Five Reasons to get AWS Certified this year

Hi, I’m Faye Ellis, I’ve been teaching AWS for over 6 years, and over the years I have helped over two million people achieve an AWS certification, build their skills, and progress their career. 

Like many people, I began my career working with physical servers in a corporate data center. I started out as a systems administrator, then progressed into a solutions architect role, designing IT systems in the financial services industry. As cloud computing began to take off, I soon realized that in order to stay current, get the best opportunities and future-proof my career, I needed to embrace the cloud. A friend told me how easy it was to get started with AWS, and before long I was building web servers in the cloud, designing VPCs, and experimenting with serverless technology! 

I’m a big fan of certification as a way to help really kick start learning a new skill, because it forces you to learn all the things, in a structured and disciplined way. If I do something one time, I am probably not going to remember it, but the process of learning and practicing for an exam really helps me to retain the knowledge long term. That’s why I’ve used certification throughout my career, both as a way to demonstrate my abilities, and as a challenge to keep growing and learning. 

If you’ve been thinking about challenging yourself to achieve an AWS certification this year, this is your sign to schedule that exam, jump in the water, and begin strengthening your skills. There are so many benefits to gaining a certification, but these are my top five ways that getting certified can significantly help you to advance your career. 

One thing that all the AWS certification exams have in common is that they validate your AWS knowledge and skills, as well as test your understanding of common use cases, and best practices. 

Preparing for a new cert, or even re-certifying is likely to expose you to new technologies that you may not have encountered before, alternative ways of implementing technologies, and new architectural patterns. 

Whether you’re just starting out in your tech career, or you’re a seasoned professional, there are AWS certifications that will help you elevate your career, get picked for the best projects, and keep your skills up-to-date.

In the tech industry, it's no secret that the majority of us occasionally suffer with the dreaded imposter syndrome. 

Gaining a new qualification that showcases your expertise, and demonstrates your abilities is a highly effective way to increase confidence, and eliminate thoughts of self-doubt, insecurity or simply not feeling good enough, that many of us experience from time to time. 

The thrill you get when you receive that email informing you that you’ve passed the exam and got a new cert under your belt, is like no other. I highly recommend challenging yourself to attain a new certification if you are in need of a confidence boost. 

Remember that passing the exam the first time is not mandatory, and if you’re not successful the very first time, you will have learned that you have some areas of weakness that need addressing before you go on to succeed in the exam. 

A welcome side-effect of preparing for one of these exams is that you’ll get to know AWS technologies really, really well. 

The Associate, Specialty and Professional level certifications all require extensive hands-on experience with AWS services in order to be successful in the exam. Consequently, many people find that technical interviews can actually become easy, or even enjoyable because they know the services thoroughly, or at least know where to begin when troubleshooting. 

After achieving the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification, I was offered a Cloud Solutions Architect role with a significant salary increase, and the preparation for the exam certainly contributed to my success when interviewing for this role, because I was able to confidently discuss AWS technologies and best practices.

If you’re someone who is inspired by a challenge, craves intellectual stimulation, or simply enjoys doing hard things, then certification is one way to step outside your comfort zone, learn something new and difficult, and enjoy the sense of achievement of adding new skills to your repertoire.

It’s never too late to pick up a new skill, and challenging your brain to learn something new, to adapt, to understand, and apply new concepts is a proven way to maintain cognitive health well into later life.

Another happy consequence of continually upskilling through certification is that you’ll get exposed to new and emerging technologies, even if you’re not using them regularly in your day-to-day role. 

Many organizations are reticent about using the latest technology, which means that some of us don’t get the opportunity to play with newer services unless we do so outside our normal role. 

After pursuing a certification that is outside your main area of expertise you may realize that you have an aptitude for a completely new domain that you never explored before!

Whatever your motivation for accomplishing an AWS certification, if you’re ready to get started on your journey, check out popular AWS certification courses on Pluralsight, subscribe to Pluralsight YouTube for AWS certification updates, and connect with me on LinkedIn, DEV and TikTok for AWS tutorials, study tips, and cloud related content!