Why I'm taking the AWS Solutions Architect certification

Why this certification

I've built for the web in several languages and made mobile apps, both native and cross-platform. I've also dabbled in infrastructure. I want to stay a generalist and add the cloud to what I can do, so I can help clients and companies with it.

My job is changing. With AI, I write less and less code by hand and spend more time building projects. That pushes me toward a solutions architect role. I'll come back to this in another note.

Security appeals to me a lot. The Professional and Security certifications may come next. For now I'm focusing on this one.

No rush

I could cram for three months, pass the exam, and never think about it again. That doesn't interest me. I want to understand how things work and know what I'm talking about the day I get certified.

What I tried first

I started with the usual resources. I bought Adrian Cantrill's Associate and Professional bundle and Stéphane Maarek's course on Udemy. I got the Tutorials Dojo practice exams and downloaded books about the certification. I also bought AWS - Préparation à la certification Solutions Architect - Associate by Mehdi Bounaceur, published by ENI. It's a very good book in French, but it runs close to a thousand pages.

They're good resources and they explain things well. But they go through the services one after another, and the video courses are long. I get impatient. I watch without taking part and barely remember anything. It's probably me, but with this kind of material I stay passive.

I'm keeping them anyway. I can go back to them to review. Each one has its strengths and its limits. I may compare them in another note.

My method

So I switched to Claude. I gave it two sources, the official AWS documentation and the exam guide. The guide says what I need to know. The documentation keeps me from learning things that are wrong.

I study a little every day, when I can, one concept at a time. Claude explains, then asks me questions until I can make the call. It's short, I'm active, and I remember much better.

It also teaches me the basics you're missing when you don't come from that world. For example, that's how I came to understand the difference between IPsec and MACsec.

Once I've got a concept, it writes a study sheet. I chose not to write it myself. It would have helped me remember, but it cost too much energy for what it gave back.

The real work starts after that. Each sheet ends with questions whose answers are hidden. I look for the answer first and check it afterward, because rereading gives the illusion of knowing.

I also keep an error log. For each question I miss, I write down what I answered and the right answer. Above all, I write down the detail in the question that should have put me on the right track.

Where I am

Between September 10 and October 21, I did fifteen sessions and wrote twenty-eight sheets, from access management to CloudFront. I've covered eight of the fourteen objectives in the exam guide. I consider only one of them mastered. It's slow, and that's on purpose.

What's next

I'll keep going at my own pace. I'll share what I learn here in more technical notes, along with the mistakes that taught me the most.