Which AWS certification is the most recommended?

Around 90% percent of organizations with AWS Certified personnel report that having such staff enhances innovation with AWS services. Around 91 % of IT leaders with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified staff indicate that productivity increased after their team members obtained AWS Certifications, while 89% noted quicker troubleshooting.

The most recommended AWS certification often depends on your background, experience, and career goals. However, some certifications are more commonly sought after and recognized in the industry due to their relevance and popularity.

As per recent updates, the following global certifications are offered by AWS: Foundational, Associate, Professional, and Specialty.

Foundational Level

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner – Foundational: The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certifies a basic, high-level understanding of AWS Cloud, its services, and terminology. It’s an ideal entry point for individuals transitioning to a cloud career with no prior IT or cloud experience and useful to demonstrate a solid understanding of AWS cloud services and the fundamentals of cloud computing.

Associate Level

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate: This certification is perfect for individuals who design distributed systems on the AWS platform, focusing on key architectural principles and a wide range of AWS services.
2. AWS Certified Developer – Associate: This certification is intended for individuals who build applications on AWS, validating their skills in writing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications utilizing AWS services.
3. AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate: This certification is cantered on system operations roles, highlighting responsibilities like deploying, managing, and monitoring applications on AWS.
4. AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate: This certificate demonstrates expertise in creating data models, overseeing data life cycles, and maintaining data quality.

Professional Level

1. AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional: Targeted at seasoned DevOps professionals, this certification confirms expertise in provisioning, operating, and managing distributed application systems on AWS.
2. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional: This certification is ideal for individuals with significant experience in designing distributed systems on AWS. It addresses advanced topics in architecting scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems.

Specialty Level

1. AWS Certified Security – Specialty: Aimed at security professionals, this certification confirms advanced expertise in securing the AWS platform. It encompasses a range of security topics, such as identity and access management, encryption, monitoring, and incident response.
2. AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty: Obtaining the AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty certification confirms your expertise in building, training, tuning, and deploying machine learning (ML) models on AWS.
3. AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty: Achieving the AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification confirms your expertise in designing and managing network architecture across a wide range of AWS services.

It’s essential to choose a certification that aligns with your skills, interests, and professional goals. For most of the career aspirations with roles like Solution Architect, Application Architect, Cloud Data Engineer, Cloud Security Architect, Network Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, Machine Learning Ops Engineer, Data Scientists and others, AWS certified Solution Architect – Associate is the basic requirement.

Reasons to Pick the Certification

Here’s why the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is often recommended:

1. Broad Coverage: The certification addresses a broad array of AWS services, architectural principles, and best practices, making it ideal for those seeking a thorough understanding of AWS.
2. Relevance: Solutions architects are essential in designing and implementing scalable, reliable, and cost-efficient solutions on the AWS platform. This certification provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in this role.
3. Industry Recognition: The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is well-regarded and respected in the industry. Earning this certification showcases your expertise in designing and implementing AWS solutions.
4. Career Opportunities: Obtaining this certification can create a range of career opportunities in cloud architecture, cloud consulting, and solution design across various industries.
5. Cloud Migration Projects: Many organizations are transitioning their on-premises infrastructure and applications to the cloud. AWS Solutions Architects are vital in designing the architecture and planning the migration strategy to facilitate a seamless transition to AWS services while optimizing performance, scalability, and cost efficiency.
6. Highly Scalable Web Applications: Companies requiring highly scalable web applications—such as e-commerce platforms, social media sites, and content streaming services—can leverage the expertise of AWS Solutions Architects in creating architectures that accommodate fluctuating and unpredictable traffic patterns while ensuring high availability and performance.
7. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: AWS offers a variety of services for disaster recovery and business continuity, such as Amazon S3 for reliable storage, Amazon RDS for database backups, and AWS CloudFormation for automating infrastructure. Solutions Architects can create resilient architectures that utilize these services to maintain data integrity and reduce downtime during disasters.
8. Big Data and Analytics: Organizations looking to handle large amounts of data and gain insights through analytics can utilize AWS services such as Amazon EMR for big data processing, Amazon Redshift for data warehousing, and Amazon Kinesis for real-time streaming analytics. Solutions Architects can create scalable and cost-efficient architectures to fulfill the organization’s data processing and analytics needs.
9. Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions: As the adoption of IoT devices increases, AWS offers various services for managing and processing IoT data, including AWS IoT Core, AWS IoT Analytics, and AWS IoT Greengrass. Solutions Architects can create architectures that securely ingest, process, and analyze IoT data at scale, ensuring low latency and high reliability.
10. Hybrid Cloud Deployments: Organizations with hybrid cloud environments that integrate on-premises infrastructure with AWS services need architectural expertise to ensure seamless connectivity between the two. Solutions Architects can create hybrid cloud architectures that align with the organization’s performance, security, and compliance needs.

These are just a few examples of scenarios where the knowledge and skills acquired through the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification can be applied to design reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient solutions on the AWS platform.

Although the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is highly recommended, it’s important to consider your own interests, skills, and career goals before selecting a certification path.

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By: Mandar Bhalekar