Sam's space

I recently passed the AWS DevOps Engineer Professional certification exam. Having worked with AWS services for over 6 years building distributed systems, I felt it was time to validate my knowledge and fill in any gaps through structured learning.

This is one of AWS’s professional-level certifications, and it thoroughly tests your understanding of continuous delivery, infrastructure automation, monitoring, and security practices on AWS.

# Study Approach

Having previously taken the AWS Developer Associate and Database Specialty exams, I was familiar with AWS’s certification style. However, the professional-level exams are notably more challenging, with complex scenario-based questions that often have multiple “correct” answers where you need to choose the most optimal one.

My primary study resource was Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course, which I highly recommend. The course does an excellent job of covering the exam topics in depth while remaining engaging. What I particularly appreciated was how it tied theoretical concepts to real-world scenarios - something that proved invaluable during the actual exam.

For additional practice, I used my flashcards web application cards.samu.space which has a collection of AWS certification questions. It’s particularly helpful for quick revision sessions and reinforcing key concepts through spaced repetition.

# Key Focus Areas

The exam heavily emphasizes:

• CI/CD Pipelines - Deep knowledge of CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy and how they integrate with other services
• Infrastructure as Code - CloudFormation and its advanced features like custom resources and nested stacks
• Monitoring and Logging - CloudWatch in all its forms (metrics, logs, events, alarms) and how to effectively use it for operational visibility
• Security and Compliance - IAM roles, security controls, and audit mechanisms
• High Availability - Auto Scaling, deployment strategies, and disaster recovery patterns
• Automation - Systems Manager, AWS Config, and other automation tools
• Organizations - Multi-account management, Service Control Policies (SCPs), and organizational unit structures

# Exam Experience

The exam consists of 75 questions over 3 hours, which sounds like plenty of time but you’ll need it. Many questions present complex scenarios requiring you to evaluate multiple viable solutions. The key is often in the specific requirements mentioned - cost constraints, time limitations, or specific compliance needs that help narrow down the best answer.

# Tips for Success

• Focus on understanding the why behind different architectural choices rather than just memorizing service features
• Pay close attention to requirements around cost, time, and operational overhead in the questions
• Know your deployment strategies (blue/green, canary, rolling) and when to use each
• Understand the integration points between different AWS services, especially around automation and monitoring
• When studying complex service interactions, use ChatGPT to generate ASCII diagrams of the information flow - this visual approach can really help clarify how different AWS services work together

# Was it Worth It?

Absolutely. Even with years of AWS experience, preparing for this certification helped me discover new services and features I hadn’t used before. It also reinforced best practices and helped me think more systematically about DevOps solutions.

The certification process forced me to fill knowledge gaps in areas I don’t use daily, making me a more well-rounded DevOps engineer. Plus, having a professional-level AWS certification is valuable validation of expertise for both current and future career opportunities.