My Study Plan in Passing AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C02) Exam

 Hi Folks,

I'm happy to share that I've passed my AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C02) certification exam beginning of this month. At first I was prepared to fail as I thought I didn't put enough effort to prepare. If I'm allowed to have an excuse, it'll be due to my pregnancy. I'm currently 7 months pregnant and the struggles are getting real everyday. I keep feeling tired everyday and I can't seem to sit or walk too long, which I heard is common issues during pregnancies. While still working full-time (luckily at home), preparing to be first-time mother,  I took few hours after work everyday preparing for my AWS SAA-C02 exam. 

In this post, I would like to share with you what are the learning materials I used for the past few months studying for the AWS SAA-C02 exam. Hopefully it'll be useful for you.

1. [Book] AWS Certified Solutions Architect Study Guide by Ben Piper, David Clinton

Although this version is not the latest SAA-C02 materials, I did read this book to refresh some of the AWS cloud computing concepts. And I think it does help in a way, as there are some valid contents in the book. I borrowed this ebook from Singapore's National Library and read it after work until before sleep around 1-2 hours almost every weekdays for 1.5 months (if I don't remember wrongly).

2. [Online Course] Stephane Maarek's Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate 2020

I bought this course on Udemy when they're having sale. I watched the tutorial videos for 1-1.5 months everyday after work until before sleep and most weekends. I quite enjoyed this course as the explanation by Stephane was quite clear and not confusing. This course also have some hands-on demo so you know how actually to do it on AWS console. There are 2 practice exams included as well at the end of the course.

3. [Practice Exams] Jon Bonso's AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Practice Exams

I bought this practice exam from Udemy and used this for the last 1 month before my exam to gauge my readiness. There are total 6 practice exams, 65 questions each. And good thing is they're actually being updated regularly. I went through the practice exam 2 times each and make sure I have at least 80% passing grade. After every practice exam, I read through all questions explanation (whether I answered them correctly or not), just to make sure I got the concept correctly (means no guessing).

I hope my study plans above help you to prepare for the AWS SAA-C02 exam. 

My New Journey As Cloud Engineer

 Hi all, 

It’s been a long time since I post on this blog. So much things happened and professionally I’ve grown so much. So I decided to write again to share with you my exciting new journey as cloud engineer.

Some background story

I quitted my job as network engineer (cum project manager) in a bank after 6 years with them. For the past 2 years I’ve been interested with learning cloud technology, especially AWS. I took up course on my own expense and went to take my AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification exam. I was fortunate that my hardwork in studying intensely for few months paid off. I passed the exam! I thought with this I would be able to convince my boss to start taking a look at cloud adoption. Little did I know it’s tough for a small employee like me (I was only promoted to AVP that time) to make influence. For the last half a year I stayed there, there’s slowly progress in cloud adoption but it’s not fast enough. I couldn’t focus on the cloud area because I still need to give my 110% for my main tasks in network team. And it’s exhausting. So I decided it was time for me to move to another company and pursued what I want.

The journey starts

I found my current job through a friend recommmendation. The role is cloud operations engineer. I’ve been in this position for 8 months now and I didn’t regret my decision to move here. In the beginning, it was a steep learning process for me. In previous company I used to handle projects with not much dynamics as what I find here. I did a lot of project budget, plan, schedule and vendor selection last time. but now I do more troubleshooting and analyzing logs. My previous company was more on preserved Asian culture, while here it’s fast moving global culture. I was scared that I couldn’t fit in, but luckily I got help from some colleagues. Another good thing, I got to learn so many AWS features which are hard to come by.

I do believe the cloud technology will be the main focus for the next 5 years and as IT professional we need to always keep up. Now I’m preparing to renew my AWS Solutions Architect Associate certificate. And I noticed so much have changed (or new features have been added) from the materials from 2 years ago.

Wish me luck in my study and I’ll write more on how I prepare for the exam in another post!