Introduction

Hi, I’m Ansh Paul, I work at Bell Technical Solutions as Field Technician for last couple of months. I graduated last year as a Computer Systems Technician from St Lawrence College.

Got to know about the cloud back in 2020 from my brother-in-law Rishab Kumar, as he’s a cloud engineer. I got interested and started reading about it. Did Cloud Computing 101 course on Coursera during Covid, for basic understanding. Then, after completing High school, I opted CST Diploma at St Lawrence college, where I gained more knowledge about the cloud and its offerings. During my college, with basic knowledge and 3 weeks of studying, I took the first AWS-certified Cloud practitioner exam and cleared it on my first attempt. This certification was really interesting and helpful in building fundamental knowledge about services offered by AWS. Also, I choose AWS over other cloud platforms because I was learning AWS cloud in my college and had previous experience with it, which made me more confident in taking the exam.

What is Cloud Computing?

First of all, what is the cloud? Cloud is a delivery of compute resources ( servers, storage, networking) over the internet, which means you can host your websites and applications on the internet, without using any physical resources (servers) of your own and you only pay for the resources you use(pay-as-you-go).

Currently, there are three popular third-party cloud providers:

1. AWS (Amazon Web Services)

2. Microsoft (Azure)

3. Google (GCP)

How I passed AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

It took me around three weeks to cover all the material and revise my notes before giving my certification exam. I divided my time into 2 weeks, in the first week I finished the LinkedIn course and got all the information from various assets (AWS official website, YouTube videos and different blogs). I used to study for six to seven hours every week and started doing practice exams on AWSBoy, for knowledge checks and time management. At the end of the second week, I booked an exam date for next week. Booking the exam date earlier gave me enough time and commitment to complete the study material and focus on the exam with proper concentration. In the third week, I did only practice exams, scored above 80-85% and cleared the certification on the first attempt.

Study material and resources

1. LinkedIn Course: I enrolled myself in an introductory course by Hiroko Nishimura. This course covers four topics asked in the exam (Cloud Concepts, Security, Core services, Billing and Pricing), with a total of 3h 45mins duration. I found this course really helpful, as the learning material is extremely basic and to the point.

   https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/prepare-for-the-aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-clf-c01-certification-exam?u=56969921

2. AWSBoy : Secondly, I used AWSBoy for multiple practice exams for free, which helped me in setting myself up for the exam.

   https://www.awsboy.com/

3. AWS official website: I read sample questions, documentation of particular services and AWS whitepapers for better understanding.

   https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-cloud-practitioner/

What to expect in an exam and Tips

AWS Cloud Practitioner is an easy certification, which you can complete within a few weeks. So, I would recommend learning course material with proper concentration and mindset. Exam questions are easy but sometimes tricky, so having accurate knowledge about services is a must. Try hands-on labs, if having trouble learning several offerings. Try not to rush for exams, if you think you are not ready take some extra time and learn things genuinely.

Conclusion

I would recommend Cloud Practitioner Certification if you are a beginner and want to learn cloud computing. Additionally, don't just depend on the certification. Attempt different resources and gain skills that will help you to land a dream job in the future.

Thank you, drop a comment if you liked this article. You can reach out to me on Twitter and LinkedIn.