The AWS Golden Jacket is a journey, not a destination
A certificate's value is measured by its positive impact on real-world projects.
Published Jun 3, 2025
A certificate's value is measured by its positive impact on real-world projects.
This article begins by outlining the core principles of my journey, providing a detailed timeline of my progression, and explaining the methodology that enabled me to pass all exams on my first attempt. The article also covers my scores, preparation techniques, and personal experiences throughout this challenging journey. I aim to provide valuable guidance for future candidates by sharing these insights.
My vision is to significantly expand my knowledge base, particularly in areas that will benefit my professional endeavors. Like many in our field, engineering isn't just a career - it's a passion that drives an endless pursuit of knowledge and experiments.
Certifications serve as verification of one’s skills and experience. The golden jacket represents just a brief chapter within the broader, lifelong pursuit of professional knowledge and growth.
My mission is twofold: 1) help customers grasp complex concepts in straightforward terms, and 2) empower them to make informed decisions that drive business value increase for their respective organizations. It's essential to note that while AWS certifications are excellent for honing technical skills, they often overlook crucial aspects such as business strategy, people management, and cultural considerations.
“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” – Paul Field.
My technical growth principles:
- Take ownership of your career: Your motivation drives your learning pace and determines its relevance to your professional future.
- Master core principles and services: Align your learning with real-world challenges, always considering systems’ ability, such as availability, resiliency, performance, security, cost-effectiveness, and operational efficiency. These system qualities will guide you towards optimal solution designs and correct exam answers.
- Set clear objectives and be efficient: Time is your most precious resource, so approach your learning with structure and intention. Start by determining the certification requirements, setting an exam date, and planning your learning tasks backward from that date. Reinforce recurring concepts (e.g., S3, VPC endpoints, IAM, NAT) in your mind.
- Learn iteratively and practice hands-on: follow this cycle: 1) Grasp the theory, 2) Apply the concepts to a pseudo-real-world project, 3) Test your learning against mock tests, and repeat. Hands-on experience is crucial for retaining information and developing problem-solving skills.
The scatter graph (Figure 1) helps visualize the earned certification journey over time. A certification was obtained every 4 months on average, with the shortest period between 2 certifications of 9 days. Note that some of the idle period between certifications was used to obtain AWS badges and non-AWS certifications. Notably, a significant portion of my customer base utilized Terraform to deploy resources on AWS, so I delved deeply into this infrastructure-as-code software in the first quarter of 2023.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Tao Te Ching.
My AWS journey began during my master's thesis, when I deployed containers on Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS). At that time, my understanding of cloud computing was rudimentary.
As a Team Software Architect at Swiss Federal Railways, I felt increasingly uneasy about my limited cloud expertise. Seeking a career change and recognizing my responsibility to drive it, I was drawn to cloud technology. My curiosity was piqued, but the knowledge gap seemed daunting: I needed a realizable first step.
I discovered the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01) certification. After 14 hours of dedicated study, I passed the exam on July 22, 2020, with a score of 809 out of 1000. This success demystified AWS and revealed practical value for my projects. I could see parallels to the private Cloud infrastructure I used for my customers. Encouraged by this achievement, I felt confident in maintaining my momentum and continuing my cloud learning journey.
As I contemplated my next steps, I faced a new challenge: my customer's needs had shifted from cloud-related projects to implementing Domain-Driven Design (DDD) for a strategic project. I continued to learn, obtaining three iSAQB architecture certifications—one in June 2020 and two in July 2021.
Capitalizing on the slower pace of winter, I revisited my Cloud Practitioner notes and dedicated myself to preparation. On January 8, 2021, I passed the associate level exam, scoring 793 out of 1000 points.
My career path took another turn when working with a new customer, the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police. The project faced unexpected delays due to external factors, including the need to enact new ordinances. Coupled with personal challenges, these circumstances pushed me to seek new opportunities.
I applied for a position at AWS, despite my relatively limited cloud experience. I understood my chances might be slim. To my great astonishment, I was offered the job! (The interview experience is a tale for another time.)
This unexpected turn of events marked the beginning of my journey with AWS. In retrospect, while this career shift wasn't planned, the groundwork I had laid through my first two AWS certifications undoubtedly played a crucial role. This experience illustrates Grosser's words:
“Opportunities don't happen. You create them.”
Remember, the path to expertise is rarely a straight or predictable one. Embrace the journey, with all its twists and turns, and you'll find that each challenge brings you closer to your goals.
At AWS, a new Solutions Architect is expected to pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate within 90 days, a second AWS certification (Associate, Professional, or Specialty level) within 12 months, and the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional within 18 months.
Given my software engineering background, I figured the AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C01) would be the easiest for me to tackle first, which I successfully passed on April 7, 2022. After that, I realized the remaining associate-level certification, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02), shared a lot of common ground with the two I'd already completed. It made sense to go for this one next, closing all three associate exams in fourteen months, representing about one-third of the total timespan.
To complete my onboarding requirements, I focused on the more advanced AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Professional (SAP-C01) certification. I achieved this on August 27, 2022, just three months after finishing my last associate-level exam. This completed my initial certification journey at AWS, setting a strong foundation for my role.
One of the advantages of working directly with customers is that they often challenge you in areas outside your comfort zone. When this happens, you have two main options:
- Seek internal help, consulting a colleague who specializes in that area
- Dive deeper into the subject to find a solution
When a customer needed assistance in an unfamiliar area, I would either shadow a specialist or dive into the topic myself. If I chose to learn, I would validate my knowledge by pursuing a relevant certification. This learning approach through customer support was efficient because it allowed me to apply my knowledge in real-world scenarios, sometimes with the guidance of domain experts. It provided a practical context for my learning, making the knowledge more concrete and applicable.
“While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others” – Rick Warren.
Deciding whether to learn a new area or seek help is a balancing act, and it's a choice you'll need to make repeatedly.
Learning is cyclical, not linear. As depicted in Figure 2, two notions are crucial:
1. Increment: Break down complex topics into smaller, more digestible chunks to help build knowledge. It’s about adding new information to existing knowledge and making steady progress through minor improvements.
2. Iterate: Revising topics multiple times helps refine knowledge through different perspectives. Furthermore, the more repetition, the more persistent the knowledge will be.
The incremental and iterative combination should align with your career objective. Each iteration is an opportunity to pause, reflect on the value added to customers, and identify areas of strength and weakness.
Each step is an opportunity to diversify the means of acquiring information, such as attending a conference or watching a deep-dive video, which helps you stay engaged with the topic. Knowing what you want to become lets you decide what and how to learn.
After reflecting on the last four years, I can confidently say that working aside from studying helps connect the dots, which allowed me to master the core principles. Every exam requires system qualities such as resilience, performance, security, cost-effectiveness, operational efficiency, and agility. The more familiar you are, the more natural the optimal answer will be. The theory teaches the principles, and the real-world opportunities teach why they are in place. Knowing why a set of practices is in place makes it easier to retain the information and connect the dots between the different matters.
While knowing AWS services is valuable, recognizing their limitations brings you to the next level. You can compare designs implemented with different services, enabling you to evaluate the best solution.
From a technology perspective, there are core services that are appearing frequently in the exam questions:
- Networking: Amazon VPC, Amazon CloudFront
- Storage: Amazon EBS, Amazon S3, Amazon EFS
- Database: Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora
- Compute: Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda,
- Security: Amazon IAM
- Observability: Amazon CloudWatch
Understanding those core services is foundational to understanding the services built on top of them. Furthermore, these services are typically included in most solutions. Hence, knowing them will speed up your onboarding in new projects.
Life is a countdown, and all activities consume resources gradually. Passing a significant number of certifications demonstrates dedication, discipline, and willingness. However, life is rarely a straight line, and other high-priority interruptions may emerge. The journey taught me to make time and put in the effort when needed to finish exams as soon as possible. On one hand, the process should take as long as necessary to acquire the knowledge to pass with a comfortable score. On the other hand, it should be brief, as different tasks may be waiting, and technology is constantly evolving.
My go-to method is to set the exam date and work backwards from it. This approach was particularly efficient in prioritizing what can be postponed from what should be done in parallel with the learning.
Being efficient also means not having to relearn what you studied for another exam. Understanding what you learn helps you retain the information, rather than merely learning to pass the exam.
Certifications can be conceptualized as modular building blocks in a larger knowledge structure. By stacking each certification upon the foundation of previous ones, the candidate creates a recursive learning pattern where new information naturally builds upon established concepts. This transforms the daunting challenge of earning twelve certifications into a systematic journey of knowledge accumulation.
Creating a sandbox account takes a couple of minutes. That was also financially interesting, as all newly created accounts benefit from the Free tier. Furthermore, playing in a safe environment is relieving, as no production data can be leaked or exploited.
Starting with AWS Partner and AWS Knowledge badges was a great introduction to specific topics. Those badges help to start small and achieve manageable milestones. Furthermore, it helps to build your confidence. See them as a dry run, as they conclude with a knowledge assessment at the end of the curriculum. If it wasn’t enough to convince you, the cherry on the cake: they are free of charge. This is without mentioning that you share the earned badges.
Maintaining a sustainable pace while pursuing multiple AWS certifications alongside full-time work is challenging.
My agenda follows a consistent pattern: it starts with a goal for the current day, such as leading a customer workshop or writing an article. Setting a goal helps me prioritize my tasks and work backward to utilize the available time effectively. It’s followed by a 90-minute study period for the certification under scope. I found that dedicating 1-2 hours each morning before work proved effective for studying when my mind was fresh and focused. A hidden benefit is that meetings typically start around mid-morning and end late in the afternoon. Hence, the conflict between work and my learning time was minimal.
This time distribution structure helps me focus on delivering rather than having thoughts wander and stress when I can set aside time.
I wouldn’t recommend working over the weekend, as maintaining good mental health is crucial in the long run. This approach prevented burnout and allowed me to keep my performance at work.
Communication is the key to avoiding misalignment and conflict. Communicating openly with my manager about my certification goals helped align my learning journey with the organization’s objectives.
It would be a lie to say that the journey went like clockwork. The plan was not always respected. Ultimately, the structure is in place to facilitate learning, not to impose strict, inflexible rules. It’s a guardrail, not a control. I sometimes studied on weekends when the weather was bad, or my wife had to finish a report.
In conclusion, the structure supports learning, not the other way around.
Rather than pursuing maximum scores, my strategy focused on ensuring first-attempt success across all certification levels with a comfortable margin above the passing threshold. The graph demonstrated that this pragmatic approach proved effective (Figure 3).
The lowest score (735) is due to recurring technical difficulties during the exam. The average score is 825 across all four groups, and the average margin above the passing score is 94 points.
Difficulty can be expressed through two dimensions:
- Technical breadth: the number of services covered for each certification. The data sources are the respective exam guides found on the AWS certification webpage.
- Technical depth: based on the depth feeling after reading the exam guide. Please note that the feeling is subjective and can vary significantly depending on one’s background and knowledge.
Figure 5 shows the twelve certification and their respective service category coverage based on the exam guides. This analysis reveals that Amazon VPC, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail have the strongest coverage (100%) across all exams, followed by Amazon EC2 (92%), AWS IAM (92%), and Amazon S3 (92%).
When you schedule an exam on AWS Certification, carefully consider which AWS Builder ID you link to it. I recommend keeping ownership of your certification account with your personal email address.
If English is a second language, request a 30-minute exam extension (refer to the official section requesting accommodation).
Once it is scheduled, work backward from the date. Having a deadline helps to prioritize tasks and improve efficiency. Nonetheless, I had to postpone three exams due to sudden production issues. According to scheduling policies, you can postpone or cancel the exam up to 24 hours before the exam time.
Imagine embarking on a road trip without consulting a map or knowing your destination. You might drive aimlessly in any direction, waste gas, pack inappropriate gear, and arrive late. Similarly, start by reading the exam guide.
A community brings fun, serves as a multiplying force, and supports the learning pace and efficiency. As we faced a common challenge, I partnered with Nicolas Berthier, Greg Nolan, Gabriel Negrini, and Michael Schmidt to complete the AWS Solutions Architect - Professional certification. I found that the support I received was greater than what I gave to the group. My colleagues are skilled at asking relevant questions and quickly finding official documentation.
Unfortunately, as with any long adventure, your fellow travelers only share a portion of your journey. I did two certifications in a group and 11 alone. In the latter, your discipleship is tested: that is an opportunity for growth.
Choosing poor-quality courses for a long journey is like picking up a rusty van for a year-long road trip. If the engine stops or is unreliable, you may arrive late at your destination or be forced to abandon the journey.
Platform pricing is not always a guarantee of quality. Start the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Course from the freeCodeCamp YouTube channel if you are on a low budget. Andrew Brown did some tremendous introductory videos for free. If you have a slightly larger budget and time, Learn Cantrill is a valuable resource, as it delves deeper than the minimal passing requirements; it was my go-to for many months. If your goal is to pass only the exam, Stephane Maarek on Udemy is a popular choice. Knowing the constraints, such as depth, budget, and time available, will guide you towards the right choice.
Taking a few mock exams to test the acquired knowledge is common. It evaluates readiness and builds confidence. Most importantly, it pinpoints your gaps and strengths, to know what to focus on. The tests also help familiarize candidates with the length and wording, identify key terms, and spot potential pitfalls.
SkillBuilder is a dependable choice for those seeking an exam-like experience and correctness, as AWS develops it. It’s worth noting that AWS Training & Certification (T&C) is going to double the number of questions in the following months. Most of my colleagues are taking either TutorialsDojo or Udemy practice tests. Udemy quality is highly linked to the teacher’s skills and effort.
Let’s take the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Practice Exams as a baseline to compare the different platforms.
| Platform | Price (USD) | Number of questions | Explanation correctness (subjective) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SkillBuilder | $29/month | 65 (2 x 65 in the coming months) | High |
| TutorialsDojo | $14.99 | 65 | High-medium |
| Udemy (Maarek) | $24.99 | 390 | Medium-high |
| ExamTopics | €79.99 (~$90.41) | 719 (not up to date though) | Low |
Table 1 - Practice tests comparison (data gathered on the 3rd of May 2025)
Whenever you take a practice exam, it ends with a score. Tracking your scores can provide valuable insights into your progress. Below are my scores for the AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate Certification mock exams.
The score itself doesn’t mean much, as the candidate may experience more tiredness on some days or be affected by external factors; this is why a moving average of the last three values is more appropriate.
One important note: even if some questions are repetitive, focus on understanding, not just memorizing. Reasoning why it’s the correct choice is a crucial success factor in retaining information in the long term and applying it in real-life scenarios.
There is a substantial amount of information to retain for each exam. One tactic I used was writing my cheat sheet to summarize the most valuable information that may come up on exam day.
For example, the figure below shows the cheat sheet I made for the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty Certification. Each person has different learning faculties and may suit some individuals, but not others.
The content may come from the mock exam, official AWS documentation, blogs, or others’ study notes. However, caution is advised regarding the latter, as unofficial information or feedback from peers may be inaccurate or outdated.
Taking the exam at home gives you better control over the environment. Some prefer the test centers, with silent rooms at their disposal. Protractors are strict but fair. They usually check if the candidate wears an unauthorized item, such as a smartwatch or book, or if an external screen is accessible.
Professional or specialty-level exams are 3 hours long, excluding the time spent waiting for check-in. Therefore, take a break before the start and manage your water intake during the exam.
The AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate is split into two parts: theory and lab. During the lab, my computer froze. I had to restart the entire exam, but it froze again. The proctor cancelled the exam and asked me to go to a test center at a date of my convenience. When I did, the lab unfortunately froze again at the test center the following week. Fortunately, I accumulated enough theory points before the crash to pass the exam (735/720).
The result can take up to 5 business days to process and validate, which can feel like an eternity.
| Certification name | Exam attempted | Result received | Waiting time [in day] |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Cloud Practitioner | 22.07.2020 | 23.07.2020 | 1 |
| AWS Solutions Architect – Associate | 08.01.2021 | N/A | N/A |
| AWS Certified Developer - Associate | 07.04.2022 | 08.04.2022 | 1 |
| AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate | 16.05.2022 | 17.05.2022 | 1 |
| AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional | 27.08.2022 | 28.08.2022 | 1 |
| AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty | 23.12.2022 | 24.12.2022 | 1 |
| AWS Certified Security – Specialty | 15.03.2023 | 16.13.2023 | 1 |
| AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional | 02.10.2023 | 03.10.2023 | 1 |
| AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty | 26.08.2024 | 03.07.2023 | 8 |
| AWS Certified AI Practitioner | 05.11.2024 | 05.11.2024 | 0 |
| AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate | 02.01.2025 | 02.01.2025 | 0 |
| AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate | 11.01.2025 | 11.01.2025 | 0 |
| AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty | 01.03.2025 | 01.12.2025 | 0 |
Table 2 - Waiting on results
After passing a certification, the candidate can apply to join the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Program. The SME Program is exciting, as non-AWS employees can participate in AWS Certification exam development events.
Passing the certification is only the beginning. Knowledge is valuable if it’s implemented in real projects. It’s also an opportunity to share your learnings with your peers, mentor others on their journey, be involved in various communities, contribute to open-source projects, or join an AWS user group.
While AWS certifications validate technical knowledge, they're just the tip of the iceberg. Technical knowledge gets you in the door, but your ability to understand business needs, collaborate effectively, and drive solutions is what truly makes you successful in this role.
The expected value of an AWS certification can be personal or professional; in most cases, they are interrelated. Before investing your resources (time, money, effort) in the journey, ask yourself what values you expect to gain from it. This question will help you determine whether the outcome is worth the effort.
If the candidate holds a specialist role in an organization, such as a database administrator, then being well-rounded is valuable. Instead of focusing on the database layer, the specialist can take a holistic view of the problem and grasp how the data is consumed by the application layer and distributed to the clients.
The following details the total costs without any discount or employer subvention:
After passing a certification, the candidate receives a 50% discount on the next exam. If vouchers are claimed, the original costs (2450 USD) drastically decrease to 1275 USD. Many organizations reimburse employees for AWS certification exam fees, making the Cloud journey more accessible for professionals.
To measure the success of the journey, you could categorize the impact into three categories:
- Technical impact: solutions implemented, problems solved, architecture improvements
- Business impact: customer satisfaction, cost optimizations, staff productivity, innovation enabled, time-to-market
- Community impact: people mentored, knowledge sharing, community growth, and inspiration created
What impact will you generate?
The AWS Certified Golden Jacket is a distinctive garment featuring "AWS Certified" embroidery, representing the highest level of AWS certification achievement.
To get the AWS-certified golden jacket, you must hold all active AWS certifications. Be aware that retired or expired certifications are not considered active.
Before paying or arranging shipping, verify you're getting the authentic AWS-certified golden jacket.
The process begins when initiated by the candidate to the AWS Training Partner (ATP), AWS Partner Network (APN), or an AWS regional team. Since AWS Certification does not own the process, the system will not automatically notify candidates when they meet the qualification requirements.
Regardless of your chosen process, you must share your Credly link to verify all active certifications and wait for validation to be completed. Once approved, the vendor will contact you regarding shipping and payment details.
An initiative to improve the ordering process is currently underway. If you are an AWS Partner, contact your AWS Partner Development Manager (PDM) or AWS Partner SA (PSA). If you are an individual learner, contact AWS Training, as processes are constantly evolving.
I don’t imagine someone will wear it as daily outerwear. People wear them during AWS events, especially in Training and Certification (T&C), to be easily spotted.
In March 2025, the cost per item was €109 for the EMEA vendor. Interestingly, the shipment cost was higher than the jacket itself. Shipment costs, including customs fees, were €125. The entire ordering process and delivery time were about 2 weeks.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
The path to mastery isn’t about where you start but your commitment to continuous growth and learning.
Looking back over the four-year journey, several key insights emerge:
- Strategic approach: Setting clear objectives and working backwards from exam dates proved effective. Also, breaking down complex topics into manageable chunks helped maintain steady progress. Balancing theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice was crucial for achieving a deep understanding.
- Sustainable learning: Maintaining a consistent study schedule while respecting work-life balance, focusing on understanding concepts rather than memorizing answers.
- Value beyond certification: The real value lies in passing exams and applying knowledge to solve real-world problems. Certifications are a foundation for technical expertise, but soft skills remain equally important.
While the journey requires investment in time, money, and effort, the returns in knowledge, career opportunities, and professional recognition make it worthwhile. Real expertise shows a positive impact on the real world, not in credentials.
Looking ahead, I focus on renewing my AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional certification. Beyond certifications, I’m focusing on building two concrete solutions: first, a tagging dictionary that organizations can use to standardize and govern their resources on AWS. This solution will include automated compliance checks, tagging policies, and dashboards. Second, I’m developing an interactive platform explicitly designed for a value-aligned community whose principles I deeply share.
With some colleagues, we might initiate a project to create pertinent cheat sheets for the community. If you’re interested in participating, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.
Thank you to Nicolas Berthier, Gabriel Negrini, Marta Garbayo Sesma, David Ninnis, Stefan Franz, Yen Luu, and Anand Malayil Sasi for their thorough review and valuable feedback, which helped shape this article into a better resource for the AWS community.