Cloud Computing has taken over the world. While the idea goes decades back, companies started adopting cloud computing technologies in the recent past. With the adoption rate skyrocketing off late, more cloud service providers have joined the bandwagon. Amazon currently leads the pack of these service providers in the cloud with AWS. Some of the world’s biggest companies run their entire infrastructure on AWS. If you are looking to jump-start your career in AWS, several certifications along curated learning paths can help you immensely.
What is an AWS Certification?
An AWS Certification is a credential awarded to candidates that pass the required exams. They certify a professional’s expertise at several levels on cloud concepts, AWS services and how they work, and even niche specializations like security, big data, networking, IoT, etc. Its popularity has spawned multiple free and paid AWS courses for candidates to choose from while they prepare for their exams.
Types of AWS certifications:
AWS offers the following levels of certifications for a professional to choose from:
- Cloud Practitioner: intended for those looking to build an understanding of the AWS cloud, regardless of their background.
- Architect: Recommended for professionals who wish to work as a solution design engineer, architect, and design applications can opt for an AWS Solutions Architect certification.
- Developer: Designed for those who wish to learn to develop cloud applications on AWS, including leveraging CI/CD migration strategies.
- Operations: Intended for those who wish to build and create automatable applications, systems, and networks on the AWS platform.
Benefits of AWS Certification(s):
There are multiple benefits for a professional with one or more AWS certifications, including:
- Ever-growing demand:
Recent studies show that AWS currently has a 32% market share in the cloud infrastructure and the platform studies market, making it a global leader in its field.
AWS has reported a revenue of 13.5 billion USD, accounting for a 32% growth over the last year, indicating its fast-paced expansion. This increase makes professionals with certified AWS expertise in-demand too.
- Accelerate your career:
AWS certifications can help you gain momentum in your cloud career. AWS’ immense popularity not only imparts the benefits to finding you a new, better-paying job but also can help in your existing role.
- Improving Skillset:
Statistics show that approximately 60% of cloud computing jobs require AWS certification. With more companies cutting down their capital expenditure and operating expenditure by moving their infrastructure to the cloud, upskilling is the need of the hour for existing associates. AWS Courses and the accompanying certifications fulfill that necessity – and their variety means there is a certification for almost anyone.
- Better chances to land higher-paying jobs:
According to the market analysis, professionals with AWS certifications command higher salaries than those who do not for the same role. According to LinkedIn, an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate can command a yearly salary of $149,446. Indeed reports that Cloud Engineers in 2021 earn $118,340 per annum on average.
Your salary can deviate depending on several niches that AWS offers. For example, expertise in several skills can pay higher or slightly lower. The following gives an example of what the average salary of people with certain AWS skills earned:
| AWS SKILL | AVERAGE YEARLY SALARY |
| Elastic Beanstalk | $114,219 |
| Lambda | $121,481 |
| CloudWatch | $121,980 |
| Elastic MapReduce (EMR) | $136,250 |
| DynamoDB | $141,813 |
- Wide range of customers and users:
AWS is used by various users, ranging from Government sectors, startups, public enterprises, and various businesses due to its enhanced reliability and user-friendly model. In addition, gaining one or more AWS certifications opens up the prospect of landing jobs in any of these AWS customer organizations, including Amazon itself.
AWS Certification preparation techniques and exam costs:
There are several AWS Courses available that you can leverage to prepare for your certification exam. These are either available for free or are paid. AWS Courses are also available in textual form, or instructor-led. Some AWS Courses also have hands-on labs and sample questions bundled with them for further help. AWS Course fees can range from as low as $10 to even thousands of dollars.
AWS Certification fees vary between their levels. AWS Solution Architect certification costs are either $150 (for Associate level) or $300 (for Professional level).
Summing up :
AWS Certifications have become immensely popular, riding the wave of success of AWS’ growing popularity. Many more organizations are joining the fray – moving their on-premises infrastructure to AWS. Migration and maintenance of this cloud infrastructure need a lot of professionals with AWS skills. Armed with one or more AWS Certifications, you can land yourself one of these many available jobs – alongside a sizable salary boost.
