IT Svit proves its technological expertise with AWS certification

IT Svit works with a variety of projects from different industries, helping companies of all sizes design and implement solutions for various business challenges. Most of our customers use AWS or want to move there, so our DevOps engineers have ample experience with building, optimizing and managing AWS infrastructures for projects of varying scale. It was recently proven once more, as Alex, our DevOps Engineer, received his “AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate” certification.

Why would a business need its employees to be AWS-certified? Because by successfully passing AWS certification exams our DevOps engineers provide credible proof of their expertise with AWS and ability to solve various business challenges using AWS architecture management best practices.

Alex was working on a variety of projects involving AWS infrastructure and services like EC2, S3, RDS, CodePipeline, CloudWatch, Route53 and multiple others. He helped an international micro-financing company configure seamless updates for their application. He configured automated deployment, backups and restoration of blockchain wallets for a cryptocurrency company. He has configured real-time monitoring and smart alerting for various projects and has experience with containerizing apps using Docker and running them on Kubernetes clusters in AWS. Therefore, it was logical for Alex to become an AWS-certified Solutions Architect.

For the company, this means one more step towards obtaining a sufficient number of certifications and receiving an AWS certified partner status.

AWS exam preparation and training

The prerequisites for attempting the AWS Solutions Architect — Associate exam are as follows:

• 1+ year of practical experience in building systems using Amazon Web Services
• firsthand work experience in using various AWS products
• solid background in infrastructure management and application deployment

As you can see, all of these are quite easily obtained by simply working as a DevOps engineer.

However, the exam consists of 55 questions covering various aspects of AWS products, including the ones you might not have been actively using. Thus said, attempting to pass it without preliminary preparation is not recommended, regardless of your background and experience, so it’s better to be over-prepared than underprepared.

There is a wide variety of information available to an aspiring DevOps engineer, from AWS FAQs to various online courses:

• Amazon EC2
• Amazon S3
• Amazon RDS
• Amazon VPC

For example, A Cloud Guru provides a good course covering all the topics you need to know in order to pass the AWS Solutions Architect — Associate exam. You can watch them at your own pace in the evenings or during the week-ends. Dedicating 8 hours a week would allow you to finish the course in under a month.

Another excellent resource is a detailed guide by Joe Baron, ‘AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam’ available at Amazon. Aside from helping you prepare for an examination, it can become your deskbook regarding AWS architecture design and implementation best practices.

Finally, there are multiple Twitch videos covering AWS-related topics, as well as an official AWS Webinar on Youtube. You will find them highly informative and instructive.

Once you are sure you are ready for the exam — you request the attempt and schedule your visit to an AWS certification center near you. Such centers in Ukraine work in Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv, and you can request an online exam trial attempt. 

At the appointed date and time, you go to the certification center and must confirm your identity by providing 2 personal IDs — a passport and a driving license or a personal banking card, for example.

When you confirm your identity, you receive a list of 55 questions you should answer in 80 minutes. All of them are covered in the official documentation or can be answered based on your practical experience with designing and managing the AWS infrastructure. Once the time is up, your answers are taken to be checked. If you pass the exam successfully — your PDF certificate and badge are emailed to you in a couple of days. If not — you have more time to prepare and pass the exam next time.

Benefits for IT Svit and Clients

As IT Svit is a provider of end-to-end solutions for businesses from multiple industries, we must be able to solve various types of challenges. As most of the customers prefer working with the AWS cloud platform, proving our expertise with using it is a good way to gain customer trust.

For Alex, this certification is a good milestone in his career. It is valid for 3 years only, but Alex is surely going to improve his knowledge and skillset. Therefore, he will take the next certification at a higher level, further increasing his value as a professional. The immediate benefit was the possibility to structure the knowledge Alex already had and to lay the grounds for a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of AWS systems. There are various other benefits of AWS certification, including:

• Personal AWS-certified badge to use in your CV, on your website or any other platform
• Access to the training materials required to pass the next level of AWS exams
• Access to multiple resources for increasing your theoretical knowledge of AWS infrastructure and services
• A chance to get invited to select AWS events. While this is more useful for the US citizens, visiting the AWS Certification lounge at annual AWS re:Invent and networking with other AWS professionals from across the globe can be a very emboldening and empowering experience for any DevOps engineer.

AWS certification and its benefits are covered in detail on the AWS website. IT Svit continues to grow our expertise and more AWS certifications are sure to follow until we rightfully become an AWS-certified Managed DevOps Services Provider.