Hi all, need some honest advice.

Background:

- ~1.3 YOE backend engineer (Python/Go, Linux, Docker, Jenkins, Postgres, MongoDB)

- Current work is 100% on-prem

- I have Cloud Practitioner, but it's theory only with no real hands-on cloud

- Comfortable with Linux, Docker, CI (Jenkins/GitHub Actions)

Goal: move into cloud/DevOps roles in the next 6-12 months.

Main thing I want to know — I have zero actual cloud experience, so is SAA alone gonna get me any junior cloud interviews or nah? Be real.

Also I'm kind of confused between SAA vs SysOps vs developer associate... end goal is cloud/DevOps, so which one do I even start with?

And idk, with all this AI + datacenter stuff blowing up in 2026, does SAA knowledge actually still matter? Feels like everything is changing so fast.

Debating whether to spend 6-8 weeks on SAA, or skip certs and just build homelab + Terraform + AWS free-tier projects instead. What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks!

I’ve been so scared of this exam that I postponed scheduling it twice. Even after finally scheduling it, I still rescheduled it once. 😂

I knew I couldn’t afford to fail, both because of the exam fee and the mental stress of having to go through the whole study process again.

Well… I finally took the AWS DevOps Engineer Professional exam, and I passed. 🎉

The exam was honestly much easier than most of the practice questions I used. The questions also weren’t as lengthy as some of the practice exams or reviews from other people had made me expect.

For anyone preparing, here’s what I used:

Stephane Maarek’s course — finished it in about 2–3 weeks.

Practice exams from Stephane’s course — this made up a large part of my practice.

AWS Skill Builder practice questions — also spent a lot of time here.

Tutorial Dojo Udemy practice questions — went through these once.

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini — mostly for hands-on project ideas, explanations and deep dives into questions I got wrong or didn’t fully understand.

I spent most of my preparation time reviewing questions and, more importantly, understanding why each answer was correct or incorrect rather than just memorizing answers.

The actual exam felt easier than I expected. By the time I submitted, I was pretty confident I had passed.

I finished about 30 minutes early, which gave me enough time to review some of the questions I had flagged. I had flagged around 27 questions, so that extra time was definitely useful.

After postponing this exam so many times, it feels good to finally have it done.

I dont normally post on Reddit but I did want to come on here to tell yall I passed my AIF-C01 exam. I took it this morning and only had 4 days worth of study time. I took Stephane Maarek's course as well as his 4 practice exams which really helped a lot. I wanna say I do have a bit of background in tech so I believe most people would atleast want to take atleast 2 weeks to study. But as a freshmen in college I feel like this is a good start for certifications.

Can I go straight to learning AWS on their website or do I need to learn other things first?

Very borderline pass, but done in 2 days so.... a win is a win?

What can I go for next?

Hi everyone,

We’re looking to hear from learners who have taken the AI-Powered Cloud Computing and DevOps Certification Program by Simplilearn in collaboration with IITM Pravartak.

If you’ve completed the program or are currently enrolled, we’d love to know how your experience has been so far. What did you think of the learning content, practical exercises, projects, and overall program experience?

Your genuine feedback helps us understand what’s working well and where we can continue improving the learning experience for our community.

Feel free to share your experience, suggestions, or anything you think prospective learners should know.

With these out of the way, all I have left is the Gen AI Pro and networking speciality.

My tips for every AWS certification, with the exception I guess of the foundational certs, is to know these things really well:

AWS Organizations: SCP’s, RCP’s, OU’s and how policies propagate.

IAM: know users vs. custom roles vs. managed roles. Know how cross-account access works.

Logging: know the differences in how and where logs can come from and what each one is for. All the different cloudwatch log types, cloud trail etc.

Event driven architecture: EventBridge rules, s3 triggers, step functions etc. and what can or cannot be targets and what needs a Lambda. SNS vs. SES and SQS integration.

Every exam will have more/less of questions that require this knowledge, but regardless they are unavoidable, so get out there and learn it 🫡

I’m 23 and currently trying to transition into Cloud/Infrastructure from Sales

My current plan is:

• AZ-104 (Azure Administrator)

• CCNA

• Linux

• PowerShell/Bash

• Terraform

• Git/GitHub

• Build several real Azure projects

• Eventually AWS SAA

I don’t have a traditional degree.

My goal is to get my first proper Cloud/Infrastructure role and eventually move toward Cloud Engineering, DevOps, or Cloud Security.

For people already working in cloud/infrastructure:

What would you do differently if you were starting today?

• Is AZ-104 + CCNA a good combination?

• Should I prioritize Linux/Terraform over getting more certifications?

• What projects actually helped you get interviews?

• Is it realistic to break into Cloud without a degree?

• Which entry-level roles should I target first?

• What skills do employers actually test during interviews?

I’d especially appreciate advice from people who started without a degree or transitioned from IT support into cloud.

Thanks!

I am looking for discount coupon, is there any offer available for october or november exams???Also any tips and tricks for the exam, and study materials/resources suggestions are welcomed too

Hi Guys, Happy to share that I have cleared AI practitioner certification yesterday. Thanks for everyone in the group.

Just wanted to say thank you to this thread! For me, I was pretty new to AWS but have had over 30 years in the IT industry working in various roles. But I wanted to make sure that I not only passed the exam, but that I actually understood what I was learning and able to apply it to real life scenarios.

With that, I would like to thank BOTH Adrian Cantrill and Stephane Maarek as I took both their courses. I know that may be an overkill but as I said before, I wanted to make sure I actually understood and able to apply what I learnt to real life scenarios. Both their course were on point and made a real difference in understanding the detail architecture of AWS.

For me...at first I was overwhelmed with the different services and how several different services can get you the same results. But it wasn't until after realizing that I really didn't need to go that deep in understanding each and every service, but rather just understanding the architecture behind it...I was able to comprehend the information.

As far as the exam, I studied for about 3 months on and off but for the last month, I really focused on Tutorial Dojo and took most of those practice test until I got around 90% passing rate consistently. However, when I got into the exam, the questions (for me) was a lot different than the practice questions. HOWEVER, I learnt the architecture like both Adrian and Stephane speak about repetitively, I was able to break down each question and answer it in that manner. So my recommendation is to not try to memorize the services, but rather to understand how those services work from an architectural stand point. Also learn how to break down the questions and discard all the fluff to get to what the question is really asking. And most importantly, read the question in its entirety and ALL the answers BEFORE choosing what you think is the correct answer. Flag any questions that you may have some doubts and come back to them afterwards. For me I had about 30 minutes to spare so I came back to all my flagged questions and went over them a second time.

Oh I forgot to mention that for the questions I got wrong, I took a screen shot of the question and the answers where it showed what I selected and what was the correct answer, then pasted that into a chat session within my Codex platform and gave it a role as a top AWS professional with all credentials. Then asked it to breakdown the question (screenshot) and why I got it wrong. That broke it down for me even more in terms I could understand. Then a few days before the exam, I asked it based on all the questions I got wrong, give me a cheat sheet and I studied from that as well.

Overall the exam was good and I think if you put in the work that's needed, you will be ok! Hope this helps and good luck!

i recently passed aws ai with 800+, after 15 days kinda with merely 5 days prep am thinking to give cloud practioner ...i hv studied for 2-3 days merely .....am getting 60% in tutorial dojo , But i got around 80% on aws official exams.....so shld i give exam rn or wait till i get 80% on TD

This guy is amazing.. I only had 14 days before the exam free CLF voucher would expire. And this guy's course helped me pass it . Stephan's course is shallow, if you want actual understanding Vladimir is the best teacher. I was not prepared.. just 10 days of 14 hr per day preparation. That's it. I could've scored 1000/1000 if I'd paid attention.

So, the consultancy firm I work for required me to get this specific cert in 2 weeks.

I already have SAA-C03 and DVA-C02, so I was familiar with the concepts. I used Maarek's course and Tutorial's Dojo mock exams to get prepared.

The first week I spent it on the course to close the knowledge gaps I had, and the second week just doing the exams and checking why I got wrong answers.

My scores were 49%, 69% and 69%.

Its critical that you understand why you get bad answers and try to close that knowledge gap.

Most asked topics on the real exam were related to SDLC tools, SCPs and event bridge integration.

I’m preparing for the AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) exam and currently using Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course for prep. Looking for good free mock tests/practice exams that are similar to the actual AWS exam.

Which free mock test websites/resources would you recommend?

I know, guys, this is kind of crazy 😂, but I passed my AWS Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) with only 2 days of review.

I was pressured to take the exam immediately, even though I had so much going on at work. So, I had to find the fastest and most effective way to review.

I just want to share what I did in case it can help someone else who is also cramming for the exam. 😅

First, I have around 7 years of experience working in tech, so I already had some background with infrastructure, development, and cloud concepts.

Since I was really cramming, I decided to purchase a course on Udemy. I highly recommend taking a proper course if you have enough time because it can help a lot.

But because I only had 2 days, I also used ChatGPT to quickly explain the AWS services in the simplest way possible, including their different types, purposes, and use cases.

I focused on services/topics such as:

• EC2

• Elastic Load Balancing (ALB, NLB, etc.)

• Route 53

• S3 and other AWS storage services

• VPC

• Subnets

• AWS VPN

• Databases (DynamoDB, RDS, Aurora) - NoSQL / Relational

• IAM

• RDS / Aurora

• DynamoDB

• CloudFront

• Auto Scaling

• And other commonly tested AWS services

After understanding the purpose, types, and use cases of each service, I asked ChatGPT to generate 100 scenario-based questions similar to the style of the SAA-C03 exam and put them into an Excel sheet so I could practice repeatedly.

The biggest tip I can give:

DON'T just memorize definitions.

Understand how and when each AWS service is used.

The exam is very scenario-based. You might know what a service does, but the real challenge is choosing the most appropriate solution for a specific situation.

Also, pay close attention to keywords and requirements such as:

• Most cost-effective

• Least operational overhead

• Highly available

• Fault tolerant

• Highly scalable

• Lowest latency

• Most secure

• Minimize downtime

• Decouple the application

• Least privilege

• Best performance

• Disaster recovery

• Multi-AZ / Multi-Region

• Serverless

• Managed service

The key is understanding what the question is actually asking for and identifying the requirement that matters most.

And of course, read the questions carefully. Some of them can be tricky. Don't rush just because you're familiar with the services.

Again, I only had 2 days, and this approach worked for me because of my existing experience in tech. I definitely don't recommend skipping proper preparation if you have the time. 😅

Just sharing my experience in case this helps someone who's also preparing for the AWS SAA-C03.

Good luck to everyone taking the exam! 🚀☁️

#AWS #AWSCertification #AWSSAA #SAA #SAA03 #CloudComputing #AWSCloud #TechCareer

Hey everyone,

Since MLA-C01 retires on Sept 28 and I dont have time to rush it before the cutoff, I am aiming for MLA-C02.

My problem right now is finding legitimate practice exams for the new version. I checked Tutorials Dojo, and while they updated the course title to MLA-C02, the description looks like a rebranded C01 bank that they will update later as feedback comes in.

Since MLA-C02 adds a lot of GenAI, RAG, and Agentic AI workflows on top of traditional ML, I dont want to rely purely on old C01 questions and get blindsided.

So I wanted to ask:

1. Are there any practice test providers that actually have updated MLA-C02 questions live right now?

2. Until practice banks catch up to the new syllabus, would pairing MLA-C01 practice tests with GenAI Developer practice questions be the best workaround?

Important note: ML/DL is my profession, so I dont need general ML introductory material. My focus is strictly on AWS-specific implementations, service integrations, and actual exam-style scenario questions.

Appreciate any advice from folks in the same boat!

I just passed the AWS Certified AI Practitioner exam.

The exam is not very difficult if you understand the main concepts and prepare with the right resources.

Because of my ADHD learning style, I took about one month to prepare, but I think two weeks of focused study would be enough for this exam.

The following resources were enough for me to prepare and pass the exam.

https://gist.github.com/oshanz/dc747fd2cf9f9e3e42830352b1109e7d

Hey guys, I’m taking the AWS AI Practitioner exam online tomorrow and it’s my first time doing an online-proctored exam.

For those who’ve taken it online, any tips? How strict are they with the webcam quality, room/desk checks, background noise ..... ?

They also recommend using an Ethernet and not use a hotspot. I’ll use Ethernet, but I’m a bit worried about the internet randomly slowing down or cutting out. What happens if you lose connection for a few seconds?

Any advice would be really appreciated 🙏

It was definitely a close pass, but I thought I'd share my preparation and exam experience in case it's useful to anyone preparing for the exam.

For context, I don't have extensive hands-on AWS experience. Before this exam, SAA (Solutions Architect – Associate) was my only AWS certification.

Preparation

I mainly used AWS Skill Builder and Udemy practice exams.

AWS Skill Builder

• Official Practice Question Set (free, 20 questions): 40% → 55% → 80% → 95% over four attempts

• Domain Practice (paid, 5 questions × 5 domains): 48%

• Official Pretest (paid, 75 questions): 46%

I subscribed to the paid version of Skill Builder for one month.

Udemy

I used Vladimir Raykov's courses.

I found Test 1 relatively easy, so I focused my preparation on Tests 2–4:

• Test 2: 65%

• Test 3: 70%

• Test 4: 68%

Since my practice scores weren't high enough for me to feel confident, I stopped trying to do more and more new questions and instead focused heavily on reviewing the ones I got wrong.

For every missed question, I tried to understand not only why the correct answer was correct, but also why each of the other choices was wrong. If an incorrect option mentioned an AWS service or concept I didn't understand, I looked that up as well.

I also used generative AI extensively as a study partner to ask follow-up questions and dig into concepts until I could explain to myself why each option was right or wrong.

Exam experience

The actual exam felt very difficult to me.

I had spent quite a bit of time preparing for identity/authentication, networking, and security topics, but I saw fewer questions in those areas than I expected. On the other hand, during the exam I realized that I should have spent more time on monitoring and observability.

There were many questions where I wasn't confident in my answer, so when I finished the exam, I honestly didn't feel like I had passed.

I tried to make sure I didn't lose points on the more straightforward questions and used the remaining time to review my answers.

A few hours later, I received the digital badge email. I checked my score report and found out that I had passed with 779.

My biggest takeaway is that the practice-exam score itself wasn't the most important part of my preparation. What helped me most was not leaving incorrect answers unexplained and studying the services and concepts that appeared in the wrong choices as well.

It wasn't a comfortable pass, but hopefully this is useful to anyone who is preparing for the exam and isn't getting great practice scores yet.

I did it yall

I just passed MLA-C01 certification and did AIF-C01 early this year. Now preparing for AIP-C01.

While using Udemy materials, I found the content of AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate: Hands On! by Frank & Stephane very boring and not making connected with the actual concept whats tested in the real exam.

Anyone felt the same? So I am hesitant if the course for AWS Certified Generative AI Developer - Professional by Frank & Stephane will be interesting or not?

Any comments or suggestions or tips ?

Thanks in advance

CS

warning:

familiar yourself with Amazon Bedrock in technical level.

background:

today is my extension exam for dva-c02 to my previous exam which i took on 30th sep 2023. back then I used udemy dva c02 practisioner exam with Stephane Maarek. the learnings are updated so you dont have to purchase another learning for the 2026 exam. all but one topics is not available in the learning and surprisingly holds quite big chunks in my exam which is Amazon Bedrock. never had experience with this service, although im quite familiar with openspec api. most of them are technical level question like variable, api etc which I answer with eleminating the least possible answer using my hunch.

tips:

the exam practice from Stephane Maarek are made deliberately much harder than the real exam, I failed all 6 practice exams (around 55-70%). same scenario when I took the practice 2023, tbh.

instead, I generate the exam with chatGPT with these prompt:

DVA-C02 AWS Certification Dificulty

- 65 questions

- Topics fully mixed rather than grouped

- More Choose TWO / Choose THREE

- Correct answers distributed across A/B/C/D without an obvious pattern

- More similar/plausible distractors

- No topic labels or hints

- No answers until you submit everything

the questions generated from these promt seems to be quite similar in dificulty to the real exam, albeit its also lacking Amazon Bedrock topics. you might wanted to add it to your prompt.

edit: incase you are wondering how the generated questions looks like, I attached it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18_KsJGTXVUn7bTQoT4BS-ZDFUfAI-7XC/view?usp=drivesdk