Last week, I sat for the AWS DevOps Professional certification. I took the 2018 version of the test, because it’s still in rotation until sometime in February. It was an interesting, grueling slog of a test… as AWS tests usually are. It wasn’t as difficult as the SA Pro, though.
I had a two week window to study and knock out this test. This window was pretty much self-imposed, as I will just always look for an excuse to NOT study if I don’t have to. I have to schedule the test and give myself a deadline so I won’t procrastinate.
I started by taking the AWS practice exams. These exams cost $20 and they’re absolutely soul-crushing. I scored low on this test and it frightened me. I started reading AWS documentation to figure out why I scored so low. It didn’t make sense. It turned out that this test is worded in a particular fashion to really throw you off, and you need deep knowledge of the subject to know when answers are suspect. Ok, no problem.
I found a course on udemy.com from LinuxAcademy. It was awful. The speaker was boring and monotone. The material was boring. The presentation was sleep-inducing. Lowest-rated course I have ever sat through on Udemy. But I sat through the whole thing. Took the practice test again, and still scored low.
This didn’t make sense. Now I was stressing.
I finally found a wonderful deal on whizlabs.com. They offered six practice tests for this subject, for the low price of $37. This study material was very good. I went over each and every practice test. What I really like about their package is that they give you a breakdown of all the answers you picked and rationale about why your answers are wrong, with links to material to reinforce their answers. This was extremely helpful.
All in all, I scored better on this test than I have ever scored on an AWS exam. I know the material, as I use it every day with my job. But I don’t take tests well. I stress about them. A lot. Thanks to those guys for helping me out. I can highly recommend them.
I also highly recommend avoiding the LinuxAcademy course on this subject… and also don’t waste your $20 on the AWS practice exam. I think that exam is designed to make you feel worthless. I question some of their answers and poorly-worded questions. Whizlabs set it all straight, and I’ll go back there again if I need to study up for another Cert exam.
Now I have 4 AWS certs: Solutions Architect Associate/Pro, Developer Associate, DevOps Pro. I’ll be putting those to good use.