Assessing where I stand
As of writing this, Iāve managed to obtain the Cloud Practitioner and Certified Developer - Associate. Unfortunately, the last time I sat an exam was in November of 2022. Meaning if I would like to maintain my certified status, Iāll need to sit at least one exam before November of this year.
Why stay certified in the first place?
There are simple things like the shiny badge, certified swag, and the certified lounge at Re:Invent. But personally I believe going through the process leads me to creating better solutions for my users. Getting certified through AWS goes beyond memorizing pricing models and feature lists. To score well on the exams, you have to spend time getting to know the services to their core. Understanding what they seek to accomplish for you and your users. Having this knowledge while developing solutions for people can be a massive difference maker.
What certs do I want/need to get?
AWS maintains this very helpful page that lists what you would need to accomplish in order to maintain a given certification. While it looks very nice, Iāll save you the click and put the information relevant to my situation below.
Based on this, at a minimum, I would need to sit the Developer Associate exam again in order to maintain my two current certifications going into the future.
But Iām not here to do the minimum.
Therefore, my only option is to sit the DevOps - Professional exam š.
āBut what about Gen AIā - you (probably)
So if you havenāt been living under a rock, youāve probably heard about Gen AI and tools like ChatGPT. Recently, AWS launched a foundational-level certification aptly named āAWS Certified AI Practitionerā. As someone who would like to consider themselves a āFull-Stackā developer. I imagine Gen AI will soon become a regular member of said stack. While I did get a crash course in the fundamentals this year while attending Re:Invent, I still lack the knowledge to honestly say, āI could build an app or feature from front to back that centers around Gen AIā.
So, even before sitting the DevOps - Pro exam this year, I will obtain the AI Practitioner certification.
Whatās a good goal, without a stretch goal?
Who says the skyās the limit? Not me! Because Iām also going to set a stretch goal of obtaining a third certification in 2025. The āAWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associateā. For some (looking at you golden jackets š ) three certifications in a year might not be a stretch. But for me, it will be!
Even beyond trying to set lofty goals, I do believe having a certification more focused on higher-level concepts of using AWS services would be beneficial, especially given that Iām already branching out with the AI practitioner certification. So, regardless of whether I can make it happen within the 2025 calendar year, I will be trying to sit this examājust not before the other two.
So weāve got goals. Whatās the plan?
Study
Practice
Build
For all three of these certifications, thereās a whole lot of information that is currently not in my head and will need to be there before I sit the exams. The solution for that is going through a series of courses made by a fellow member of the AWS community, Stephane Maarek. Iāve taken his courses for both of my existing certifications, so I trust his courses for these certifications will hold true.
Additionally, Iāll be taking Jon Bonso's practice exams. Donāt get me wrong; you could likely pass the exam solely by taking a prep course. But the best way Iāve found to have the confidence to do something is by having already done it. So, pairing a course with taking a few well-made mock exams is how Iāve prepared in the past. If itās not broke, donāt fix it.
One final preparation step Iām taking is to build a ChatGPT-like product over the top of Bedrock, Amazonās Gen AI wrapper service. This is an OSS project titled āMy-SDCā (My Self Deployed Chat). The aim is to deliver the best of both worlds. Having the conversational interface of ChatGPT but adding enhanced capabilities that Bedrock provides, like the flexibility of model-switching.
This is where we depart. For now.
It is the beginning of a new year, and these are some lofty aspirations. Iāve put pen to paper and set a course forward. Check back here as the year goes on, and hopefully, come January of 2026, my chart will look a bit more like this.
