I have summarized the AWS training paths which would be including the duration and effort it takes to achieve the certifications. If you wish to learn more about the contents, take a look at the Understanding the AWS Well-Architected Framework and the AWS Training Paths to Become Certified. I would also recommend you to check out the training courses, which are being offered at the SPOTO AWS Certification Modules.

1. AWS Cloud Practitioner

This certification is the easiest of all AWS cloud certifications and focuses on fundamental knowledge that for instance managers, sales employees, or finance people need. If you do not have deeper technical skills or you just want to gain basic knowledge about the AWS cloud, this certification is just right for you. On top, the training course itself just takes six hours and is for free. After completing the training, you can take the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, which is an exam of 1.5 hours for a fee of 100 USD.

2. AWS Solutions Architect

This certification focuses on how to develop applications and solutions from a technical point of view. To be eligible to start with this path, you either need to be a certified AWS Cloud Practitioner or you need to participate in a one-day workshop AWS Technical Essentials, in which you would be learning about the basics as well as requirements to take business decisions for IT solutions. The core of this certification is a three-days onsite course called Architecting on AWS. After completion, an additional four-hours exam preparation course can be taken in which the exam structure, mock-up exams, and practical tips are discussed. The exam that you are then allowed to take is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. It is important to note that the level Associate stands for the lower level out of two, where the higher level is called Professional and requires to take further courses.

The course is called Advanced Architecting on AWS and is another three-days onsite training. Also after this training, there is a one-day exam preparation course available before you take the exam AWS Certified Solution Architect – Professional, which has a length of 170 minutes.

3. AWS Developer

The developer role would be focusing on the software development for AWS cloud itself. Similar to the AWS Solutions Architect, the certification path starts with a three-days training called Developing on AWS and is followed by a four-hour exam preparation. The Associate level of the AWS Certified Developer is reached after an 80-minute exam. If you want to proceed on that path, you can take your way towards the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional. As this part of the path is the same for the AWS Developer and the AWS Operations, I will explain it further below for the AWS Operations path.

How long will it take?

This is a natural question. Passing the exam requires being well prepared, and how long that takes depends on where you start.

On average, I would be recommending you to approximately spend 80 hours of preparation for the Solution Architect – Associate Exam, as long as you have some AWS experience. This would be including study across all of your resources, which would be including our Solutions Architect Learning Path, as well as any other resources that you choose. With a full-time job as well as other commitments, investing 80 hours of study would usually take you about two months. If you would be entirely new to AWS, I would recommend approximately 120 hours or three months for the preparation. You should start with the fundamentals and later move to the Solutions Architect Associate Learning Path.

If you wish to have this certification, you could have it through the SPOTO AWS Online Training.