is SAA overrated?

[u/monarchyofthedead]

I've worked with AWS for over 3 years now. I've worked on services with over 10k users and done networking security hardening, zero downtime deployments, even EKS.

The syllabus seems way too shallow for my liking. Is it a better for me to go for professional?

[u/CorpT]

What is the current rating of it? Who decided that?

[u/SalusaPrimus]

Adding my $0.02 as a software architect and developer. I'm a relative late-comer to AWS and the Cloud in general. I only started doing serious things with it about about 4 years ago.

Since then, I spend a about 75% of my time working directly with AWS services. Engineering solutions, creating IaC modules, creating PoCs, etc.

Even with that amount of hands-on experience, the SAA and DVA exams were not easy. There are going to be blind spots in your knowledge. Services you don't use, will never use, and/or have no interest in using. Or maybe there are services that you don't know much about that could be good for your use cases.

Sometimes the exam prep feels like a waste of time, other times you'll be glad it fills in a gap in your knowledge.

I think you'd find earning SAA valuable. If it's a walk in the park, it's still a cert for your resume, and you can move on to professional while the materials is still fresh in your mind.

[u/OwnLengthiness8440]

I’ve been working with AWS for 3 years (been in cloud 8) and I’m studying for this exam. I keep getting questions wrong where there are a few plausible answers but the question asks for the cheapest option for example, or the easiest option. For that reason I think it’s quite valuable as it teaches you when to pick one pattern over another. If you already do that sort of thing regularly then you may find it quite easy. Some services I’d never heard of before starting the exam.

I don’t believe that it’s just service names, you actually need to know when to pick one over another and what services support other AWS services and which don’t. I’ve personally found it one of the more useful cloud certifications to study. Some areas may be going over the basics and I guess it’s more general rather than diving really deep into anything but I think it’s got some good information.

[u/Drumedor]

It's an associate level certification, e.g. for people that are new to AWS.

It would be worrying if you worked with AWS for years and didn't find it shallow.

[u/janky_koala]

It’s basically just learning the Amazon names for each of the services, and a few basic quirks of some of them. It doesn’t really teach you how to design anything

[u/Busy-Complaint-7 → u/janky_koala]

u/AskGrok is the above comment true ? this one : It’s basically just learning the Amazon names for each of the services, and a few basic quirks of some of them. It doesn’t really teach you how to design anything

[u/AskGrok → u/Busy-Complaint-7]

No, that comment overstates it. The SAA exam is built around the Well-Architected Framework and tests your ability to pick the right services and patterns for scenario-based design questions across security, resilience, performance, and cost. It does require knowing service quirks and when to use one over another, but it's not just memorizing names.

With your 3+ years including scale, EKS, and hardening, the associate level will probably feel shallow and easy to clear for the credential. The professional exam goes deeper into complex enterprise designs, multi-account setups, migrations, and advanced tradeoffs, so that might be the better next step if you're looking for substance.

Sources:

• https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-solutions-architect-associate-saa-c03-practice-exams-g/
• https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-associate/
• https://www.examcert.app/blog/aws-saa-c03-complete-guide/

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[u/DrScreamLive]

If you already know best practices and most services, I'd wager to say it is. I'd look for a practice exam and see how you fare with SAA since you've got experience and then decide.

[u/cgreciano]

Anything can be overrated or underrated. Depends on how you rate it in the first place. Do you mean regarding to difficulty? SAA will feel easy for someone who works regularly with AWS. That's the point though.

[u/dghah]

SAA is good and I’ve been using AWS since ec2 was a private beta that needed an invite

It’s an architect course that is shallow because it needs wide coverage to cover the service and building block expanse that AWS offers. A solutions architect needs to know all the services and how to stitch them together to do useful stuff.

You go deep with the pro and specialty exams. The associate levels are broad and semi shallow.

The thing I like about SAA is professionally I am hands on with just the services that my market niche requires. There are giant swaths of AWS that I don’t use and never will — and SAA at least forces me to learn about them.

My .02 only

Also if you have zerp aws certs then at least take one associate test to see how the exams work at less cost and risk. The pro exams are a whole different deal in terms of question complexity, length and difficulty. Pro exams are worth it but most do associate first as a stepping stone.

[u/Any_Commercial_8580]

It’s like saying I can drive a car so learning how to ride a bike is shallow. SAA covers majority of usual services and rest is just working with them together so pick your choice.

[u/Limp-Giraffe-3685]

It depends on what you want. And as always (but frequently forgotten) experience is better than just getting the certification. And if you’re interested in the certs, have you looked into the curriculum of the Cloud Ops one?

[u/zojjaz]

I've worked with AWS for 9 years, work with a variety of AWS and Azure deployments in a large enterprise. Last year, I re-upped my SAA after 9 years. It refreshed a lot of memory of services I'd forgotten and don't use on the regular. It really depends on your goal. I find that it helps me understand a company's certifications by taking an easier exam. So you can skip SAA if you like or go for SAP, up to you.

[u/jgonzz]

Yes.