AWS Solutions Architect Associate Overview
For the past few months, I have been diligently preparing for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam. The journey of studying for this certification turned out to be more challenging than I initially anticipated, primarily due to the comprehensive scope of information covered in the exam [0]. My background as an EC2 Linux Engineer with AWS provided me with hands-on experience dealing with various workloads used by customers. This prior exposure proved advantageous in my exam preparation, as it allowed me to troubleshoot and configure common setups that businesses, regardless of size, often deploy to optimize the performance of their cloud-based applications. Despite my familiarity with crucial AWS services such as EC2, Auto Scaling Groups, and Load Balancers, there were still several challenging services that I had not previously interacted with, but needed to master to succeed in the exam.
To tackle unfamiliar services, particularly Databases and Serverless components like Lambda, API Gateway, or DynamoDB I heavily relied on Stephane Maarek’s Udemy Course [1]. This course offered in-depth insights into each service, accompanied by hands-on walkthroughs demonstrating how to configure the services tested in the exam. I highly recommend implementing the solutions covered in this course within your own AWS environment as part of your exam preparation. Additionally, the Tutorial Dojo Solutions Architect Associate Practice Exams, [2], proved invaluable in refining my exam readiness. These practice exams featured questions closely resembling those in the real exam and helped me practice identifying key information in each question to determine the optimal solution for a given scenario. Moreover, the Review Mode feature provided comprehensive explanations for the correct answers, further solidifying my understanding of the concepts.
In conclusion, I am immensely satisfied with the decision to prepare for the Solutions Architect Associate exam as it significantly enriched my understanding of AWS infrastructure. This preparation journey has fundamentally altered my approach to assisting customers in managing their workloads. Cloud computing does not offer a one-size-fits-all solution; instead, it requires a nuanced understanding of each customer’s unique use case and objectives before recommending specific services or workflows. I now appreciate the delicate balance between implementing highly available and resilient cloud architectures while optimizing costs. I intend to leverage the skills acquired during this certification preparation to continue assisting customers in securing their cloud computing architectures. Whether it involves implementing measures such as restricting inbound internet traffic to connect solely to a load balancer instead of backend EC2 instances, or configuring Database Authentication on RDS, I am eager to apply these newfound skills in practice!
[0] Solutions Architect Associate Exam Guide
[1] Stephane Maarek Udemy
https://www.udemy.com/user/stephane-maarek/
[2] Tutorial Dojo SAA Practice Exams