Introduction to AWS Solution Architect Certification

AWS Console, AWS Certification, and Salary Details

AWS Meaning

Amazon Web Services AWS is not an unfamiliar word anymore. Founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994, with the motto of becoming the Earth’s most customer-centric company, Amazon today does not need any official introduction. Starting as an online bookseller in 1994, today Amazon is a giant of the giants in the e-commerce sector. Amazon has changed the shopping experience of millions within the past few years. Amazon, with its humongous collection of products and AWS Certification, has made itself the first choice for people who prefer shopping on the Internet and career in IT industry.

What is AWS

Amazon Web Services AWS was launched in 2006. Today AWS offers cloud computing services to government organizations, educational institutions, enterprises, and also to individuals on a pay-as-you-go model.

The success of AWS over the years can be gauged by the report of CSA (Cloud Security Alliance) which says that AWS holds 41.5% share in the cloud computing market which is greater than the combined total of the share by its competitors like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM. One of the most fascinating facts is that in 2013, a whopping $600 million deal was made between AWS and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) to cater to all the cloud computing needs of the organization.

Introduction to AWS

Amazon has never bowed down to any external forces as an e-commerce company. It has spread its wings in various other sectors as well. One of the sectors where Amazon is a big player is cloud computing. It is quite obvious that the word “cloud computing” is not known to many.

• The term actually means a remote version of an on-premise data center. Cloud computing enables its users to access computing resources remotely.
• This resource includes software, databases, network, servers, and storage. This access can be done from any geographical region through the Internet.
• As businesses all over the world are increasing their dependency on cloud computing for their business operations, there has been an escalation in the demand for cloud experts who help the companies in the transition.
• In these scenarios, where cloud computing is gaining speed in the business arena, a person who is trying to become an IT professional and looking forward to developing their skill sets to gain momentum in the profession, expertise in cloud computing can be a very good aspect in the resume for growth.
• People who want to develop their skills in Cloud Computing, need to be well informed about the major cloud platforms. And when you talk about major cloud platforms, Amazon Web Services, or what is famously known as AWS comes into play.
• The worldwide adaptation of cloud-based services resulted in a  steep growth of AWS. In 2013 it stood at $3 billion in terms of earnings which went up to $35 billion in 2019.
• This growth over the years has made AWS its primary income generator for Amazon, its parent organization.

AWS Cloud Facts and Figures

1.The number of active users of AWS is 1 million. About 10% of the AWS users are enterprise-scale customers and the rest are small and medium businesses.

2. 175 fully functional services are offered by AWS through a dynamic ecosystem. It allows its users to deploy application workloads with milliseconds latency with just a click.

3. BBC, Adobe, Facebook, Netflix are some of the big companies that use APN (AWS Partner Network) to set up their top projects.

4.AWS Market place is a digital catalog for 7000 and above data products and software listings. The marketplace offers a good platform for the data providers and sellers to curate third-party relevant products and software by adding the catalog into their web properties.

5. A world-leading research firm named Gartner Inc has reported that Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to be the leader in global Infrastructure-as-a-service (Iaas) space with 45 percent market share. The second, third, fourth, and fifth are Microsoft, Alibaba, Google, and Tencent respectively.

6. Another important aspect of Amazon Web Services is that the price of the services lowers with time. Since its formation in 2006, AWS has lowered its service price 67 times.

7. Asianet News Media and Entertainment Group, a multi-channel and multi-platform media group was able to reduce the expenses of their operations by 50 percent using the sub-second metering model AWS Lambda. This is a striking example of a cost-optimized serverless structure.

8. Amazon Web Services offers 15 purpose-built databases which are technically a wide range. Superior performance, availability, and scalability are some attributes of AWS optimized databases that help to deliver magnificent support for demanding workloads.

9. AWS has spread itself in twenty-four geographic reasons with seventy-seven availability zones all over the world. Along with that AWS plans to launch 18 more availability zones and 6 more regions in India, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Indonesia, and Australia.

10 AWS caters to thousands of enterprises in 245 countries and territories. The company maintains 5 local zones, 12 wavelength zones, 97 direct-connect locations, 12 regional edge caches, 210+ edge locations, and 2x more regions than its nearest competitor.

11.With the increase in the global transition to cloud computing for business operations, there has been an increase in the demand for IT professionals who have a significant understanding of Amazon’s cloud architecture. Knowledge of cloud computing is giving a boost to the career graph of IT professionals.

AWS Certification

In the year 2013, AWS launched its certification program and no one could have imagined the growth of its popularity in the course of time. There has been a significant growth of these certification courses that is denoted by the increase in the number of testing centers. Adding to this, AWS exams are now conducted in multiple languages.

AWS certifications have been always in the limelight in the reports brought out by Global knowledge IT skills and Salary reports. The increase in the adoption rate of AWS services by businesses all over the world has resulted in some of the top salaries of IT professionals. This has created a hunger amongst the IT professionals in knowing what goes in for the certifications.

AWS Certified Solution Architect

In the year 2013, AWS launched its certification program and no one could have imagined the growth of its popularity in the course of time. There has been a significant growth of these certification courses that is denoted by the increase in the number of testing centers. Adding to this, AWS exams are now conducted in multiple languages.

AWS certifications have been always in the limelight in the reports brought out by Global knowledge IT skills and Salary reports. The increase in the adoption rate of AWS services by businesses all over the world has resulted in some of the top salaries of IT professionals. This has created a hunger amongst the IT professionals in knowing what goes in for the certifications.

The average salary of an AWS certified IT professional in the USA is $129,868 making it one of the highest paying certifications in North America. The AWS certifications offer both associate and professional levels of its AWS Certified Solutions Architect certifications.

AWS Certified Developer Associate

On the other hand, the holder of an AWS certified Developer-Associate certificate earns around $130,272 which ranks sixth in North America. To achieve this extremely popular certification, candidates should have the ability to choose the right AWS service for the application. Candidates should have the skill of writing codes to optimize performance. Code-level application security and leveraging software development kits (SDKs) to interact with services are also required to be well informed.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer is a professional level certification for both the developer and SysOps associate level. A candidate must have one of these certifications in order to obtain this one. The average salary for this professional-level certification is $137,724.

Implementation and management of continuous delivery systems and methodologies on AWS, maintenance of tools to automate operational processes, security controls, and government processes are some of the concepts for which the candidate must have thorough knowledge in order to achieve this certification.

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator is yet another associate-level certification. It generates an average income of $130,610 for the certificate holder.

Deployment, management, and operations on AWS are some technical expertise that is validated by this certification. Candidates who want to achieve this certification must have their concepts clear in migrating the on-premises app to AWS, Identification of cost control mechanisms, and implementation of the flow of data to and from AWS.

AWS Certified Associate Average Salary 2021

 

Certification	Average Salary Range
AWS Certified Solution Architect Professional	$120000 - $150000
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer	$110000 - $130000
AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate	$110000 - $140000
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator	$100000 - $110000
AWS Certified Developer Associate	$110000 - $130000

Source - 2020 IT Skills & Salary Report by Global Knowledge

AWS professionals are in demand globally and successfully doing a career-best performance in the AWS Interview. As per the name, a cloud practitioner is a skilled practitioner. The certification acts like proof that the holder has the fundamental knowledge of using the AWS platform on a professional label and thus has the ability to help a company in its transition of processes to cloud computing.

As of 2021, cloud computing is present in almost all the sectors of business and almost half of the global cloud computing infrastructure market belongs to Amazon. So, understanding AWS platforms, their architectural principles, account management, and key services are the skill sought by various companies.

Why should do AWS Certification Training

An AWS certification training emphasizes the fundamental knowledge of working with the AWS Cloud and is therefore useful to not just the technical job roles, but also those working in the management section, sales, finances, etc.  With Amazon’s exception growing demand and market presence it is quite evident that an AWS certification holder is in demand as most of the business giants are preferring AWS cloud for their business operations and management.

Top 7 Reasons why you should enroll for AWS Training Course

1. AWS training is not only worth learning in terms of career prospects but also for beholding good numbers in earnings. Not only three of the AWS certifications are amongst the top ten certifications in North America, companies also provide one-time bonuses and even cover the exam expenses for their employees who opt to achieve the certifications.
2. The tech market is always in a mode of changing as far as innovations, improvements, and initiatives are concerned. So, it is quite obvious that employers will seek professionals who are well informed about the changing trend.
3. Achieving an AWS certification is not an easy thing to do. One needs to spend a lot of time in preparation, exploring the platforms, studying the materials, and eventually giving mock exams.
4. AWS certifications not only prove that you are dedicated and committed but also denote that you are well equipped with the knowledge of changing trends in business operations, and definitely you are not outdated. On the other hand, it is a reality that this also has an expiration date.
5. AWS certifications give you momentum for almost three years and after that, you need to go for recertification. AWS certification is not enough to get you a job but definitely, it’s an advantage to have it prove that you are up to date with the industry knowledge and changing trends of business operations and implementation of cloud computing.
6. AWS certifications can surely help you in improving your skill sets that may result in a promotion or pay hike in the company in which you are currently working.
7. AWS certification accelerates your performance. If you have some industry knowledge and experience then getting certified through a reliable and successful industry leader is always a preferable option in order to advance in your career.

Conclusion

With the onset of a pandemic and changing trends of businesses in the global arena, AWS certifications are always important in order to make yourself on-demand in the eyes of companies who are looking for professionals who have thorough knowledge about the adoption of cloud computing in business processes. AWS has a  dominating presence in the global market. It is leading from the front attitude. So, it is quite definite that these certifications at the associate and professional levels will boost the career graph of an IT professional in the long run.