Aws Certified Developer

Introduction

Instead of storing data on your computer’s hard drive, Cloud computing allows programs and data to be stored over the internet. It is internet-based computing that provides shared computer processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand.  

The concept of cloud computing grew in 2009 with the availability of low-cost computers, high-capacity networks, large storage devices, along with widespread adoption of service-oriented architecture, hardware visualization and automatic and utility computing.

By 2013, cloud computing services were being provided by a variety of companies due to high computing power, availability, accessibility, scalability, high performance and cheap cost of services. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one such service.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Launched in 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. AWS offers a set of cloud computing services that make up an on-demand computing platform. AWS offers these services from 16 different geographical regions in the world.

In 2016, AWS was offering more than 70 services. These included developer tools and tools for the internet of things, mobile, management, deployment, application services, analytics, database, network and storage.

If you’re an IT professional who wants to work with AWS, AWS Developer Certification is one of the best ways to enter this field. To get certified, you must clear AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam.

AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam

Who is eligible?

AWS Certified Developer – Associate exam is for IT professionals who have:

• Experience in developing and maintaining applications written for AWS CloudFormation, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Amazon Simple Workflow Service, Amazon Simple Notification Service, Amazon Simple Queue Service, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon Simple Storage Service.
• Proficiency in developing, designing and deploying cloud-based solutions using AWS.
• Understanding in basic architecture best practices, uses and core AWS services.
• Detailed knowledge of at-least one advanced level programming language.
• At least one year of practical experience in maintaining and designing an AWS-based application.

Things you need to know for this Exam

The following are some of the concepts you should know:

• Code-level application security (encryption, credentials and IAM roles, etc.)
• Writing code for optimized performance of AWS services used by your application.
• Leveraging AWS SDKs to interact with AWS services from your application.
• Selecting the correct AWS services for the application.

Exam Format

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate exam has the following format:

• Has multiple answer questions
• Is available in English, Japanese and Chinese
• The candidate gets 80 minutes to complete the exam
• Registration fee is USD 150
• Registration fee (practice exam) is USD 20

Exam Sample Questions

To give you an idea about the exam, these are the sort of questions you should expect in your AWS Certified Developer exam

Which of the following statements about SQS is true?

Your application is trying to upload a 6 GB file to Simple Storage Service and receive a "Your proposed upload exceeds the maximum allowed object size." error message. What is a possible solution for this?

You run an ad-supported photo sharing website using S3 to serve photos to visitors of your site. At some point you find out that other sites have been linking to the photos on your site, causing loss to your business. What is an effective method to mitigate this?

What is one key difference between an Amazon EBS-backed and an instance-store backed instance?

Why should you take the AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam

While there are many reasons to take this exam, the following three stand out:

Validate Expertise – This certification validates your existing knowledge in the field. AWS certifications are highly valued in the IT industry. AWS certified IT professionals are highly sought after in the market due to their credibility and commitment to their trade.

Career Advancement – AWS certified IT professional is a step forward since AWS certification validates your skills to employers, customers, and colleagues alike.

Joining the Community of Certified Developers – AWS certification opens a whole new world for IT professionals since they get networking opportunities with other certified professionals and the chance to attend special events.

How to Prepare for the Exam

Amazon recommends that you prepare for the exam through practical experience. This would require 1-2 years of hands-on experience using AWS. In addition, Amazon also offers preparatory services. AWS training would involve the following steps in preparing you for the AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam:

7-Easy Steps to Passing AWS Certified Developer Exam

1. Take a training class – AWS training classes are taught by qualified instructors who can help you learn practices necessary for AWS and to further enhance your technical skills. Amazon recommends taking “Developing on AWS” class.

2. Review the exam guide – Amazon recommends that candidates review AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam Guide and especially review the sample questions.
3. Practice with an Exam Prep Quest and self-paced labs – Amazon lets candidates practice AWS services and solutions in a live environment. Amazon has especially packaged qwikLABS Quest for the candidates.
4. Study Whitepapers –These whitepapers are written by the AWS team, AWS partners and independent analysts. These can help the candidates enhance their technical understanding. Some of these whitepapers are:

5. Review FAQs – Amazon recommends that candidates focus on Amazon SQS, Amazon RDS, Amazon Route 53, Amazon VPC, Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2.
6. Take a practice exam – Once you’ve followed the above listed steps, it is time to test what you’ve learned. Practice tests are offered online and are timed.
7. Schedule your exam – If you feel comfortable enough to sit for the real exam, then simply sign up by visiting this site: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certification-prep/

According to Forbes, the average salary for each of the five Amazon Web Services (AWS) certifications is around $100,000. This includes AWS Certified Developer as well.

If you are interested in taking the AWS Certified Developer – Associate Exam, make sure to check out aws.amazon.com, which is the primary source of information for this exam.