AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam Guide

Practical Tip: Don’t just rely on theory. Spin up services in the AWS Management Console, experiment with EC2 instances, and understand S3 bucket permissions. The more hands-on you are, the faster you’ll grasp the concepts.

Ready to earn the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner or the new AWS Certified AI Practitioner? Register for your exam using the code AWSRetake2025 between October 9, 2024 and February 15, 2025 to be eligible for a free exam retake, if you need it.

Building Core Competencies with Associate Certifications

With the Cloud Practitioner certification in hand, I moved on to the Associate-level certifications: Solutions Architect, Developer, and SysOps Administrator. This was where the real challenge began. Each step required more effort, more dedication, and a deeper understanding of AWS services and architectures.?

When deciding which Associate certificate to start with, it truly depends on your current role and where your interests lie.?

• Solutions Architect Associate: Ideal for those in design, architecture, or pre-sales roles, offering broad knowledge applicable across various domains.
• Developer Associate: Perfect for those with a coding background, focusing on application development within AWS.
• SysOps Administrator Associate: Best for those managing AWS operations, emphasizing deployment and system management.
• Are you a software engineer, cloud engineer, reporting analyst, or data quality analyst? If so, the AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate Certification could be your next big step. Currently available as a beta exam, this certification validates your expertise in core data-related AWS services, data pipeline implementation, troubleshooting, and optimizing for cost and performance.?

For those with 1–2 years of experience managing AWS services and applications, the Solution Architect Associate often serves as the logical starting point among all of the associate certifications. It lays down a solid foundation of AWS knowledge that is beneficial across various job roles, making it the best choice for many professionals embarking on their AWS certification journey.

Important update:?

If you’re passionate about artificial intelligence and data modeling, the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate certification is a fantastic choice, that was released as one of two additional AI-focused certification in August 2024.? It’s ideal for machine learning engineers or data scientists looking to enhance their ability to build, train, and deploy ML models on AWS. This exam validates your understanding of data preparation, feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning, and deployment strategies with services like SageMaker, Polly, and Rekognition.

Practical tip: Use tools like AWS Skill Builder and Udemy to structure your study time efficiently. Also When ready to take the exam, practice tests are invaluable for evaluating your knowledge. Tests from TutorialsDojo and Whizlabs mimic the real exam experience, identifying gaps needing improvement. Track your scores to determine when you are consistently scoring high, focusing extra study on weaker areas.

Diving Deep: The Specialty Exams

My advice to anyone on this journey is to first pivot towards the Specialty Exams. This shift allowed me to deepen my understanding of specific, critical areas of AWS. You can start with understanding? the depth of knowledge in networking and security, and a robust foundation. This approach may ensure? that when it was time to tackle the Professional certifications, you would be? not just prepared, but confident.

1. AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty: This one focuses on designing and implementing AWS and hybrid IT network architectures at scale. Covers AWS networking concepts, connectivity, hybrid IT, and best practices. Ideal for network engineers, systems engineers, and IT architects.
2. AWS Certified Security - Specialty: This certification validates expertise in securing AWS data, apps, and infrastructure. Covers security best practices, encryption, infrastructure protection, logging, auditing, and incident response. Great for security engineers, admins, and specialists.
3. AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty: For machine learning enthusiasts to check their skills in developing, architecting, and implementing AWS ML solutions. Covers ML/deep learning services, model optimization, deployment, and operation. Targets data scientists, ML engineers, and developers.

Important Update to Specialty Certifications:

AWS announced that the following Exams were retired in April 2024:?

• AWS Certified: SAP on AWS - Specialty: This one is tailored for professionals working with SAP workloads on AWS. It validates your ability to design, migrate, deploy, and optimize SAP solutions. Covers SAP system architecture, high availability, disaster recovery, and cost management on AWS. Ideal for SAP architects, migration consultants, and cloud engineers managing SAP environments.
• AWS Certified Database - Specialty: This certification is perfect for experts managing and optimizing databases on AWS. It validates skills in database design, migration, performance tuning, and operations across relational and non-relational databases. Covers services like Amazon RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, and more. Great for database architects, data engineers, and solutions architects focusing on data-intensive applications.

Final Challenges: Professional Exams

The final climb involved the Professional-level certifications:

• Solutions Architect - Professional
• DevOps Engineer - Professional

These exams challenged me like no other. They weren’t just about knowing services but understanding how to architect solutions that are secure, scalable, and cost-effective.

1. Understand the Exam Blueprint

Start by reviewing the official exam guides for both certifications. The Solutions Architect exam focuses on designing scalable, resilient, and secure architectures, while the DevOps Engineer exam emphasizes implementing CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and automating operations.

2. Immerse Yourself in Hands-On Practice

These exams require practical knowledge. For Solutions Architect, work on building multi-tier architectures, experimenting with services like EC2, S3, RDS, and VPC. For DevOps, set up CI/CD pipelines with AWS tools like CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy, and practice automating tasks using CloudFormation and CDK. If you’ve dealt with real-world AWS problems, reflect on how you solved them to connect theory with practice.

3. Master AWS Core Frameworks and Principles

Both exams extensively test the Well-Architected Framework, so dive deep into its five pillars: Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, and Cost Optimization. Additionally, for DevOps, focus on the DevOps culture and practices such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and monitoring systems like CloudWatch

4. Practice with Exam-Style Questions

Both certifications demand critical thinking. Invest time in quality practice tests that reflect real exam scenarios. For example, Solutions Architect questions may involve trade-offs in cost or availability, while DevOps questions will challenge your automation and troubleshooting skills. Review answers thoroughly to understand not just what’s correct, but why it’s correct.

Wrap-up

Earning the AWS Golden Jacket was more than just a professional milestone; it was a personal triumph. This journey taught me perseverance, deepened my technical knowledge, and showed me that with the right resources and a relentless spirit, any goal could be achievable.

At the end of the day, earning the Golden Jacket—or any certification—isn’t just about the destination. It’s about the growth, the connections you make, and the impact you create along the way. Whether you’re just starting or aiming for the next milestone, remember: the cloud is vast, and the opportunities are endless.

So what about you? Where are you on your certification journey to Golden Jacket?