by Justin Cook
Welcome to the learning journey from AWS. The process of achieving all AWS certifications is a rewarding feat that not only validates your cloud expertise but also unlocks numerous opportunities within the vibrant AWS programs and communities. Whether you're a beginner aiming to establish foundational knowledge or an experienced professional seeking to specialize, AWS certifications provide a structured pathway to enhance your skills and credibility in the cloud industry. Beyond the technical knowledge, becoming AWS-certified grants you access to exclusive programs, networking opportunities, and a supportive community that can accelerate your career growth and open doors to exciting projects and collaborations. Certifications: Not 0nly do I hold all the below 15 AWS Certifications, am an AWS Ambassador and an AWS Community Builder member, and am an active AWS SME member for writing certification questions, but I also care a lot about growing the AWS Community and helping fellow professionals achieve their professional goals through these highly sought-after certification tracks. This blog explores the roadmap to achieving all AWS certifications and highlights the benefits of engaging with AWS programs and communities.

The Basics:
The breakdown of available certifications is as follows:
Foundational: Knowledge-based certification for a foundational understanding of AWS Cloud.
Associate: Role-based certifications that showcase your knowledge and skills on AWS and build your credibility as an AWS Cloud professional.
Professional: Role-based certifications that validate advanced skills and knowledge required to design secure, optimized, and modernized applications and automate processes on AWS.
Specialty: Dive deeper and position yourself as a trusted advisor to your stakeholders and/or customers in these strategic areas.
As many of you know, the following certs were retired this year: AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty, AWS Certified Database – Specialty, and AWS Certified: SAP on AWS – Specialty. I still hold all of these, hence the 15 in the above photo, but it's important to understand the direction in which AWS is heading:
More Associate Certifications, Less Specialty
This is the given with what is being retired, and the birth of the two new Associate certifications this year.
More AI/ML and generative AI certifications:
The birth of the AI Foundational Practitioner certification as well as the Machine Learning Associate. Â I would recommend taking the betas now and getting ahead of the curve.
More alignment with the competencies and industries
I would expect to see a push around Digital Sovereignty and other industry-based pillars with the retirement of the SAP certification.
Where do I study? I get this question at least five times a month, and this should help carve out places to search out besides Udemy and exam question dumps (which are normally wrong so be careful).
A Cloud Guru. If you don't hear Ryan Kroonenburg saying HELLO CLOUD GURUS in your head, then you aren't ready to take the Professional test yet. This is the go-to organization for AWS knowledge.
I use Cloud Academy for a lot of my studying, mostly because it is free as an AWS Community Builder
Coursera: They have very few AWS-related courses but this is where I look up multi-cloud strategies.
The White Paper Hell known as AWS Documentation: If you have the bandwidth, here is where you will find all the answers, but it can be tedious.
Whizlabs Practice Tests - A must-do for understanding the structure of questions.
Keep a list of helpful sites, such as:
Key LinkedIn members: AWS experts and Heroes that are out in the community are a plenty. I follow Jeff Barr at AWS, and Faye Ellis at AGU quite a bit. Jeff and Faye regularly share exam updates, discuss new services, help with resources, etc. Find an AWS Evangliest or Hero and grow from there.
The console is the BEST place to learn how to study for the environment. Create a test account and start generating infrastructure.
Note: Don't forget to look into stacking certifications, if you are in your renewal timeframe This is when achieving a higher-level certification can automatically renew a lower-level one, i.e. passing a professional certification will renew your associate.

AWS Community Builders

Another strong program I am part of with thousands of members now. The AWS Community Builders program offers technical resources, education, and networking opportunities to AWS technical enthusiasts and emerging thought leaders who are passionate about sharing knowledge and connecting with the technical community.
Interested AWS builders should apply to the program to build relationships with AWS product teams, AWS Heroes, and the AWS community.
Benefits of the program include: -
One free exam voucher per year
$500 AWS credits
Access to an online learning platform
Half-price conference pass for re:Invent, and access to dedicated events and swag whilst there
Access to webinars on upcoming launches etc. under NDA
Community Slack to community with fellow Community Builders
Swag sent to your home
We all provide informative webinars and share insights on the latest services on best practices for creating technical content, increasing reach, and sharing AWS knowledge across online and in-person communities.
Note: The program will accept a limited number of members per year, and as of now, there is a waiting list.
The AWS Community Builder website is located here
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The AWS Ambassador Program

AWS Ambassador journey: I love this program, and for someone who is nominated for the AWS Ambassador program, the AWS Partner's eligibility is verified. This process may be tedious with letters of recommendation, executive sponsorship, articles/public events, etc all needed for admission, but it is worth it. Who can pass up a free re:Invent ticket while evangelizing AWS, right? Once you indicate your primary responsibility and
what deliverables you received at your company, you will be identified as commercial or technical. There are different levels and this depends on the content created and the time in the program, and AWS certifications are required as well, depending on your level. The objective is to become a Thought Leadership and Evangelist in the AWS community with Well-Architected Review, building out competencies, publishing blogs/articles/videos, and leading public and/or community events.
Note: If you are no longer employed by an AWS Partner, you will be removed. The entry requirements are absolutely more strenuous than Community Builder, but most Ambassadors are already Community Builders anyway. So if you work for a partner, start by creating 8 ‘thought leadership’ contributions.
The benefits of the program aren’t quite as explicit as Community Builder, but I’d say: -
$500 AWS credits for building, more if you’re targeting new services
Free conference pass for re:Invent, and access to dedicated events
Invitation to AWS Ambassador global summit, annually in Seattle
Access to webinars on upcoming launches etc. under NDA
Community Slack to community with fellow Ambassadors
SWAG given at re:Invent including shirts, stickers, etc.
At least one free exam voucher per year
The AWS Ambassador Website is located here
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Note 1: I did not go over the AWS Heroes in this track, but you can think of them as an Expert Community Builder, and they have their own set of rules that differ from the AWS Ambassador Track, including who can recommend you.
Note 2: I did not cover the "How-to" get a Golden Jacket, which for a long time was the process of achieving all AWS Certifications, because that process is now also changing. Golden Jackets are now being given out from within the AWS Community Builder, AWS Ambassador, and AWS Heroes program, but you have to have all your certifications and be a member of these communities. But most of all, these requirements are not yet concrete, and change like the wind.
Overall, these community and certification tracks will help you reach your professional goals and add value to our AWS communities. Reach out to me with any questions.
Thanks,
Justin CookÂ
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