Overview
The Amazon Web Services Certified Developer (CDA) is an excellent credential for anyone working in AWS or anyone who wants to work in AWS. It’s fair to say that the more general AWS certifications like Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) are better starting points. This was the first AWS certification I got, but if I had to do it all over again, I would not have started here.
The concepts we are expected to know are much more niche. There is a strong focus on DynamoDB, Lambda, and CloudFormation/SAM. All of these are covered under the SAA, but it’s nowhere near granular. The SAA is a natural starting point at the associate-level within AWS certification. If you haven’t started yet but want to dive into AWS and rack up some certifications to demonstrate mastery, I would not do what I did and start with the CDA!
AWS-Produced Certification Preparation Materials
AWS is a great cloud platform. Arguably the greatest one. But they really, really suck at making in-house content for exam prep. I bought Skill Builder for a year, but it was a waste. One good thing: the practice exams in Skill Builder are the most accurate to the real deal. I mean, it makes sense. The same team probably writes questions for both official and practice exams. But that is the only good thing I have to say about it. It’s harsh, sure, but I think it’s fair to expect them to provide the best preparation materials for their own certification exams.
Before I move on to the materials that I found extremely helpful, I wanted to quickly shout out CloudQuest. It’s an interactive game in SkillBuilder. That was pretty cool. You walk around a 3D city and solve real-world problems by creating solutions in the cloud. They offer specific tracks for various certifications, so it’s not the same experience for people with different goals. It’s cute, well done, but still not particularly helpful. If you’ve never worked in the AWS console, I think it’s top-notch. If you’ve spent some time in the console, it’s likely too simple. But still, hats off to the developers of it!
Third-Party Certification Training Materials
Because the certification vendor’s materials were honestly quite bad, I had to seek out training elsewhere. I tried A Cloud Guru, but it wasn’t for me. The practice tests were too easy and the training videos seemed to focus so much on such granular details of one service and then just gloss over the next. What helped me more than anything else was Tutorials Dojo.
I would not have passed this exam without Tutorials Dojo. Their practice tests were the best, and they created a comprehensive ebook covering all of the relevant services and the corresponding relevant components of those services. If you’re a video-oriented learner, they also have a video course covering what is in the ebook. But the very best thing they make is their practice exams. The Tutorials Dojo practice exams are even tougher than the official exams. If you’re consistently passing their practice exams (even barely so) then you know it is time to book the exam. You can get the ebook, video course, and practice exams all for like, 40 USD. They’re valid for a year I believe, but you can download the ebook and use it offline. It’s an amazing deal and it would be worth it even at 400 bucks… but we’re lucky it’s not!
Now I didn’t use Stephane Maarek’s Udemy courses for the CDA, but they were crucial to helping me on the SAA. He has practice exams, too! I would recommend his course along with at least the Tutorials Dojo practice exams.
Timeline
I spent three months preparing for this exam, but if I knew where to start (Tutorials Dojo and Maarek’s Udemy course) I would have probably been ready in just two. The best metric is just taking practice exams. Don’t take all of them back-to-back. Take one, go through all of the questions and make flashcards for what was missed (I love Quizlet for this) and review notes before moving on. Nothing beats hands-on experience, too.
The Exam
The exam is a grueling 65 questions and we only have just over two hours to take the exam. I passed it on the first try with a high score, but I had no idea how I did. I would not have been surprised if I had failed. AWS doesn’t tell you when you pass right away. They crunch some numbers after the fact and spit out a final score like, four or five hours later. I find it a bit insulting that we just went through 65 questions covering how to deliver results in milliseconds with ease via the amazing solutions AWS offers, and yet they can’t even give us our results in under an hour? It’s fine, I just hate the wait. A lot.
Because the exam is very wordy and even the smallest details can change what is correct and what is wrong, I would recommend taking this exam in the morning. Read each question carefully! Maybe the best solution available isn’t the correct answer.
Maybe the correct answer is the most affordable option, or the correct answer requires that we only use serverless solutions. It’s a tough exam, but without preparation, it is highly doable for anyone, even someone who rarely works with cloud computing and does not write code.
What Next?
Assuming you started with the SAA and perhaps even before that with the Cloud Practitioner, I would jump to SysOps Administrator (SOA) next. If not, knock out the SAA! There are many concepts under the SAA that do not get a lot of attention under the CDA. The trifecta of SAA, CDA, and SOA establish an extremely strong foundation for just about any cloud engineer position available – even those that do not even use AWS.
After those three, there are a couple routes available. The most obvious are the professional-level certifications. These are notoriously tougher, but carry significantly more weight. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional and Certified DevOps Engineer certifications also refresh their corresponding associate-level certifications. Solutions Architect Pro refreshes SAA and DevOps Engineer refreshes both CDA and SOA.
If we want to take a break from AWS, there are cloud certifications from Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure that are also very much in-demand. But I would look elsewhere first. I would recommend getting certified in Docker via Mirantis and in Terraform via HashiCorp. Cloud Native Computing Foundation also offers Kubernetes certifications. No matter which cloud platform we are using, proficiency in Docker, Terraform, and Kubernetes will be valuable.