Why AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01) Should Be Your First AWS Certification (Tips & Tricks) — A Story?
First of all, thank you so much for stopping by and I promise you — I would not waste the time you will spend reading this out.
I will try my best to keep it as crisp as possible highlighting the key points about WHY Cloud Practitioner should be your FIRST AWS Certification.
I had taken my Cloud Practitioner exam in Dec 2019 and with God’s grace, I was able to pass it in my first attempt. But whether it was my first attempt at an AWS certification exam? The answer would be NO. I had taken AWS Solutions Architect Associate — SAA-C01 in June 2019 which I had failed. I went ahead and passing that exam in Nov 2020. How did I do that — You can read it here.
Here are the key reasons I feel you should consider taking up Cloud Practitioner as your first AWS Certification:
REASON #1 [Understating the Fundamentals]:
By now, we all know loud and clear that, fundamentals of anything are the pillar to build something extraordinary. If the basics or the fundamentals are not well structured you will fail while taking the bigger steps and that applies to everything.
REASON #2 [Saves time during Associate Exam]:
AWS Cloud Practitioner course gives you an understanding of every possible AWS service and their uses cases — so when you are going for the associate exams i.e. Developer, Architect, or SysOps trust me if you know the use cases you will be able to answer quite a few scenario-based questions in a min or less than that.
REASON #3 [AWS Benefits]:
If you are not aware AWS provides a lot of benefits on passing every certification exam. Here are a couple of major benefits I feel helpful:
- FREE AWS Certified Practice Exam Benefit (AWS Practice exam includes a series of sample exam questions delivered in a timed environment. The voucher is redeemable for any [1] free AWS practice exam in any available language)
- 50% AWS Certified Exam Discount Benefit (The voucher is redeemable for 50% off in any [1] future AWS certification exam in any available language)
In this case, since Cloud Practitioner costs $100 and any Associate exam costs $150, if you crack the Cloud Practitioner exam you will be able to take up the next associate exam for $75 and the same goes for any future exams.
REASON #4 [Re-Certification] :
- Do you know AWS certifications are valid for 3 years — so that means every 3 years you will have to get recertified?
- Here is a catch — AWS extends the expiry of your certification or recertifies your Cloud Practitioner Certificate every time you pass any of the associate exams. The goes for the associate exam as well, when you pass any professional exam, your associate certificates will also get auto-renewed.
- In my case, I did my Cloud Practitioner in Dec 2019 but when I completed my AWS Developer — Associate in June 2020 and AWS Solutions Architect — Associate in Nov 2020, my Cloud Practitioner certification got renewed twice automatically!
REASON #5 [FREE AWS Training & Practice Exam Voucher]
Currenly AWS is providing quite a few FREE stuff to help you become AWS Cloud Practitioner Certified until end of Dec 2020. Here are some of the links which I feel would be beneficial for you all:
- Sign up below to participate in the challenge, earn a new AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification between November 30 — December 11, 2020, and you’ll be eligible for a voucher for a future instructor-led class!
- Request Free AWS Cloud Practitioner Practice Exam Voucher — https://pages.awscloud.com/AWS-Global-Certification-Challenge-Practice-Exam-Request.html
- Get AWS Certified — https://pages.awscloud.com/NAMER-other-SP-Northeast-Cert-Challenge-2020-reg.html
- AWS Certified Global Challenge — https://pages.awscloud.com/Global-Challenge-Resources.html
- Sample Questions — https://d1.awsstatic.com/training-and-certification/docs-cloud-practitioner/AWS-Certified-Cloud-Practitioner_Sample-Questions.pdf
Things to remember: Even though AWS Cloud Practitioner is a fundamental exam but doesn't go easy thinking it will be a piece of cake to achieve. You will definitely have to put in an effort and learn the concepts but YES compare to the other AWS exams this is by far the easiest one to grab.
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Thank you so much and wish you all the success!
