Beginning AWS Studies

As our company begins to swiftly move services to the cloud, specifically AWS I'm now in a great position to pick up this technology. This will require a paradigm shift on my part, not just on learning the tech but also how I learn and study this info as well.

Before with traditional networking, you could pick up a book or 3, setup a small scale lab if necessary, and be on your way. Since Cloud technology moves so quickly, reading books that are only 2 years old can be out of date already! Not only that but there's so much to cloud services you need a very good grasp on what tools are available to you. The best way is to of course setup your own account with the cloud service and play around with everything available. This is a nice change as in the past with labs, it took dozens of hours planning, purchasing, and setting up hardware before you could even begin labbing.

My AWS study plans will focus on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate cert. This seems to be the initial starting point everyone recommends. I'm not sure how deep I need to go yet with this material but it's for sure a mile wide the material that I need to learn. Once this cert is completed, I'm most likely going to take a look at the AWS Certified Advanced Networking specialty exam as it makes the most sense to me. For the first exam I plan on using the current studying plan in this order:

• Internal company LMS (Learning Management System) web learning for the AWS course: This will provide me with a very high level overview, I'll begin basic labs as well
• CBTNuggets AWS Associate videos: I'll begin taking notes at this point before moving on. Still debating on older 2013 videos that they have, may be very outdated at this point.
• Safari Books - AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam: This will perform as my deep dive (hopefully) into the AWS material. I will continue note taking along as implementing flashcards using Anki at this point
• Udemy (CloudGuru) course: I'll then prep for the exam itself by going through this course if affordable and available to finish up any lingering topics. I'll also deep dive into labs during this time.