I’ve started studying for the AWS Developer’s Associate exam, and I wish I’d looked closer before I started planning. In my head, my rough plan has been do one associate exam this year, one next year, and then do the Solutions Architect Pro exam the same year my SAA runs out to renew it. But I’m realizing how much overlap there is – literally 80% of what I learned for the SAA is included in the Developer’s exam, and almost as much for the SysOps exam. I’m thinking maybe I should just take them one after another: Developer Associate -> SysOps Associate -> DevOps Pro -> Solutions Architect Pro -> Security speciality. That’ll keep everything fresh in my head and make studying a whole lot easier. On the other hand….I can see reviewing every year helping me actually understand more.
Which leads me to the age old question, are certs worth it? What will going through this process really do for me? Will it help with future job prospects? Maybe, but there seems to be diminishing returns after a while. Will it help me do my job better? A bit, maybe – knowing what tools are available and what their limitations are is definitely useful. But then, spending time getting better at building IaC and serverless code might be a better use of time – I’m not the strongest programmer, and it seems like the only way to get better is to do more.
I’m also wondering if sticking with the AWS track is the way to go. I’m interested in learning more about the Google Cloud. I know for employment prospects, I should learn more about Azure (although my experience so far makes me really not want to do that). I’d love to dive deeper into Kubernetes, so maybe working on the CKA would be a good idea, too. Do certs for programming exist? I’d be into that, too.
I don’t really know. I feel like there’s a LOT of mentorship around getting people started in the cloud, but not a whole lot around what to do next. I know I’m enjoying the work I’m doing now. I also know I’ve been enjoying the whole process of learning new things, even if it can be a bit of a grind at times, and I like the structure and sense of accomplishment certs give me. I guess that should be my guide, absent of any other driving factor. As long as I’m enjoying the process, keep working towards certs for myself. If they help with future employment, great. But that’s not going to be the purpose.
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