In 2018 my decision to take an AWS exam turned into a practical joke. I started with preparing for the Developer Associate test. Soon, however, I realized there was an overlap between the three associate-level exams. I thought after writing the first test I would have a head start for the other two. It would be exciting and fun to see my manager’s face when he realized I had passed all the three certifications.
Four months later, I asked my manager to sign the expenditure reimbursement paper and waited for him to digest that I had become a certified developer, solutions architect and SysOps admin.
I’ll admit I’m not the funniest person at our office, but sometimes I am good at spicing things up and adding to the drama: at least that’s what an ex-CTO of the company once told me. I think I was successful in this case.
An email from an AWS recruiter
One month after I added the AWS certifications to my LinkedIn profile, I received an email from an AWS recruiter. I didn’t foresee an invitation for an interview with AWS for a managerial position. It turned out the opportunity was not right for me because it required relocating to Vancouver, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise.
Only a few months later, another recruiter contacted me for a similar position at the Amazon fulfillment team in Toronto.
It was not hard to figure out what had prompted these calls. The only change that I had made to my LinkedIn profile was adding the AWS certificates. I quickly realized how impactful that single change was.
Since then, a few other employers have shown interest in my profile, including a Facebook recruiter who wanted to hire me for a managerial position in the UK and a VP of a fast-growing startup. I’ve met and interviewed some and turned down some others, but the main point is how my profile has become more appealing after adding the AWS certs.
Does AWS certification worth the time and effort?
- I am working with AWS products and services daily and I don’t need certification. My work speaks for itself.
- I know AWS services that I’m working with daily and when I need a new AWS product, I’ll learn about it. The certification does not provide me with any additional value.
- I don’t want to pay for the certification. It is a waste of money.
- Instead of preparing for the certification, I can spend my time learning something new.
If any of the above have gone through your mind and has held you back from investing in AWS certification, continue reading below.
One – AWS certification is worth it because it’s investing in a growing market
A consideration for investing time in any new technology is its growth rate. You don’t want to put effort into learning a technology that is phasing out in favour of modern ones.
According to Statista, the AWS revenue has been consistently growing over the past six years. Amazon has reported a more than 400% increase in its revenue in Q1 2020 compared to Q1 2016.
To put things in a better perspective, Oracle’s revenue has increased only about 5% in the same period.
Startups use cloud computing to build their applications because they can defer the scale-out phase until their user base requires extra resources. Many enterprises are also migrating their existing on-premise software to the cloud.
All of the above cannot be done without competent cloud engineers. There is a lot of room and demand for knowledgeable experts who can employ AWS products and services. It helps you demonstrate your capabilities by showing AWS recognizes you as an expert in the field.
A different validation can be done by comparing “AWS certification” and “PMP certification” trends. PMP is a popular certificate in various industries, including IT and construction. As you can see in the snapshot below from Google Trends, the interest in PMP cert has remained almost unchanged over the past few years while the AWS has been increasing consistently.
Two – AWS certification is worth it because it makes your resume stand out
Earlier in January 2020, I had an opening in one of my teams. I published the position on LinkedIn and received more than 150 applications over the following few weeks.
In this crowded market, you want your resume to stand out. Having an AWS certification strengthened my resume and it can do the same to yours.
I admit that I think my current position, being the director of software developer at my company plays a role in how the LinkedIn algorithm matches job opportunities. However, I had been in that position for a while and my profile started to get attention only after adding the certs.
The certification helps only if relevant experience in cloud computing is demonstrated on the resume. Certs without experience in the related field acts as a red flag to the hiring manager. A hiring manager disqualifies a candidate in seconds if they do not find enough related technology experience. This may depend on your resume’s format and properly mentioning the names of the AWS products and services you have employed in the body of your resume.
If you did not have the opportunity to work with AWS at any of your workplaces, that’s okay. You can show you have relevant experience by working on a side project or contributing to some open-source project and adding it to your resume. This shows you are enthusiastic about cloud computing and resourceful enough not to be constrained by the imposed limitations.
Some exchange of information on Quora shows that more than 30,000 developers had passed the Solutions Architect – Associate Level by Feb 2017. The number of professionals holding an AWS cert has been increasing, but since AWS is not publishing this information publicly, we don’t have the exact figure. The point is, you don’t want to fall behind.
Three – AWS certification is worth it because it can boost your salary
AWS certification will likely raise your compensation too. According to a survey conducted by Jefferson Frank, 70% of AWS certified developers reported a salary increase of up to 20%. With an experienced cloud engineer salary no less than $100K, the pay difference can be about $20K.
Forbes reported AWS and Google certifications to be two of the most desired certs in North America with average salaries of $129,868 and $147,357.
Based on this report, most professionals earned around $12K more after they got their AWS certs.
In a separate article, Forbes reported AWS cert to be among the top 5 paying IT certifications in 2019.
Global Knowledge 2019 salary survey also reported the salary of AWS-certified cloud engineers among the highest-paying certifications in North America.
Based on this report, the average salary of AWS certified cloud engineers in North America is as below:
| AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional | $148,456 |
| AWS Certified DevOps Engineer | $137,724 |
| AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate | $130,883 |
| AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate | $130,610 |
| AWS Certified Developer – Associate | $130,272 |
Four – AWS certification is worth it because your profile becomes more findable
Recruiting has become a semi-automated process. Agencies and employers use AI and software to collect matching profiles and an essential element in the process is keyword matching.
Adding the AWS cert to the list of your Licenses and Certificates on your LinkedIn profile enhances your resume’s findability.
In my personal experience, adding the AWS certs to my LinkedIn profile resulted in a 300% increase in calls about serious opportunities.
Five – AWS certification is worth it because you are learning by preparing for the exam
An advantage of preparing for an exam is it requires you to fill the gaps in your knowledge about the subject. If you are an intermediate or advanced AWS user, preparing for the exam will be an opportunity for you to learn a few new points about the services you may not deal with daily.
For example, I was quite familiar with S3, EC2, Lambda, SNS and SQS and had used them before preparing for the certs, but I had never heard of the AWS snowball. I understand it is a product designed for a niche application and it is not likely I will need to use it anytime soon. Still, I think it was worth spending a few minutes learning about this product.
On the other hand, if you are entirely new to cloud computing, preparing for the exam will take you more time, but you will also gain a ton of value learning about cloud computing concepts.
Conclusion
It is worth preparing for and taking an AWS cert. It will pay off and you will see the benefits in your career, be it directly or indirectly.
By preparing for and passing the exam, you are becoming a more competent, cloud-computing professional, and you get recognition for that from the market. It makes your resume more appealing and it can result in higher pay.
Make a plan, stick to it and in a few months, you can add the cert to your LinkedIn profile and resume.
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