It is no secret that AWS certifications are in high demand, and for good reason. Cloud computing is a very hot topic that is not going anywhere soon, and there is currently a shortage of talent to fill the gap.
The interesting dichotomy about many jobs and certifications is that most jobs require certifications to demonstrate your competency, but most certifications recommend having practical job experience to be best prepared to pass them.
So you may be thinking to yourself, how can I break into the field and get certified when every job posting needs certifications, but every certification recommends having job experience?
The good news is that experience is a subjective term. Additionally, if you can demonstrate relevant skills, because cloud computing jobs are in such high demand most employers are willing to train you up on what exactly they require for you (a good employer will, anyways).
In an age where every thought, information, and documented process is available over the internet, there is no reason you can’t acquire the relevant skills on your own and not need to be directly employed working with them already.
Will having experience working at a company help? Absolutely, I am not here to debate that, in fact having a few years of experience working in the cloud with a company will get you a better job than what you potentially already have.
However in this article I want to talk to you about what it takes to get your first job working with the cloud by having relevant certifications so you can grow your skills much faster.
I should also mention that anywhere in this article, you can replace AWS with your provider of choice (Azure or GCP for example). All have similar technologies, certification paths and career choices but the names and fine details vary.
So, lets look at a few strategies you can employ for only a couple hours each day that over time, will get you to where you want to be.
--------------
Use free and/or paid courses
When you look at devoting time to a course or platform that will help train up your skills to pass exams, you want to make sure that it includes all 3 of the following:
Lectures, to introduce you to topics and the finer details
Hands on labs, to guide you through how to actually do the things you learn about
Challenges, to give you a sandbox of sort with a set of problems to solve on your own. This is an invaluable way to get your own experience via trial and error.
A quick google or youtube search for “How to pass the AWS solutions architect associate exam”, or “What to know before taking the SysOps admin associate exam” will lead to countless results. As with anything else, some platforms will be better than others. So to help narrow down your search here are some platforms I recommend:
CloudAcademy
Udemy
FreeCodeCamp
Team Treehouse (this one is more for developing if you want to be a cloud engineer)
ExamPro
The free option is always nice, and if you are brand new I would start there so you can find out what you like and what niche you want to get into.
However if you have some experience already, you really need to consider a more personalized training via a paid option. After all, does a $150 annual subscription to a training platform sound so bad when you consider that the skills you learn from there can increase your annual salary by 20k, 30k, or more? Seems like a decent tradeoff to me.
Accept you will never know everything, and specialize
When you try to wrap your head around how many different cloud computing services are out there, the nuances within all of them, and the endless combinations you can do with them, it gets a little overwhelming.
So, consider instead focusing on a specific area and become as proficient as you can at it. Not only will you learn more and become much more of a subject matter expert, but because you are so well versed in a particular area (Security for example), you will be much more valuable to organizations. After all, when you sign on to work at an organization you will likely be working in a particular area or with a certain technology most of the time.
If over time you want to go down the route of getting all 11 AWS certifications then be my guest, but prepare for that process to take years. The point here is to get a job working in the cloud so you can get real world experience ASAP and start growing into a well-versed professional. Remember the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none”.
Intentionally take time off
Cloud computing is not as simple as 1 + 1 = 2.
There are many complexities to try and wrap your head around and commit to memory (do you know how to efficiently deploy different database services across multiple regions, or how to set account-wide Service Control Policies within an Organization?).
It is important to let yourself recharge, the mind is not meant to be a machine. Hence why we have computers do work for us, because our minds are not mistake free, fatigue proof machines. The cloud is not going anywhere, and you need to avoid having a scarcity mindset. In other words, always remember that there will always be opportunities out there for you to take on, and there are always more companies and roles to apply to and work towards.
Take time off within your work days (i.e. pomodoro technique), and a couple times of year put something on your calendar that you look forward to and motivates you to work harder. Personally, I despise the month of February because where I live it is cold, dark, and snowy. So every year in February I take a vacation for a week or two to recharge myself and come back ready to go.
Read, Read, Read
As I mentioned earlier, every bit of knowledge and information can be found either on the internet or in a book. So do your best to soak it all in.
Personally I try to read 1–2 books a month, and everyday I will spend 10–20 minutes or so reading blogs on tech crunch, medium, forbes, etc. It doesn’t even have to directly relate to cloud computing. The point is to get your brain thinking and working in different ways, and to be inspired by new innovation or ideas. If I read a book and can pull 1–2 ideas out of it that are applicable then it is worth it every time.
Maybe you don’t like reading, so listen to audiobooks or podcasts. Again, the goal is to expose your mind to different points of view and sources of inspiration. Don’t have all of your downtime consist of mindless scrolling through social media and watching tv. Not to say those things are bad and that you can’t do those things (my wife would kill me if I didn’t clarify that, she loves doing those things), but it shouldn’t come at the cost of sharpening your mind.
--------------
I hope this is helpful for you to get yourself certified so you can break into the world of cloud computing. It is indeed a challenging world to be apart of, but by spending some time immersed in it your value as a professional goes up tremendously.
If you want to take your training up a notch with high quality, affordable courses, check out our offerings here.
Comments