RAM is the main memory of the PC. For the CPU to execute instructions, these have to be loaded first into RAM. The CPU uses RAM instead of other forms of memory, like hard drives or other mass storage devices, because RAM is significantly faster.

The first RAM memory, known as the Williams tube, was a cathode ray tube able to store binary data using electric charges.

This was a highly volatile form of memory, and due to its high sensitivity to electrical fields, it was not reliable.

In fact, it would be immediately overshadowed by magnetic-core memory.

This was a non-volatile form of memory consisting of large sets of small magnetized metal rings. Each ring stored one bit and connected through wires.

Among the different computer memory types, RAM is a volatile type of memory, meaning that it is not designed to save information in the long term.

Magnetic core memory, however, was the exception, and would only be replaced in the late sixties when semiconductors for solid-state memory proved to be cheaper.

Today, most desktop PCs use this type of RAM, known as Dynamic RAM.

Made of capacitors, modern RAM needs a constant electric flow to retain data.  It refreshes this data many times per second.

But how does RAM actually work?

RAM stores instructions that the CPU can use.

Information is loaded into RAM from the hard drive, or other storage device, in binary language, that is, bits.

Eight of these bits make a byte, and each byte is a memory address.

The CPU uses these addresses for recognizing the location of information. It does this without having to go through all of the addresses in a specific order.

The CPU accesses these addresses in RAM via the address bus.

Not only the CPU but other hardware can also access RAM through their own Direct Memory Access channel or DMA.

When understanding RAM one of the most important things to consider is speed.

Like processors, RAM has a clock frequency, which is, the number of times per second that it can complete a cycle.

Added to the equation is the width of RAM chips, and how many bits of data they can transfer at a time.

Currently, most memory modules are 64 bits wide, which is to say that they transfer 8 bytes per clock cycle. The total bandwidth of RAM is calculated by taking account of both values: if a RAM module has a maximum clock speed of 2400 Mhz and its bus is 8 bytes wide, it means that it can reach a transfer rate of 19200 megabytes per second.

This type of RAM we just mentioned is a DDR4 DIMM module. Short for Dual In-line Memory Module, DIMMs contain two sets of chips and, can transfer 64 bits per clock cycle.

Popularized in the 2000s, DIMMs were an evolution from 32-bit SIMMs or Single In-line Memory Modules.

Their main difference is that while the SIMMs’ contacts on both sides are interconnected, allowing only one set of connectors, DIMMs’ sides are not, making better use of the module’s space for more capacity.

Another drawback SIMMs had was that in some systems they had to be installed in pairs and wouldn’t work using a single module.

Now, DIMMs were not the only type of RAM manufactured for replacing SIMMs.

RIMM modules, short for Rambus Inline Memory Module, were considerably faster than other available RAM, reaching a clock speed of 800 MHz, a great deal in the late nineties.

RIMM modules also had a metallic shield acting as a heat spreader, something that is mostly an aesthetic touch in today’s RAM, which work at a lower voltage than older versions.

The RIMM modules’ BUS transfer, was only 16 bits or 2 bytes wide and was no match for two technologies: SDRAM and DDR.

While older DRAMs had their own clock rate, SDRAM or Synchronous Dynamic RAM, present in RAM today, has its working clock synchronized with the CPU’s, allowing for faster communication between them.

DDR or Double Data Rate, means that the RAM is capable of sending and receiving data two times per clock cycle.

How is DDR RAM able to do this?

By employing both the rising and falling edge of the clock signal for transferring information.

Following DDR came DDR2, with greater speed and less power consumption.  This was also the case with DDR3 and today’s DDR4.

Despite sharing the same DIMM format, each DDR version has its own notches and pin layout, so these technologies are not compatible.

The difference between notches is actually very subtle between DDR1, DDR3, and DDR4 modules, so it is important to check for hardware compatibility beforehand and not attempt to force fit them in the wrong memory slot.

Additionally, SO-DIMM RAM is a smaller variant of DIMM RAM for laptops.

This type of RAM is made of smaller components, so they can have as much memory as their larger counterparts.

Aside from the DDR technology, RAM also developed what is known as multi-channel architecture.

In short, this allows the CPU to communicate faster with the RAM by multiplying the communication channels between them.

This is possible using multiple memory modules at the same time.

In this way, dual channel is faster than single-channel, while triple and quad channels are even faster:

The data transfer per cycle goes from 64 bits to 128 in dual channel, and to 192 bits and 256 bits in triple and quad-channel respectively.

This speed boost, however, is not necessarily double or quadruple. Multi-channel can show better performance, but depends on factors such as the type of tasks RAM is used for.

Quad channel’s speed, for example, is most visible while the PC is loading applications that demand lots of RAM, like video rendering.

At the same time, RAM sticks working on dual channels have to be set in their corresponding slots, and not every RAM stick can work with others for this technology to work.

Sticks sharing the same storage capacity, speed, frequency, and even manufacturer have a greater performance on multi-channel. Because of this, RAM is often sold together in matching kits of two and four.

As mentioned earlier most desktop RAM is Dynamic-RAM and has to rewrite its data many times per second. However, this is not the case with all RAM.

Static RAM or SRAM does not have this problem.

SRAM uses semiconductors for keeping data for longer. It is more energy-efficient but also more expensive since it requires more transistors per bit to work.

Both types of RAM, however, share the fact that once power is off the information stored in this memory is gone.

RAM failure can be fatal for the programs that are being executed. This is especially critical in servers where data loss or downtime can be catastrophic. To avoid RAM failure in critical situations there is RAM parity checking.

RAM parity detects if a bit in RAM is in a state that is different than what the CPU expects.  For example, if a 1 or 0 has a different value.

This error can produce application crashes, and can be caused by something as simple as background radiation.

RAM parity modules have an additional bit for each set of eight bits (that is, a byte).

When a byte is set on the RAM memory, if the number of 1s it has is odd, then this extra bit is set to 1; if it’s even, then is set to 0.

When accessing this RAM address, the CPU looks at the additional bit to verify the authenticity of the byte.

If one of the RAM bytes changes its value, the CPU can know this by comparing the value of the additional bit with its own reading of the byte.

Parity, however, cannot fix these errors. Nowadays, the most suited technology for this problem is Error Correcting Code or ECC memory.

This type of RAM is not only able to detect the error, but also, to interpret the actual value of the corrupted byte and fix it for the CPU to use it properly.

RAM is important to the efficient running of a computer.  So are the Motherboard connectors.

Through the years, motherboards have had many types of connectors for attaching all types of computer hardware.

To make sense of all these connectors, let’s look at how these hardware components connect to the motherboard.

We’re first going to look at how the CPU connects to the motherboard.

The CPU connects to the motherboard through the CPU socket.

The most common socket for CPU’s is known as “zero insertion force” or ZIF.

This socket type keeps the contacts of the CPU and motherboard permanently together. It does so without adding any extra pressure on the great number of small pins that make up this connection.

Avoiding damaging any of these pins is important, so this socket has a plastic build and metal contacts designed for compatible CPUs to fit perfectly.

The socket also has a latch for keeping the CPU and motherboard connectors in place.

Depending on the manufacturer, the socket can have the male pins on the CPU or on the motherboard socket: The Pin Grid Array (PGA) configuration has the pins on the CPU and Land Grid Array (LGA) has the pins on motherboard’s socket.

Now, let’s look at RAM connectors…

Most motherboards have at least two of these next to the processor.

RAM is not only important for the PCs performance but also for its upgrade potential.

These connectors are normally known as DIMM slots.

Depending on the type of memory the motherboard supports, for example, DDR2, DDR3, or DDR4, these slots will have specific notches to match a specific type of RAM.

RAM is kept in place by a set of tabs at one or both ends of the connector on the motherboard.

With regards to hard drives, CD/DVD drives, or Blu-ray drives, most motherboards have at least a pair of SATA connectors.

These work for both hard disks and solid-state drives, otherwise known as SSDs.

The SATA cable, however, only transfers data and doesn’t give power to the drives. The drives need an extra four-pin cable that comes directly from the power supply.

SSDs, come in the 2.5-inch format as well as a form factor known as M.2, which can have a SATA or PCIe bus interface and connectors.

M.2 connectors can be connected to the PCIe slots with an adaptor, but today’s motherboards include a port for latching the drive parallel to the motherboard, attached to it by its connectors on one edge and by a screw on the other.

It is worth mentioning that for storage, before SATA was the IDE drive and its connector.

The IDE connector has a ribbon cable and requires its drives to be set as “master”, the booting drive, or “slave” through a set of 4 pairs of pins in the back of the drive known as jumpers.

Old floppy disks connectors are similar to the IDE channel, but a little shorter with 46 pin holes instead of 40.

Let’s move to the peripheral connectors.

The most common are the PCI or “Peripheral Component Interconnect” and PCI Express bus ports.

These are dedicated to adding extra hardware for better performance or for extra features.

Introduced in 1992, PCI was originally designed to replace ISA or “Industry Standard Architecture”.

While ISA hardware was limited by its 8 MHz clock speed and 8 and 16 bit bus, PCI initially featured a 32-bit bus and 33 MHz clock speed.

Later PCI models even came with a 64-bit bus and/or 66 MHz of clock speed. This was the case with the PCI-X bus.

This was around the time when videogames and other computer programs were becoming more and more dependent on graphic acceleration. The PCI bus architecture had limitations for dealing with that much data transfer.

As a result, the Accelerated Graphics Port or AGP was created in 1997.

While PCI had to make an extra step through the southbridge for reaching to the CPU, AGP communicated to the CPU through the northbridge and was able to texture map directly into RAM through Direct Memory Execute or DIME.

The AGP was also able to request multiple instructions at a time, while PCI could only request one, a technology known as pipelining.

PCI-X’s 64-bit bus and AGP’s special design for graphics would only last a few years.

The PCI Express bus, showed up in 2004. PCI, as well as PCI-X and AGP, rely on parallel communication. PCIe, like SATA, USB, and other devices, uses serial communication.

Now, parallel communication can transfer more bits at the same time than serial, which does so only one bit at the time. However, at high clock speeds parallel communication breaks down due to the electromagnetic interference it creates when many communication wires work at the same time.

Because PCI uses multiple wires for transferring data, the data doesn’t arrive at their destination at the same time.  This means the computer has to wait for all the bits of an instruction before being able to use that data.

Parallel communication also uses the same wire for both sending and receiving data. This is known as half-duplex.

Serial, on the other hand, has a full-duplex system, in which fewer wires are used more efficiently: two for sending data and another two for receiving it. This set of pairs is known as a lane. PCIe slots are classified by their number of lanes: 1x, 4x, 8x, or 16x.  16x is the most common for video cards.

PCIe also consumes less power and like SATA supports hot-swapping, meaning that it can be attached and detached from the motherboard while the computer is running.

Like AGP, most motherboard’s PCIe ports are directly connected to the CPU or northbridge.

In the past PCI ports were used for all types of hardware.

For example, we can find PCI NIC’s (Network Interface Controllers). NIC’s give computers the ability to connect to a network.

Notebook motherboards also have PCI ports.  They can be Mini-PCI, or PCIe cards which are mostly used for network cards.

Connection ports can also be expanded, as with SATA or USB expansion cards.

Riser cards are used by PCI connectors for setting expansion cards horizontally when they are too big to fit vertically into a computer.

Let’s now look at connectors that provide power to the motherboard.

For receiving electricity from the power supply, ATX motherboards have two sets of connectors: one with 24 pins and another of 4 or 8 pins. These lock into their ports by latches.

Some motherboards designed for multiple video cards can also have additional power connectors.

3 or 4 pin fan connectors are often located at the edges of the motherboard depending on the model, although one can also be found near to the CPU socket for its own fan. Water cooling pumps and LED strips with the right voltage can also use these connectors.

USB 2.0 and 3.0 headers have 9 and 19 pins respectively.

Next to the USB headers are the front panel or system panel connectors for power and reset buttons, as well as for frontal led lights.

Each of these has two pins depending on the motherboard model and can have a distinct color or name for identifying its position.

Next to them is the optical drive audio connector, a four-pin connector for CD-ROM drivers to play audio, and the front panel audio connector. There are also similar pins for connecting an internal motherboard speaker.

At the back of the PC case motherboards have many external connectors for input/output peripherals known as rear I/O: Here you can find USB and ethernet ports, jack connectors for speakers and microphones, as well as video ports such as VGA or HDMI.

Motherboards also offer legacy support by including PS/2 serial ports for keyboard and mouse connectors; some even have parallel ports for old printers.

The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets, make up the core logic chipset of a computer.

They are the biggest and most centrally positioned components on a motherboard.

Let’s talk a bit more about the history of motherboards, which will help you understand how Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets came to be.

Older computers had a lot more individual chips on their motherboards.

Memory controllers, bus controllers and even keyboard controllers had their own separate chips.

But as engineers had to make faster and more complex computers, they started condensing  multiple chips into what we call chipsets.

A chipset is a collection of chips.

The key functions that were performed by smaller and individual chips, were condensed into the Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets.

This allows for computers to be faster because the components that make up a computer, are now more closely linked.

Now that you understand how they came to be, let’s talk about what the Northbridge and Southbridge chips actually do.

The Northbridge chipset is essentially the memory controller hub.

It is called Northbridge, because it is generally located at the top or north of the motherboard.

When a computer is in use, it has to retrieve saved data or memory, which then has to be transferred to the CPU for processing.

This happens when a user opens a Word document that they want to edit or when they play a game on their computer.

When a user is done, the memory or data is different and has to be taken from the CPU and stored away again as memory.

This entire process happens, thanks to the Northbridge chipset.

It connects other chips and components with the CPU. It runs all the processes required to save, retrieve, and operate memory on a computer.

Today, we tend to do a lot more with our computers, compared to 10 years ago.

… People play more complex games, super computers are used for complicated processes, and the average user could be editing multiple documents at once.

Which wasn’t possible in the past.

So most computers now have cooling systems such as fans, because Northbridge chipsets have evolved to do more processing which can raise the internal temperature of a computer.

Now let’s talk about the Southbridge!

When it comes to the Southbridge chipset, it is much easier to remember what it does. This is because it simply does everything else.

Yes, it is actually that simple!

The Southbridge is the central manager for connections to peripherals, hard drives and even your BIOS. It also controls all ISA, PCI, IDE and Legacy processes.

Like the Northbridge, it is a central hub. But for all input or output processes other than memory related ones.

And that’s that!

But… computers have different brand chipsets.

Popular examples are AMD and Intel.

Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets are actually named differently by these companies.

On computers with Intel chipsets, the Southbridge is refereed to as the IO Controller hub (ICH)

AMD calls its Southbridge the Fusion Controller Hub (FCH).

While Intel uses the name Northbridge for the Northbridge chipset, AMD uses the name Memory Controller Hub (MCH).

Unlike the Northbridge, the Southbridge actually has no direct link to the CPU.

The Southbridge interacts with the CPU through the Northbridge chipset.

Which goes to show how important the Northbridge actually is.

Probably more important than the Southbridge.

But, a computer needs both of them to execute the core functions it needs for us to use it.

What is AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification?

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification is an advanced IT certification that validates your skills in the design and deployment of efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable Cloud applications with Amazon Web Services.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional is suitable if you have at least two years of experience in Cloud architecture design and development, especially within the AWS ecosystem.

The certification is offered by Amazon and is the logical next step if you have already passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification.

According to Robert Half’s 2020 Salary Report, Cloud computing is one of the top in-demand skills of 2020.

Amazon is the biggest player in the public Cloud market.

According to a Gartner report, AWS dominates nearly half of the $32 billion Cloud market and generated more revenue than the next three largest public Cloud providers combined.

Companies worldwide are migrating their data, processing, information, and software to AWS infrastructure. As a result, the demand for competent AWS professionals, especially those who could leverage AWS tools to design solutions to solve complex problems, is skyrocketing.

Therefore, having an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification would increase your chances of getting a lucrative job in Cloud computing.

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification exam is SAP-C01. The exam costs $300, and it consists of multiple choice questions. You have 180 minutes to complete the exam.

The certification exam has multiple choice questions with either one correct response or multiple correct responses.

Now, let’s take a look at the…

Skills Measured by the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification

AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification equips you with high-level, theoretical and practical knowledge of designing and deploying complex AWS solutions.

The core content of the certification broadly covers the tools, strategies, techniques and ways that you can design and build AWS solutions.

Some of the key skills covered by the certification include:

• Understanding application requirements and recommending AWS strategies, implementation, and deployment
• AWS CLI, AWS APIs, AWS CloudFormation templates, the AWS Billing Console, and the AWS Management Console
• AWS Well-Architected Framework
• Understanding storage in AWS
• AWS Security
• Migration
• Cost control
• Billing, and
• Improvement of existing solutions

On a more detailed level these are the skills that you will develop:

Design for Organizational Complexity (12.5%)

• Understanding cross-account authentication and access strategy for complex organizations
• Understanding design networks for complex organizations, and
• Designing multi-account AWS environments for complex organizations

Design for New Solutions (31%)

• Understanding security requirements and controls while designing and implementing a solution
• Designing a solution in context of reliability requirements
• Designing a solution to ensure business continuity, and
• Solution design to meet performance objectives

Migration Planning (15%)

• Using existing workloads and legacy processes for potential migration to the cloud
• Choosing migration tools based on AWS knowledge
• Determining a cloud architecture for an existing solution, and
• Developing a strategy for migrating existing on-premises workloads to the cloud

Cost Control (12.5%)

• Selecting pricing models for AWS solutions
• Making strategies for cost optimization, and
• Identifying ways to reduce cost in an existing solution

Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions (29%)

• Troubleshooting solution architectures
• Improving existing solutions for operational excellence
• Increasing reliability of an existing solution
• Increasing performance of an existing solution
• Improving security of an existing solution, and
• Improving deployment of an existing solution

For a more complete curriculum, download the latest AWS Solutions Architect Professional exam objectives.

Let’s now look at the…

Pre-requisites for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification

Anyone can attempt the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification exam. But Amazon recommends having at least two or more years of hands-on experience in designing and deploying cloud architecture on AWS.

Because this certification is advanced, it’s not easy for beginners to pass the exam without any experience or through preparation.

If you are a beginner and want to pursue a career in AWS Solutions Architecture, first get your AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, then get your AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, before doing AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional.

Amazon also recommends AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional if you are familiar with AWS CLI, AWS APIs, AWS CloudFormation templates, the AWS Billing Console, and the AWS Management Console.

You can use Amazon’s Exam Readiness page to further assess whether you are ready for this advanced certification.

How to Prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification Exam

To prepare for this exam there are several options available.  Let’s take a look at these options in more detail.

Self-Study Resources

The internet is full of self-study resources which could be used to prepare for AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification. Let’s talk about these resources.

Books

Using books to prepare for a certification exam is one of the best ways to gain a thorough grasp of the subject matter.

The AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification is full of complex, interconnected and advanced technical concepts, so a book can be a valuable exam prep tool.

One of the best books to prepare for the exam is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional All-in-One Exam Guide .

Keep in mind that you should not limit your preparation to books only. AWS is a relatively new technology, and you should try to understand the objectives with the help of multiple resources.

Whitepapers and Learning Paths

This is perhaps the single best free resource out there.  It summarizes all the important information related to AWS Solutions Architecture.

It’s a bundle of whitepapers which give you an overview of all the important components, elements, and technical strategies used to design efficient, fault-tolerant and cost-effective solutions using AWS.

These white papers include the all-important AWS Well-Architected Tool, AWS Management Console, texts on important concepts of AWS Solutions design and much more.

You should also take a look at Amazon’s Learning Library which is full of free courses on important topics related to AWS Solutions Architect certification.

Video Training

Let’s face it, technical concepts are sometimes difficult to understand by reading just text.

Audio-visual media helps you to understand and retain difficult information. That’s why video training is so popular among the AWS Solutions Architect Professional community.

A free video prep method is to print out the exam objectives, and then search for YouTube videos that cover each objective.  This might take some time and effort but it’s free.

You can use PluralSight’s video training for the AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification. Also check out Lynda’s and Cloud Academy’s video resources.

Also, don’t forget to check out the AWS YouTube channel.

Instructor-Led Training

You can use instructor-led training if you want to learn directly from an expert.

With this type of training, you will get an opportunity to directly ask questions and get answers to exam objectives that you don’t fully understand.

You can fill out this request form and Amazon will get back to you with more details of their private training programs based on your requirements.

Keep in mind however, that instructor-led training programs are usually very expensive.

For example the two courses recommended by Global Knowledge to get you ready for the exam costs over $2700 US dollars.

Practice Tests

It’s not easy to solve many exam questions in 180 minutes if you haven’t practiced beforehand.

In order to pass the exam, it’s recommended that you do as many practice tests as you can.

Start with Amazon’s sample questions for the AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification. You can also register on the AWS website and attempt a model test in a timed environment.

Practice tests by BrainCert, and Whizlabs are also useful.

Practice Labs

The AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification exam has several practical, scenario-based questions which often take a lot of time to solve if you have not practiced beforehand.

Therefore, it is recommended that you do some practice labs to help you get acquainted with specific AWS Architecture scenarios.

Amazon has a special portal where you can prepare with different practice labs.

Now, let’s take a look at…

What Jobs you can get with an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification?

The AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification makes you a suitable candidate for many lucrative jobs.

The key role of an AWS Solutions Architect is to design fault-tolerant, efficient and scalable Cloud-based solutions.

Companies worldwide want to migrate to the Cloud, and AWS remains their top choice.

Therefore, they need professionals who could design, build. and oversee the development of customized solutions.

Some of the jobs which should interest you after passing the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification include:

• Solutions Architect
• Data Engineer
• Senior Solutions Architect
• Cloud Solutions Architect
• Cloud Engineer
• Cloud Operations Engineer
• AWS DevOps Architect
• AWS Cloud DevSecOps Architect
• AWS Enterprise Architect

Keep in mind that just having the certification won’t guarantee you a job.

To increase your chances of getting a well-paying job, you should ensure that you get some practical experience.

This experience will exponentially increase your odds of getting a lucrative job in the Cloud computing industry.

Now, let’s talk about how much money you can make with the…

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification

The Global Knowledge 2020 IT Skills and Salary survey shows that the AWS Certified Solutions Architect is the one of the top-paying IT certifications.

According to jobs platform PayScale, the average salary for AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification holders is around $128,000 US dollars.

Let’s see what other people think about this certification.  Here are a few…

Observations from Successful AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification Holders in the Industry

The best advice comes from those who have actually achieved the certification. Let’s see how they prepared and what their thoughts are after successfully passing the exam.

Here’s a comment from Reddit user “ironjohnred”

“Study materials used

AWS whitepapers

AWS FAQs

I am not a videos learner, so I stuck to mostly the reading material for learning topics.

Took the free Exam Readiness: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional course online at AWS.

 Practice Tests

Jon Bonso tests

I only took them once, but reviewed my wrong answers multiple times, esp. the morning of the test

Test scores : 72/80/78/80

These tests were pretty good. The actual test questions were far more verbose than these tests.

Had a free voucher for an AWS practice test (one of the benefits of passing a previous AWS cert). Took the practice test 2 days before and got a 78.

 Other Tips

Used the 50% off voucher (another benefit) when I registered for the test. So I paid $150.

The FAQS are very very useful. Dont ignore them. These are goldmines of info about the services.

The exam questions can be quite verbose. Be prepared for that.

Restrict yourself to not spend too much time on a question or you will be rushed to finish.

The total time you have is 180 min for 75 Q. I spent a max of 2 min a question on the first go around.

Flagged the ones I knew I needed more time.

After the first go through I had 50 min left for reviewing flagged q.

I had flagged about 30 q and went through them quickly for the second run through.

Finished the test with about 2 min left”

https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/comments/eztgyt/passed_aws_certified_solutions_architect/

Here’s a comment from Reddit user “sek10ng”

“I passed my AWS Solution Architect Professional (SAP-C01), and it is amazing to finally unlock this massive achievement!

If I would give a few main tips (that I don’t see other talks about freq), that would be:

Practice reading speed when doing practice exam, and on the real exam click next question when you got around 80% confidence on your answer

Take myself as an example, after I can pick an answer and have 80% confidence, I used to go read every single word on the question again to make 100% sure I am correct. However that is not a good approach for this exam due to the time limit.

Better click next question as soon as you know you probably get the right answer, (or a random guess if you can’t get any answer) and get back later.

So my thought process is: DynamoDB with write issue? Let me see if there are SQS as an option… There is only one SQS option, let me select that and go to the next question!

Looks for the Absent of keyword in the questions & answers

People always said about looking for the right keywords, but looking for the missing keyword sometimes makes as much of an impact!

Absent of cost requirement: Assume unlimited budget

Absent of region in redundancy: Assume can accept Multi AZ and no need regional fail-over

Absent of requirement on type storage: If no, assume can change the storage to other type like S3, EFS and others

And more…

Repeat review common solution architect pattern until they are in your “frequently access” part of your mind

I got a sets of self-made flash card for all the common architecture & difficult concept on the exam, and randomly review them daily before exam

Daily study is good, which help consolidate your concept. I made a study blog every single day for a month prior to the exam.”

https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/comments/hmjxrb/passed_my_aws_solution_architect_professional/

 Here’s another comment from Reddit user “arjabbar”

“I will say that the professional level exam was way harder than I expected. I failed my first time taking it a couple of weeks ago. I prepped for it the same way I prepped for the associate level exam. The first attempt I used ACloudGuru. I ran through all the videos, took as the practice exams on there, and read a few whitepapers. Doing just that definitely wasn’t enough because I got a 684.

This time I prepped by taking the Jon Bonso practice exams. The first time I took one of his practice exams, I researched on the internet before submitting each answer. I took all 4 that way. Then I ran back through all the tests except this time without looking up anything until after the test was finished. I took another practice exam that I found on Whizlabs. So all in all, I used 3 resources to pass this exam.

I owe a huge thanks to the Jon Bonso practice exams. I felt like those exams prepared me the most. The questions on the actual exam were right on par with what was provided on the Jon Bonso exams.

The only thing I would not recommend, is taking the practice exams offered by Vue or PSI. First off, there’s only one version of that exam, meaning that the one from PSI is exactly the same as the one from Vue. Taking the exam multiple times is pointless because the there’s only 1 version of the test. Many people might have known this already without wasting $40, but I didn’t. Also, the Jon Bonso practice exams were $10, and you get 4 exams with 75 questions a piece for that price. That’s way better than paying $40 for a practice exam with ~20 questions from PSI.”

https://www.reddit.com/r/AWSCertifications/comments/cxnzbu/finally_passed_the_aws_solutions_architect/

The Truth About AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional

The world is facing a severe shortage of Cloud experts. Over 69% of the enterprise world is moving its business-critical applications to the Cloud.

Therefore, having the AWS Solutions Architect Professional certification will help you to grab the attention of recruiters.

If you pass the certification, and gain some practical experience, you are certainly in for a shining career in the Cloud industry. You can also complement this certification with other  certifications offered by Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco and CompTIA.

Is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Certification for You?

An AWS certification is a valuable building block for a strong career in Cloud computing. This certification will prove to the industry that you have a sound understanding of AWS Architecture.

If you already have some experience with AWS and want to increase your salary and take your Cloud career to the next level then the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification is for you.

So, is AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification worth it?

The answer is a resounding yes.

What is AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification?

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate is an mid-level certification offered by Amazon.

You would usually pursue this certification after gaining basic hands-on experience in Amazon’s Cloud platform, or passing the Amazon Cloud Practitioner certification.

This certification validates your skills in the design, planning, and deployment of AWS Cloud-based solutions.

An AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate understands a business’s IT challenges and uses the best available, cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable solutions to solve them.

The certification equips you with the necessary skills to design a solution to solve a complex problem using architectural design principles based on, customer requirements, available AWS solutions, and best practices of project management.

Amazon recommends that you have at least one year of experience implementing solutions using the AWS Cloud.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect will help you get jobs in a diverse range of areas in the Cloud computing sector, including Cloud Engineer, Cloud Solutions Architect, Cloud Operations Engineer, Cloud Developer, and AWS Engineer.

Most of the jobs involve consulting, problem solving, and project management.

According to Robert Half’s 2020 Salary Report, Cloud computing is one of the top in-demand skills.

With nearly half of the public Cloud market share, Amazon is the biggest vendor.  As a result, the demand for AWS professionals is rising.

In a Jefferson Frank survey, Cloud professionals said that an AWS Solutions Architect certification is one of the two certifications that are most likely to have a positive impact on one’s earning potential.

The duration of the exam is 130 minutes, and costs $150 US dollars.

There are two types of questions in the exam. The first is multiple-choice questions with only one correct response, while the second is multiple-choice questions with multiple correct answers.

Now, let’s take a look at the…

Skills Measured by AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate

The main objective of the certification is to equip you with skills that you can use to implement  AWS technology for cloud-based solutions.

In summary the skills you will learn are:

• Making architectural decisions based on AWS architectural principles, design patterns, and best practices
• Using AWS services to make an existing infrastructure scalable, reliable, and available
• Using AWS Managed Services to enable greater flexibility and resiliency in an infrastructure
• Learning EC2, Identity Access Management, S3, and Load Balancing in AWS
• Applications in AWS
• IAM, AWS Directory Service, and
• All about Databases in AWS

On a more granular level these are the skills that you will develop:

Design Resilient Architectures (30%)

• Design a multi-tier architecture solution
• Design highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures
• Design decoupling mechanisms using AWS services, and
• Choose appropriate resilient storage

Design High-Performing Architectures (28%)

• Identify elastic and scalable compute solutions for a workload
• Select high-performing and scalable storage solutions for a workload
• Select high-performing networking solutions for a workload, and
• Choose high-performing database solutions for a workload

Design Secure Applications and Architectures (24%)

• Design secure access to AWS resources
• Design secure application tiers, and
• Select appropriate data security options

Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (18%)

• Identify cost-effective storage solutions
• Identify cost-effective compute and database services, and
• Design cost-optimized network architectures

For a more complete curriculum, download the latest AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam objectives.

Let’s now look at the…

Pre-requisites for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification

Anyone can attempt the certification exam, but Amazon highly recommends that you have at least one year of experience in AWS technologies such as compute, networking, storage, database, deployment, and security.

Your best option would be to get the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification before embarking on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate. This will lay a strong foundation, upon which you could build your advanced AWS learning.

How to Prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification Exam

To prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, there are several options available.

Let look at these options in more detail.

Self-Study Resources

Many students use self-study resources to prepare for the exam.

Using self-study resources has become much easier due to YouTube, online courses, white-papers, forums, and books. Let’s take a look at some of these resources.

Books

Books provide in-depth coverage of the concepts you need to cover to pass the exam. Books are usually designed and written based on the exam objectives. Therefore, your preparation with books will be structured and focused.

The best book to prepare for the exam is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide.

If you think books aren’t for you, or if you want to complement your understanding from books with visual and easy-to-grasp explanations, there are several other resources which you can use.

AWS Ramp-Up Guide

Amazon has designed a “ramp-up” guide for AWS Solutions Architect certification preparation.

This guide links to useful resources that can be used for exam preparation. The guide has links to whitepapers, courses, classrooms, digital training, and videos.

Whitepapers and Learning Paths

It is recommended that you read AWS whitepapers published by Amazon if you want to pass the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification.

These whitepapers talk in detail about the different approaches and tools used in developing AWS architecture to solve complex problems.

These whitepapers also explain in detail the dynamics of Amazon’s Well-Architected Framework.

Amazon has also designed a special learning path for AWS Solutions Architect Certified Associate candidates.

This learning path includes “Architecting on AWS – Accelerator,” a five-day course that covers topics from two other courses in this path, Architecting on AWS, and Advanced Architecting on AWS.

Another important part of this learning path is the Exam Readiness Intensive Workshop: AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, which covers Architecting on AWS and Exam Readiness.

Video Training

If you think you understand complex concepts more easily with videos, you are in for a treat as the Internet is full of in-depth and easy-to-understand videos for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification.

A free video prep method is to print out the exam objectives, and then search for YouTube videos that cover each objective.  This might take some time and effort but it’s free.

You can also check out PluralSight’s video training for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification. You can also find many videos on AWS Solutions Architecting on Amazon’s training portal.

Also, don’t forget to check out the AWS YouTube channel.

Instructor-Led Training

If you prefer to learn directly from an AWS expert, you can use instructor-led training resources.

With this type of training you will have the ability to directly ask questions to the instructor.

You can fill out this request form and Amazon will get back to you with more details of their private training programs based on your requirements.

Keep in mind that, instructor-led training is usually expensive. For instance, a 5 day training program  offered by an Amazon-approved trainer costs around $1800 US dollars.

Practice Tests

The AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification exam is full of technical questions, based on practical scenarios which test your problem-solving and architecture skills.

It’s not easy to solve numerous multiple choice questions in a short amount of time.

The only way to refine your time-management and problem-solving skills is to do as many practice questions as you can.

You can start with Practice tests by Simplilearn and Whizlabs.

You can also register on the AWS website and attempt a model test in a timed environment.

Practice Labs

The certification exam has many practical questions where you are tested based on your ability to apply the concepts covered in the exam objectives.

You should do as many practice labs as you can to train your mind to think critically, creatively, and quickly.

Amazon has a portal where you can access many AWS practice labs.

Now, let’s look at…

What Jobs can you get with an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification?

The primary function of an AWS Solutions Architect is to design fault-tolerant, efficient, cost effective, and scalable Cloud-based solutions.

With an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification, you can become eligible for the following roles:

• Solutions Architect
• Data Engineer
• Senior Solutions Architect
• Cloud Solutions Architect
• Cloud Engineer
• Cloud Operations Engineer
• AWS DevOps Architect
• AWS Cloud DevSecOps Architect, and
• AWS Enterprise Architect

However, it is important to keep in mind that just passing the Solutions Architect Associate certification is not enough to secure these lucrative jobs.

Your first priority should be to enter the industry as soon as you can. If you can’t, try to create your own projects or get some freelance work. Hands-on experience always gets attention of recruiters and companies.

You can also consider going for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification to give you more of an edge.

Now, let’s talk about how much money you can make with the…

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification

Given the dominance of AWS in the public Cloud industry, the demand for smart individuals skilled in designing and developing efficient and scalable Cloud solutions for companies is rising.

According to the Global Knowledge 2020 IT Skills and Salary survey, AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate is the one of the top-paying IT certification.

According to PayScale, the average salary for AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification holders is around $ 113,044 US dollars.

Let’s see what other people think about this certification.  Here are a few…

Observations from Successful AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification Holders in the Industry

This certification is getting interest from thousands of individuals due to the enormous demand in the industry.

Let’s look at some feedback from people who passed the certification to see what tips and tricks we can learn.

Here’s a comment from Reddit user “farhandarzada”

“I invested a lot of time in answering practice exams. I’ll have to say that out of all the preparation steps I did, this is the most crucial one. I don’t think I could have passed the very hard exam without these AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate practice tests of Tutorials Dojo and Jon Bonso. Out of all the test simulations I took, theirs are the most comprehensive and completely covered all the topics that appeared in the exam. It’s also very important to note that their very detailed explanations helped me better understand the differences between similar services. The exam is very tricky and without a good grasp of these differences, you will definitely not be able to select the correct answer. I gained a very good grasp of the core services by thoroughly reading their explanations on why a certain option is the best answer and why the rest of the options are not. The handy cheat sheets (https://tutorialsdojo.com/aws-cheat-sheets/) that they have included as additional references ultimately gave me those extra points that enabled me to pass the exam.

I read a lot of AWS whitepapers and FAQs. These documentations are quite tough to digest all in one sitting so what I did was to gradually read them during my daily commute to and from work, learning bits and pieces here and there”

Here’s a comment from Reddit user “productionse”

“I was able to pass my AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam last week. Here are some recommendations:

RIGHT AWAY, PAY FOR AND TAKE THE AWS PRACTICE EXAM – It is $20 on the aws.training website. It is an EXACT REPLICA of the exam you will be taking at the exam center. I took this the night before, and I did extremely well. When I sat down at the test, and realized it was the same format, same font, same everything as the practice exam, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I strongly recommend paying for and taking the practice exam way before you even start studying to get a feel if this is the correct cert for you.

Training Websites – Pluralsight was decent. Cloud.guru was good, although the practice exams seemed a little odd.

AWS OnSite Training – This was expensive (~$500 company paid) but totally worth it. The instructor went over everything that was on the exam and was 100% spot on. Even the 3 or 4 practice questions the instructor asked were almost word for word on the exam. One of the questions was sort of a trick question (the one about 4 instances, and 3 AZs) and I immediately recognized it.

Take your time! – I took the exam, flagged some answers, then reread ALL questions again. Use the FULL allotted time for the exam.

Topics – Lots of easy questions on S3, tons of questions on CloudFront (like a LOT!) I never used it before in real world. High Availability vs Fault Tolerance is very important. Know the two, and explain the two. They are very similar, but VERY different! AWS managed services are typically always the answer. If it is between onsite service, or AWS service, always choose AWS. Study Lambda benefits”

Here’s a comment from Reddit user “andreal”

“Hi everyone! Yesterday I passed the AWS Solution Architect Associate exam.

I saw someone posted a Github repository with the notes, so I decided to fork it and add my own notes. You can find it here: https://github.com/peorth80/aws-solutions-architect-associate-notes if you are interested.

Some comments:

Don’t study from exam dumps.

Study concepts more than “answers”. (IE, understand in which cases you need to use SQS, Microservices, docker, etc).

Read the answer VERY well.

Don’t spend a lot of time on a single answer. Just flag it and move it to the next.

Don’t get nervous. I flagged the first 10 questions, and I panicked. Later on I came back to them and I was able to answer them”

The Truth About AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate

Small and large businesses worldwide are deploying AWS.

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification will make you eligible to apply for high paying Cloud-related jobs with confidence.

However, the certification is not a shortcut to success. You need to ensure that you can demonstrate that you can use AWS to solve big or small problems. Show a practical mindset. Companies prefer candidates who have gotten their hands dirty with actual projects.

You should also complement the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification with more Cloud industry certifications offered by Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco and CompTIA.

Is the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification for You?

AWS is a relatively new technology, and a certification is one of the best way to prove your AWS skills.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate will help you gain the attention of recruiters and companies looking for competent  AWS professionals.

So, is AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate certification worth it?

If you’re looking to take your Cloud career to the next level and make yourself eligible for high paying and exciting Cloud jobs then the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate is definitely worth it.

What is AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner?

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner is an entry-level Cloud certification that validates your skills on the Amazon Web Services cloud platform.

Amazon has a variety of Cloud certifications, including compute, server-less computing, machine learning, security, DevOps, SysOps, IoT, and more.

The AWS Cloud Practitioner certification is a fundamental-level certification that is designed for anyone who wants to understand the basics of Cloud computing, with a special focus on Amazon Web Services.

The AWS Cloud Practitioner certification is a great starting point if you want to launch a career in Cloud computing.

According to Robert Half’s 2020 Salary Report, Cloud computing is one of the top in-demand skills of 2020.

About 89% of hiring managers in the report said that Cloud computing is one of the skills that is difficult to find.

Solutions Architects, DevOps engineers, and Cloud Security experts are among the most in-demand jobs globally, according to the report.

The AWS Cloud Practitioner certification exam consists of 65 multiple-choice questions. The exam is 90 minutes long and costs $100 US dollars.

Ok, let’s look at the…

Skills Measured by the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification

This certification tests and validates your skills on the AWS ecosystem, which includes AWS Compute, Storage, Networking, Database, Security, and Management Services.

From the fundamentals of Cloud computing to creating your first EC2 instance, from Cloud billing to AWS DynamoDB, you will learn a host of skills and concepts that will equip you with enough understanding to grasp the complex, technical world of Amazon Cloud computing.

Let’s dive deeper and see what you will learn in the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification.

Cloud Concepts (Weightage: 28%)

• What is AWS Cloud and its value proposition
• The basics of AWS Cloud economics, and
• Cloud architecture design principles

Security (Weightage: 24%)

• What is AWS Shared Responsibility model
• What is AWS Cloud security and compliance concepts
• AWS access management capabilities, and
• Resources for security support

Technology (Weightage: 36%)

• Different methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Cloud
• AWS global infrastructure
• Core AWS services, and
• Resources for technology support

Billing and Pricing (Weightage: 12%)

• Comparing different pricing models for AWS
• Understanding different account structures in relation to AWS billing and pricing, and
• Resources available for billing support

For a more complete curriculum, download the latest AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam objectives.

Now, let’s look at the…

Pre-requisites for the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification

There are no pre-requisites for this certification. However, Amazon recommends that you have at least six months of experience with AWS in any capacity, including sales, technology, services, or accounts.

If you have a basic-level understanding of information technology concepts and are willing to put in the effort and hard work, you are good to go for this certification.

How to Prepare for the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Exam

There are many options available to prepare for this exam.  Let’s look at them in more detail.

Self-Study Resources

Self-study resources are generally enough to pass the Cloud Practitioner certification exam. These resources include books, videos, study guides, and practice questions.

Books

One of the most useful books to prepare for the Amazon Cloud Practitioner exam is the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide: CLF-C01.

However, you should not rely on a single source. Amazon also recommends some excellent white papers to prepare for the certification. These include Overview of Amazon Web Services, How AWS Pricing Works and Compare AWS Support Plans.

Video Training

After getting a solid understanding of the core concepts related to AWS, you should use video training to strengthen your grasp of those concepts.  Videos help you retain information for longer periods.

Amazon has an excellent free video course that covers the basic objectives of the certification.

The course is 6 hours long, and can be completed at your own pace.

Another free video training method would be to print out the Amazon Certified Cloud Practitioner exam objectives and start searching for YouTube videos that cover those topics.

Instructor-Led Training

If you think self-study isn’t for you, you can use instructor-led training to prepare for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam.

Amazon offers virtual and on-site classes for the certification. These classes also include hands-on lab exercises.

However, instructor-led training is expensive. For example, a one-day course for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam costs around $900 US dollars.

Because the certification is entry level and its course content could be studied online for free, spending a lot of money could be of little value for many candidates.

Practice Tests

Just covering the course material of the Cloud Practitioner certification is not enough. Solving a lot of technical questions in limited time is not easy.

To give yourself the best chance of passing the exam, do as many practice tests as you can.

Start with Amazon’s official practice test for the Cloud Practitioner certification exam.

You can also find another free practice test from Digital Cloud Training.

Practice Labs

Cloud computing with AWS is practical. Even though the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification exam mainly covers theory, it still contains many practical areas.

For example, how to create an AWS EC2 instance, how to access an AWS database, and troubleshooting AWS problems.

These questions require a strong practical approach. That is why you should do practice labs before attempting the certification exam.

Amazon has self-paced practice labs where you can access a lot of labs.

Now, let’s look at…

What Jobs you can get with an AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification?

Amazon is the market leader in the $100 billion public Cloud market. As of the second quarter of 2020, Amazon has over 30% market share in the Cloud industry, much higher than Google and Microsoft.

Having the Cloud Practitioner certification will make you eligible for several job roles in the industry.

Keep in mind that you’ll get better and higher paying jobs if you pursue additional advanced or associate-level Cloud certifications, or enter the industry and gain hands-on experience.

This will prepare you for the following job roles:

• AWS SysOps Admin
• AWS Solutions Architect
• Cloud Engineer
• AWS Managed Services Expert
• DevOps Engineer
• Cloud Infrastructure Expert
• AWS System Administrator, and
• IT Support Executive

 Let’s now talk about how much money you can make with the…

AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification

Companies worldwide are moving to the Cloud. According to IDC, the size of the public Cloud market through 2022 is expected to reach $370 billion.

Companies need AWS professionals to design their Cloud infrastructure, manage their Cloud services, develop their Cloud applications, and databases. For these expertise companies are ready to pay a hefty sum.

According to PayScale, the average salary for AWS skills is $105,000 US dollars. But salaries vary heavily based on skillset, location, and company.

AWS Cloud Practitioner certification alone won’t make you eligible for high-paying jobs. You will have to pursue more advanced AWS certifications as well.

Let’s see what other people think about this certification.  Here are a few…

Observations from Successful AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Holders in the Industry

If you want to know about the best strategies to prepare for the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam, pay attention to the experiences of those who have already passed the test.

Here is a comment from Reddit User “Sional”

I recently passed the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam. Here’s my study guide. I spent around 1 week to prepare for this exam.

First, I read the white paper Overview of Amazon Web Services. A lot of questions on the exam are related to this white paper. The question is scenario based, and they’ll ask which service are used for that scenario. There are a lot of services to remember, but I watched these two videos to have a high level of understanding of what services to use for each scenario.

 Acloud.guru Introduction To AWS This is free, but you need to create an account on Acloud.guru. I watched this series for 2-3 times after reading the whitepaper.

 AWS All Services Overview. Again, I watch this video for 2-3 times.

The second part is to read the paper Architecting for The Cloud. There will be questions on the exam which discuss about what design principles are applied for specific scenario, how to optimize for cost, scalability, loose coupling, etc.

The third part is to read the paper How AWS Pricing Works. In the exam, they talked a lot about how to save cost using AWS. The most important concept is the EC2 pricing model (On demand, reserved instance, spot instance, etc). Make sure that you understand when to use these pricing model because this type of question is really popular in the exam.

 You also need to check the AWS Support Plans. They have some questions like Who will have access to Technical Account Manager, who have AWS Trusted Advisor 7 Core Checks, etc.

 The AWS Free Digital Class (roughly 4.5 hours) to reinforce all the concepts above.

Here is another comment from Reddit User “Akintayoo”

10 minutes into exam, I was smiling, saying “boy you got this” :)) Most questions were from AWS core services like RDS, S3, Trusted Advisor, Cloud watch, etc. I feel I had more database and S3 related questions. Scenario questions were not that many, but the few I had were about deciding what pricing model or deployment model was best for the client.

 In all, I’ll say if anyone advises you not to read the whitepapers, slap them. 😂 Please read them whitepapers – they are lifesavers. Even though I didn’t read more than two, it helped reinforced what I watched and even explained some services better to me than I grasped on the videos and I swear they increased my chances. So far, the papers I read weren’t dry as most people claimed they are.

Here is another comment from Reddit User “SexyOverlord”

I work for Amazon, and I’m working on getting my Solutions architect certification. In order to transfer into AWS. Most people will not care about the practitioner certification unless you’re AWS itself. I did speak with a recruiter who did tell me to go get my practitioner and he can probably get me started on that side of the business. That being said I still feel like I should get my associates certification as I want to really know as much as I can about this industry. Looking around AWS I see plenty of people with the practitioner certification but that’s because they were hired into AWS and then told to go get it.

The Truth About AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

AWS Cloud Practitioner certification validates your basic understanding of AWS Cloud computing.

To fully benefit from your AWS career you will have to pursue advanced-level certifications if you want to attain a high paying job.

You should also try to get some hands on experience as soon as you can. The best learning happens at the workplace, where you have to solve actual problems.

Amazon has many certifications for AWS because its web services business is vast and dynamic.

Try to be clear on the area you want to focus on in the AWS world. Then build upon your Cloud Practitioner certification in those areas by passing associate-level or advanced certifications.

Is the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification for You?

AWS Cloud Practitioner certification is one of the best ways to start a career in the lucrative industry of Cloud computing.

Even if you have no degree or background in IT, this certification will give you enough basic knowledge to help you get your first Cloud related job or advance your career in the area of cloud computing.

So, is the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification worth it?

If you have a basic-level understanding of IT concepts, and want to improve your job prospects, the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification is a worthwhile option.

CPU manufacturer AMD has recently announced the Ryzen 4000 series, its new generation of processors.

Alongside this announcement, the company has introduced its new CPU models for the enterprise mobile market.

Now, while this distinction may not be common for everyone, it is important to mention that this type of enterprise CPU has a few differences with the general consumer or enterprise server CPU’s.

Let’s first take a look at these new AMD Pro processors. For mobile PC’s AMD has presented a total of three:

• The Ryzen 3 Pro 4450U, with four cores and eight threads, as well as 4 megabytes of level 3 cache and 3.7 Gigahertz clock speed;
• The Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U, with six cores and twelve threads, and
• The Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U, with eight cores and sixteen threads.

The Ryzen 5 Pro and the Ryzen 7 Pro come with 8 megabytes of level 3 cache and 4.0 and 4.1 Gigahertz clock speed respectively.

These are processors for enterprise ultrabooks which will be the first mobile PCs to feature 7 nanometer processors.

These smaller and denser processors consume less energy and have a greater performance per watt than their bigger counterparts.  They also grant mobile PCs a longer battery life.

These “PRO” series processors don’t just have better specs, but also have a set of special features that AMD has designed to reach the mobile enterprise market’s needs.

This new series of processors include a number of old AMD enterprise features as well as new ones.

It is no secret that cybersecurity is important to businesses.  This means that all devices in contact with sensitive data have to be reliable and secure.

One of the data protection features these processors come with is AMD Memory Guard.

AMD Memory Guard is a form of Transparent Secure Memory Encryption or TSME.

As its name suggests, it encrypts the PC’s RAM to protect users’ data with an additional layer of security.

Storage drives can be encrypted, but their information becomes visible when loaded into RAM. While this information is inside RAM, it can be seen or stolen by malicious software installed on the computer.

Information can also be retrieved from RAM by someone who has stolen the PC.

RAM memory starts to fade away as soon as the system its turned off, but cold boot attacks can be used if the PC is shut down without clearing the memory.

Cold boot attacks consist of booting the computer with the minimum that the operating system will allow.  This allows for the retrieving of sensitive information that may be present in RAM.

In this scenario, unencrypted RAM becomes the weakest link in the hardware security system. But by encrypting RAM, information becomes inaccessible for those without its encryption key.

AMD’s Memory Guard even keeps memory encrypted when the device is hibernating.

This sort of encryption will become even more important for NVDIMM’s that can store data for longer after the computer is unplugged.

TSME is an improvement on AMD’s Secure Memory Encryption or SME.

The difference is that TSME remains “transparent” to the software. In other words this means that its encryption does not run on the software level, and can work with old software that is not designed to work with RAM encryption.

Likewise, AMD’s Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) is an identical encryptor for virtual machines. Only the user of the VM has the key for its data.

Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV), like Secure Memory Encryption (SME), requires compatibility at the software level.

For doing all this encrypting the CPU uses the 128 bit version of the Advanced Encryption Standard. This consumes quite a bit of CPU resources, but according to AMD it is not enough that the user will notice.

Another security feature of the AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series processors is AMD Secure Boot Process.

The AMD Secure Boot Process protects the BIOS from potential threats to its configuration and firmware.

It is in the BIOS where the previous features we have mentioned can be activated.

The hardware part of the BIOS, is located inside the processor itself. This is the AMD Secure Processor.

The AMD Secure Processor is  a co-processor working on closed-source firmware that is in charge of the advanced security functions on the AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series processors.

Because it is located inside the processor, it is the computer’s hardware root of trust.

It is also worth mentioning that vendors often have their own sets of security packages, like Lenovo’s Self-Healing BIOS and ThinkShield.

Microsoft, in their partnership with the manufacturer, offers Windows Hello as a technology for unlocking the PC through facial and fingerprint recognition.

But as we said earlier, security is not the only selling point for the enterprise mobile  PC’s that use AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series processors.

To offer business IT solutions and tools, enterprise mobile PC’s have more remote management functions enabled.

AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series processors fully support Microsoft Endpoint Manager, a management platform tool for IT support. Plus, AMD also offers 18 months of image stability for these PCs.

Keeping software stable is an important feature for a company’s IT devices and infrastructure.

AMD also ensures 24-month processor availability, meaning that the company will keep a similar hardware and software configuration during this time while guaranteeing company shipments of parts.

AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series enterprise CPUs have the highest manufacturing and commercial-grade quality, making them more reliable than regular consumer CPU’s, and they have 36 months of warranty.

AMD has said that all these features will be available for the three processors in the AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series, including its entry model the Ryzen 3 Pro 4450U.

The launch of the AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 series processors and mobile enterprise PCs coincides with the rise of home workers all around the world, and vendors of AMD such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo will announce the release of their own PCs with these processors.

#1 – AWS owns 33% of the world’s cloud-computing market share

AWS or Amazon Web Services is a cloud-computing platform which is used by small business and leading organizations such as Netflix, Amazon, Airbnb, and Adobe.

It is the leading cloud-computing service, with a market share three times bigger than the next biggest provider in the space, Microsoft.

But what exactly does AWS offer?

Businesses with web applications start with a few users, for which they only need a few servers.

But as the usage of a web application scales, so does the server infrastructure needed, especially when the application supports a global audience.

Businesses rely on Amazon Web Services to take care of all those server infrastructure issues to support their web applications.

AWS enables dynamic, versatile, and stable server support to users using their platform with the ability to automatically scale the servers used by the application in real-time.

Not only does it allow users to easily use a business’s platform, but they don’t have to continue worrying about dealing with on premise server administration.

#2 – You can easily attain AWS certification

Amazon Web Services offers official certification exams which, when passed, give you a certificate to prove your AWS skills.

They offer multiple certification exams for different levels of proficiency.

There is the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam which covers most of the basics and fundamentals of AWS.

It is the best certification for people who are just getting started with AWS.

The other certification options are AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate and AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional.

The Certified Solutions Architect certifications can help you better understand how to design and deploy cloud architecture on AWS.

These exams are also affordable!

Associate Level AWS Certification Exams cost around $150 US Dollars, and the Professional Level exams cost $300 US Dollars.

#3 – Cloud-Computing is growing 7 times faster than the entire IT market

According to Ernst and Young, IT cloud services are predicted to grow 7 times faster than the rest of the IT market between 2016 and 2020.

Meaning that more and more businesses will be using cloud-services, 33% of which will be using AWS.

This means much more opportunities for you if you learn AWS.

This is also why the AWS certification is one of the most sought after in the world of IT.

#4 – Access to jobs

Let’s talk about jobs!

Since many companies everywhere in the world use AWS, there are many jobs that you become eligible for when you learn AWS.

You can see how true this is when you search for AWS related jobs on websites such as Indeed and Glassdoor.

Indeed has almost 40,000 jobs listed for AWS related jobs.

And Glassdoor features over 50,000 jobs.

This is because companies need people to take care of any AWS issues that arise.

Especially when they have a platform hosted by AWS, or when they create products involving AWS.

For instance you could become an AWS Cloud Architect.

An AWS Cloud Architect is a lot like a Project Manager for an AWS project or solution.

You are responsible for customer success, and ultimately coordinating a team to achieve that success building an AWS solution or product.

Another popular job opportunity is SysOps Administrator.

An AWS SysOps Administrator is the person who is responsible for deploying, operating, and managing systems on the AWS platform.

Being a Cloud Developer is also another opportunity.

Cloud Developers are responsible for the development of software applications and solutions.

You could also become part of an organization or start you own business where you can be the Cloud Sales & Purchase Manager.

This job entails selling and presenting AWS based solutions to potential customers.

Here are some more jobs that you could potentially qualify for:

·       Cloud DevOps Engineer

·       Key Account Manager, Cloud

·       Cloud Software Engineer

·       AWS Networking Specialist

·       AWS System Integrator, and

·       AWS Big Data Specialist

#5 – You can improve your salary

The average salary of a person with an AWS certification is $129,868 US dollars.

More than two times the salary of the average IT professional.

According to Business Insider, the average recipient of an AWS certificate has seen their salary increase by 25.9%

This goes to show that not only is AWS getting bigger, but the jobs are also significantly higher paying than most jobs available in IT.

According to Robert Half AWS has 2 of the 10 highest paying IT certifications in North America.

This speaks to the higher salary prospects that come from learning AWS or becoming AWS certified.

Here is what the average holder of the following AWS certificates earns per year:

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate: $117,773
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional: $136,259
• AWS Certified Developer – Associate: $112,984
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional: $125,743
• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate: $125,149

#6 – AWS is a gateway to other certifications

AWS certified professionals are more likely to attain Google and Microsoft Cloud certifications.

Which makes them more valuable as they become more knowledgeable in other Cloud solutions.

This means that AWS certified professionals are likely to go on to become even more relevant to the IT industry.

Microsoft has a plethora of Cloud solutions that you can add to your IT skillset.

Specific examples include Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365 and many more.

The same thing applies for Google.

Google boasts many tools and services that provide certifications for IT professionals.

Such as Google Business Solutions, G Suite, Google Cloud and others.

#7 – With AWS certification you can join the elite AWS community

The AWS community is a community of AWS certified individuals on LinkedIn.

It allows members to network, share opportunities and collaborate on projects and ideas.

Being a part of this community puts you at the fore-front of the cloud-computing industry since AWS is rapidly becoming the gold-standard of cloud computing.

Through this community, you can also access and attend official AWS organized events and initiatives.

Such as regional meetups, seminars, and practice sessions.

Amazon also allows you to become a distinguished member of the certified AWS professionals community by providing you with digital assets such as logos and badges you can use to make yourself standout.

#1 – PowerShell is a vital part of all popular operating systems

PowerShell is a task-based command-line shell and scripting language built on .NET.

PowerShell helps system administrators automate tasks that manage operating systems and processes.

It works with Linux, macOS, and Windows.

With PowerShell commands, you can control and manage computers and computer networks entirely from the command line.

PowerShell also provides centralized and fast access to data stores, which is a big advantage when working with many computers spread out in a company office.

PowerShell is also open-source and its base source code is now available on GitHub and open to anyone around the world to contribute to.

#2 – PowerShell allows companies to easily manage networks of computers

PowerShell is a tool that allows companies to manage processes and activities on computers.

It is the command-line tool natively built into Windows Operating Systems. PowerShell is mainly used by System Administrators to:

• Automate repetitive tasks, and
• Manage IT environments at scale

Imagine you work as an System Admin in an office with 50, 500, or 5000 computers.

How would you go about updating operating systems, installing software, or making crucial network-wide changes to computers?

To navigate that problem, IT pros use PowerShell to run commands and create scripts for large scale tasks they have to perform more than once.

Anything you can do with a few mouse clicks in the GUI can be done in PowerShell.

PowerShell works with cmdlets which are simple, single-function commands built into the shell.

You can use each cmdlet separately, but their power is realized when you use cmdlets in combination to perform complex tasks.

Windows PowerShell comes with more than one hundred basic core cmdlets, but you can write your own cmdlets and share them with colleagues and with the rest of the world.

Knowing how to create cmdlets and perform PowerShell scripting is highly valuable as you can help companies build custom solutions for IT processes and problems.

#3 – With PowerShell you can access information that is often hard to find

Like many Command-Line-Interfaces (CLI’s), PowerShell enables you to access data and information that is sometimes hard to find when using the Graphical User Interface (GUI).

For instance, System Admins can use PowerShell to easily get into secure data stores such as the Windows Registry, and digital signed certificates.

PowerShell allows IT pros to have deep visibility and control over all of the resources on a network.

#4 – Most Microsoft products already use PowerShell or will do so in the future

Microsoft intends to make PowerShell a crucial part of all its products.

This is backed up by Microsoft’s decision to include PowerShell version 2 in Windows Server 2008 R2.

And to also have it enabled by default in Windows 7.

Many of the add-ons for Microsoft products are going to be based on PowerShell, if they aren’t already.

Virtually all of the server products Microsoft is producing right now can be managed through PowerShell.

Becoming proficient in PowerShell gives you the skill set required to manage most of Microsoft’s current and future products.

#5 – Many GUIs are PowerShell front ends

Pronounced “gooey”, a GUI is simply a user interface that includes graphical elements, like icons and buttons.

Many of the GUI interfaces that Microsoft uses for existing products are actually front end interfaces to PowerShell.

The most popular example being the Microsoft Exchange Management Console.

The Exchange Management Console is a GUI based management tool for Microsoft’s email server product.  The front end is graphical but it is built entirely on top of PowerShell.

Any function you perform through the Exchange Management Console generates PowerShell code that completes the requested task.

#6 – Microsoft certification exams contain PowerShell questions

Although Microsoft does not offer a PowerShell specific certification, most Microsoft certification exams include PowerShell questions.

The majority of these exams do not necessarily require you to be proficient with complete command syntax, but rather require you to know which commands or cmdlets are applicable in different situations.

Learning PowerShell means that you will become more competent to take Microsoft certification exams.

Here are some certification exams that require knowledge of PowerShell:

·        MCSA Windows Server 2016

·        MCSE Productivity

·        Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator

·        MCSE Mobility

·        Microsoft 365 Certified Modern Desktop Administrator

#7 – There are many job opportunities for PowerShell experts

Someone skilled at Powershell would be able to work in most Windows, Azure, and Office 365 IT environments.

There are plenty of jobs related to Powershell, with over 7,500 listed on Indeed.

Some job titles found on Indeed include:

• Powershell Developer
• Linux and Windows Administrator
• Network Engineer, and
• Desktop Engineer

ZipRecruiter also has over 11,000 PowerShell jobs with a salary range of about $93,000 – $170,000 US dollars.

Most of the jobs on ZipRecruiter are similar to what is available on Indeed, but some different job titles available on ZipRecruiter include:

• Senior PowerShell DSC Developer, and
• Software Engineer

Learning PowerShell is one of the best decisions that you can make in your IT career.

Information Technology is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, thanks to the rise of automation, e-commerce, online entertainment, cybersecurity, and Cloud computing.

Software is the foundation of IT.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, employment of software developers is projected to jump by a whopping 22% from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations.

The world is changing fast. Companies all over the world, including giants like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, are removing the condition of having a degree while recruiting top talent.

You can become a Computer Programmer or Software Developer without a university degree.

If you are planning to start a career in IT, here are the top 10 programming languages which will help you get a job without the need for a college or university degree.

Javascript

JavaScript is one of the world’s most famous programming languages. JavaScript is immensely popular among the developer community and companies worldwide, mainly due to its capabilities and functionality.

JavaScript is a cross-platform object-oriented scripting language usually used to make dynamic and interactive web applications.

When you favorite a tweet on Twitter, post a comment on Facebook and update your status, it’s JavaScript that makes it possible for you to see web pages and object load in real time without refreshing the entire page.

JavaScript is used in mobile programming, web development, databases, game programming, robotic applications, and in various advanced human-computer interaction platforms.

The world of JavaScript is vast. The JS stack is full of tools and languages which you can learn to become an expert programmer.

For example, with JavaScript, you can learn jQuery, a JavaScript library designed to simplify HTML DOM tree traversal and manipulation, CSS animation, and Ajax.

Some other technologies linked with JavaScript which have huge demand include Node.js and VanillaJS.

According to a survey by programming platform DevSkiller, JavaScript is the most in-demand skill of 2020. The opportunities for JavaScript will continue to grow in 2021 and beyond.

According to PayScale, JavaScript Software Engineers on average take home around $82,000 US dollars annually.

Python

Python is perhaps one of the most talked about programming languages in world. Everyone is aware of Python. But what actually makes this programming language so powerful?

In a nutshell, you can use Python for automation. Name a task and Python can automate it within a few scripts.

Scraping a webpage for data, automating edits in Paint software, data entry, data processing and more, can be automated easily with Python.

Python works with several frameworks, including Flask and Django.

Python is also popular in Data Science and AI. It is widely used in the development of complex web solutions, like ecommerce websites and subscription platforms.

An IEEE study found that employers worldwide prefer Python developers above any other skills because of Python’s power, especially when it comes to FinTech software, Machine Learning, and AI.

Some major platforms using Python include Google, Spotify, Netflix, Uber, Dropbox, Pinterest, and Instacart.

You can take several career paths after learning Python without needing a college degree, such as Software Engineering and Data Science.

According to PayScale, the average salary for Python experts is $91,000 US dollars.

Java

Java is an extremely powerful programming language that has many applications.

Java is known for its strongly typed structure.  Some of its key highlights are, declarative and functional programming, high-quality libraries, profiling tools, static analyzers, annotation system, and a huge choice of solid IDEs.

Learning Java will give you a strong gasp of the Java platform, which is very powerful and forms the basis of several other programming languages and frameworks.

For example, if you learn Java, learning the Android programming language will become much easier for you.

According to a report by Burning Glass, a company that provides real-time data on job growth, skills in demand, and labor market trends, Java is the second most popular language in the world as of 2020.

The average salary for someone with Java programming skills is $91,400 US dollars, according to PayScale.

Go

Go or Golang is a relatively new programming language that has become very famous among developers.

Go programming language is closer to C in syntax, but what makes it special is its built-in support for concurrency, simplicity, security, and specific strengths that could be used to program servers.

Go was developed back in 2007 by some Google engineers who wanted to combine the powers of all the famous programming languages and use the real capabilities of multi-core processing.

Go has minimal grammar, few keywords, and there are just a limited number of ways to do a specific task. That makes programming relatively easier in Go.

Golang is the fourth most popular language among the Github community, beating old giants like C++, C, and C#.

Golang has an average salary of $116,000 US dollars, according to data from PayScale.

C#

C# is an object oriented imperative language that is used to develop complex web applications.

What makes C# special? Technologies such as LINQ for data transformation and filtering, statistically typed structure, dynamic features, JSPN APIs, and a strong ecosystem of data accessibility and product development makes this programming language stand out.

If you learn C#, several additional pathways will open up in the area of programming for you.

C# is strongly intertwined with the .Net framework, which in itself a very in-demand skill. According to a Stack Overflow survey, about 31% of developers on the platform like C#.

According to PayScale the average salary for jobs that require C# is around $82,000 US dollars.

Ruby

Ruby is an object-oriented programming language that is gaining popularity worldwide.

Everything in Ruby is an object, which makes it easier for developers to reuse code and implement “chaining,” where many lines of code can be consolidated into one.

Ruby is mostly used with the Rails framework, and both are collectively known as Ruby On Rails.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of programming in Ruby is its easy syntax. With Ruby, you can focus more on thinking and crafting your core logic instead of worrying about the syntax errors.

Ruby provides several ways to implement a task, but all of its tools and features are consistent and fit together nicely.

Software Engineers with a strong practical knowledge of Ruby on average make around $97,000 US dollars, according to PayScale.

Kotlin

Kotlin is a cross-platform, statically typed, programming language that is famous for making it easier for developers to implement complex features and functionalities.

One of the biggest reasons why Kotlin is so powerful is its origins. The language was developed by JetBrains.

Because the language comes directly from industry, and not academia, it solves a lot of inherent and complex problems for developers.

It’s open source. It’s integration with Java is very strong, and you can convert any Java code to Kotlin with converters.

Unlike other languages Kotlin does not enforce any particular programming philosophy. It has no runtime overhead.

Kotlin is used for Android app development and server-side, client-side web development.

According to PayScale, the average salary for a programmer with Kotlin skills is around $98,000 US dollars.

R

The R language has been gaining a lot of popularity lately mainly because of its immense applications and strong capabilities in statistical computing, data science, data mining, complex AI applications, and machine learning.

R is usually compared to Python as both are used with data science and analytics.

The scope of the R language is very focused, and the demand for R language skills remains high in highly advanced and growth-oriented areas.

R is famous for its factors and formulas inside machine learning models and its plot features. Package management in RStudio is also much easier than other competitors.

However, R is comparatively difficult to learn because of its structure and syntax. But if you develop a taste for it, things will become much easier and fun.

Companies hire R language experts for various roles like data scientist and data engineer.

According to PayScale, the average salary for someone with R programming skills is about $80,000 US dollars.

SQL

SQL, or Structured Query Language, is the most-requested programming language by employers, according to a report by Dice.

Every company has data, and they need to process and make sense of it.

Whether you are building a website, a mobile app, or a complex web application, you usually need to build and maintain a database.

All of this makes SQL a hot programming language because it makes it extremely easy for companies to maintain, process, analyze, and save data.

A quick search on any jobs portal will show you how much demand there is for SQL skills.  This demand is bound to rise in 2021 and beyond.

According to Glassdoor, average salary for SQL is $81,600 US dollars.

C

Learning C will help you understand the low-level architecture and inner workings of computer systems.

Despite popular belief, C is far from obsolete. In fact, C is one of the most in-demand programming languages in 2020, according to a 2020 CodinGame annual survey of HR professionals and developers.

Apart from software companies, Learning C will also open up opportunities with companies that are working on hardware.

Having C in your skillset shows you have a bottom-up, in-depth understanding of how computer systems work, exponentially increasing your chances of employment without a college degree.

Employers hire C experts for roles such as Embedded Software Engineer, Software Engineer, and Developer.

The average salary, accordingly to PayScale, for someone with C programming skills is $90,000 US dollars.