Which AWS Certification Exam Is Right For Me? – Part 2

Within this section, we'll delve into the three (3) AWS Specialty certifications presently available from AWS. Our aim is to assist you in determining whether these certifications are a good fit for your needs. If you haven't had the chance to review the initial installment of this two-part article series, we recommend doing so here: Which AWS Certification Exam Is Right For Me? – Part 1.

Just like in Part 1 of this article, we'll tackle each section in two parts: Purpose and Knowledge. Purpose will address the question: "Why should I pursue this exam?" whereas Knowledge will delve into: "What essential information should I grasp for this exam?" Additionally, at the conclusion of each segment, we'll provide helpful references to kickstart your preparation for that particular certification exam. Without further ado, let's dive in!

AWS Certified Security Specialty

Purpose

Managing security represents one of the most demanding yet rewarding responsibilities individuals can shoulder. It should rightfully remain a top priority for any organization. Given the inevitability of vulnerabilities at every stage of the workflow, a diverse array of specialized roles has emerged in today's market, targeting individuals with specific security skill sets. Titles such as InfoSec Engineer, InfraSec Engineer, IT Security Consultant, Risk and Compliance Analyst, and DevSecOps Engineer are among them. If your primary role revolves around security within a company that utilizes Cloud technologies, obtaining this specialty certification is indispensable for enhancing your portfolio. Even if security isn't your primary role but is still a part of your responsibilities, pursuing this certification can solidify your skills and potentially lead to career advancement opportunities.

With the number of security attacks increasing each day and the industry losing millions of dollars because of it, companies are now allocating resources to hire capable security engineers to protect their products and services. Having a certificate to prove that you have that capability will give you an edge. AWS also acknowledges the importance and severity of the matter, especially on its platform. Since multiple customers rely on AWS and each of them interacts with different services each day, they will need certified, knowledgeable people who know how to implement proper security in the cloud.

Knowledge

As a security engineer, it's crucial to understand your available options and discern when to utilize each of them effectively. Every organization possesses unique requirements that must be met, placing the responsibility on you to address these needs. In addition to being familiar with the native security tools offered by AWS, it's equally important to have knowledge of common security tools beyond the AWS ecosystem. For instance, while AWS provides options like KMS or S3 Encryption for encrypting objects in S3, you also have the option to encrypt objects using third-party tools before storing them in your S3 bucket.

Acquiring proficiency in implementing security best practices typically requires hands-on experience. Thus, it's advisable to gain some industry experience before pursuing this specialty exam. While you don't necessarily need to master securing every service within AWS, it's crucial to possess a solid understanding of fundamental security practices for essential AWS services. These may include encrypting EBS volumes, enforcing least privilege access controls in IAM, securing networks using security groups, and monitoring and responding to incidents with CloudTrail. These tasks represent foundational practices applicable to nearly all AWS environments.

For further details regarding the AWS Security Specialty exam, please refer to the official AWS exam guide available here. Combine this resource with our free study guide on the Tutorials Dojo website, our renowned AWS Cheat Sheets, and the additional references provided below to effectively prepare for this certification examination.

Exam Coverage:

Threat Detection and Incident Response

• Design and implement an incident response plan.
• Detect security threats and anomalies by using AWS services
• Respond to compromised resources and workloads

Detect security threats and anomalies by using AWS services.

• Design and implement monitoring and alerting to address security events.
• Troubleshoot security monitoring and alerting
• Design and implement a logging solution.?
• Troubleshoot logging solutions.?
• Design a log analysis solution.

Infrastructure Security

• Design and implement security controls for edge services.
• Design and implement network security controls.
• Design and implement security controls for compute workloads.
• Troubleshoot network security.

Identity and Access Management?

• Design, implement, and troubleshoot authentication for AWS resources.?
• Design, implement, and troubleshoot authorization for AWS resources.

Data Protection?

• Design and implement controls that provide confidentiality and integrity for data in transit.
• Design and implement controls that provide confidentiality and integrity for data at rest.
• Design and implement controls to manage the lifecycle of data at rest.
• Design and implement controls to protect credentials, secrets, and cryptographic key materials.

Management and Security Governance

• Develop a strategy to centrally deploy and manage AWS accounts.
• Implement a secure and consistent deployment strategy for cloud resources.
• Evaluate the compliance of AWS resources.
• Identify security gaps through architectural reviews and cost analysis.

Exam Duration: 170 minutes

Passing Score: 75%?

Price: 300 USD

Recommended Practice Exam: AWS Certified Security – Specialty Practice Exams by Jon Bonso and Tutorials Dojo

AWS Exam Readiness Course: Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Security – Specialty, Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Security – Specialty Classroom

AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty

Purpose

The specialized certification in advanced networking is built for professionals tasked with establishing and sustaining network solutions within their respective organizations. Managing a corporate network entails considerable challenges yet offers significant rewards. You bear the critical responsibility of ensuring uninterrupted functionality of your infrastructure network, with all its elements operating optimally round-the-clock. A single router malfunction or misconfiguration could spell disaster for operations, potentially resulting in substantial financial setbacks.

This certification holds particular value for network engineers, particularly those engaged in networking within the AWS Cloud environment. If you're pursuing a career along this trajectory and are enthusiastic about tackling intricate network challenges, obtaining this certification should be a priority. In certain companies, certifications serve as prerequisites for network engineer positions, necessitating a demonstrated level of industry-recognized expertise before considering candidates for such roles.

Knowledge

To excel in this area, you must possess a thorough grasp of networking basics alongside a deep comprehension of AWS network principles and their fundamental elements. This encompasses diverse network architectures and models, prevalent network technologies, as well as monitoring and security measures, coupled with the application of AWS best practices. Moreover, it's advisable to gain hands-on experience in designing and executing network solutions within both AWS and hybrid environments. Familiarize yourself with various scenarios and methodologies through active experimentation or comprehensive research.

Are you thoroughly familiar with the OSI model? Have you successfully configured an IP VPN solution previously? Can you outline the components required to establish a resilient and secure connection between AWS and your corporate network? Do you possess a clear understanding of routing mechanisms, such as local route tables, BGP routing, and failover routing? How do you detect and address network faults? Furthermore, are you equipped to handle security breaches and attacks, such as packet sniffing, DDoS assaults, and phishing attempts? These inquiries represent just a fraction of the knowledge you should possess and confidently address before undertaking this certification examination.

Given that this certification attests to your proficiency in Advanced Networking, anticipate the exam to pose significant challenges. For further insight into the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty exam, consult the official AWS exam guide available here. Supplement this resource with our free study guide on the Tutorials Dojo website, renowned AWS Cheat Sheets, and the additional references provided below to thoroughly prepare for this certification examination.

Exam Coverage:

Design and Implement Hybrid IT Network Architectures at Scale

• Implement connectivity for hybrid IT
• Given a scenario, derive an appropriate hybrid IT architecture connectivity solution
• Explain the process to extend connectivity using AWS Direct Connect?
• Evaluate design alternatives that leverage AWS Direct Connect?
• Define routing policies for hybrid IT architectures?

Design and Implement AWS Networks?

• Apply AWS networking concepts
• Given customer requirements, define network architectures on AWS?
• Propose optimized designs based on the evaluation of an existing implementation?
• Determine network requirements for a specialized workload?
• Derive an appropriate architecture based on customer and application requirements
• Evaluate and optimize cost allocations given a network design and application data flow?

Automate AWS Tasks?

• Evaluate automation alternatives within AWS for network deployments?
• Evaluate tool-based alternatives within AWS for network operations and management

Configure Network Integration with Application Services?

• Leverage the capabilities of Route 53?
• Evaluate DNS solutions in a hybrid IT architecture?
• Determine the appropriate configuration of DHCP within AWS?
• Given a scenario, determine an appropriate load balancing strategy within the AWS ecosystem
• Determine a content distribution strategy to optimize for performance?
• Reconcile AWS service requirements with network requirements

Design and Implement for Security and Compliance

• Evaluate design requirements for alignment with security and compliance objectives
• Evaluate monitoring strategies in support of security and compliance objectives?
• Evaluate AWS security features for managing network traffic?
• Utilize encryption technologies to secure network communications?

Manage, Optimize, and Troubleshoot the Network?

• Given a scenario, troubleshoot and resolve a network issue

Exam Duration: 170 minutes

Passing Score: 75%?

Price: 300 USD

Recommended Practice Exam: AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty Practice Exams by Jon Bonso and Tutorials Dojo

AWS Exam Readiness Course: Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty, Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty Classroom

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AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty

Purpose

Machine learning has become integral to nearly every modern business operation. Leveraging computers for intricate tasks with speed and accuracy has enabled industries to enhance overall productivity and revenue. Moreover, machine learning and cloud technology are symbiotic allies, as the cloud furnishes the necessary compute and storage capacity to execute solutions cost-effectively. If you're engaged in roles within this realm, such as data science, or possess a keen interest in machine learning, deep learning, and AI development, it's imperative to incorporate this certification into your repertoire. This credential signifies that your expertise aligns with the requisites for crafting and deploying high-quality ML/AI solutions for businesses utilizing AWS.

Knowledge

The examination will assess your proficiency in applying various machine learning (ML) methodologies to address specific challenges. Therefore, it's essential to already possess a solid understanding of fundamental ML algorithms and frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch. Additionally, you should be acquainted with the AWS services necessary for implementing these algorithms and frameworks. An exemplary service in this regard is Amazon SageMaker, which facilitates the development, training, and deployment of ML models. As this is a specialty exam, prior experience in machine learning and AI is highly recommended. This is because the exam will also evaluate your comprehension of best practices for diverse ML deployments and operations. Having prior experience with such scenarios would be advantageous in navigating the exam effectively.

For further details regarding the AWS Machine Learning Specialty exam, please refer to the official AWS exam guide available here. Combine this resource with our forthcoming free study guide on the Tutorials Dojo website, along with our renowned AWS Cheat Sheets and the additional references provided below, to effectively prepare for this certification examination.

Exam Coverage:

Data Engineering?

• Create data repositories for machine learning.?
• Identify and implement a data-ingestion solution.?
• Identify and implement a data-transformation solution.?

Exploratory Data Analysis?

• Sanitize and prepare data for modeling.
• Perform feature engineering.?
• Analyze and visualize data for machine learning.?

Modeling

• Frame business problems as machine learning problems.?
• Select the appropriate model(s) for a given machine-learning problem.?
• Train machine learning models.?
• Perform hyperparameter optimization.
• Evaluate machine learning models.?

Machine Learning Implementation and Operations

• Build machine learning solutions for performance, availability, scalability, resiliency, and fault tolerance.?
• Recommend and implement the appropriate machine learning services and features for a given problem.?
• Apply basic AWS security practices to machine learning solutions.?
• Deploy and operationalize machine learning solutions.

Exam Duration: 170 minutes

Passing Score: 75%?

Price: 300 USD

AWS Exam Readiness Course: Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty, Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty Classroom?

* This newsletter was sourced from this Tutorials Dojo article.