At this Point, is it worth still pursuing my AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification?

[nicksaiz65]

I'm a software engineer with two years of experience. I have three certs in my possession, CompTIA Security+, AWS Cloud Practitioner, and AZ-900.

I recently jumped jobs to a new company that is paying me significantly more. This happened way faster than I expected, and while I was prepping for interviews I was studying for AWS Solutions Architect Associate too. I finished all the theory/video lectures, but I'm not ready to take the exam yet because I need to spam the practice questions.

At this point, now that I have a new job that is paying me over six figures, is it still worth it for me to prepare for and take the AWS Solutions Architect Associate? Or should I put every ounce of my mental energy into being fantastic at my new job? Because I have other goals too, the most I could put into running practice questions would be 10-15 minutes a day, plus a little bit more on weekends. At that rate, I'd probably be ready to take the exam by June. I suppose I could run questions in downtime throughout the day too, like when I'm in the waiting room for a doctors' appointment for instance.

My resume right now is *pretty* good, but I think if I had AWS Solutions Architect Associate on there too, it would go from pretty good to absolutely fuego. It could be considered an investment in myself because it makes me look better to companies, meaning that if I were to ever get laid off, I would have an easier time finding a new tech job after that. This would give me more peace of mind.

However, even at 10-15 minutes a day, studying for certs and running practice questions does indeed burn some mental energy. I do wonder if I don't take the exam, if all that time I spent watching those lectures was a "waste."

At this point based on the situation, does it make sense to put that energy into upskilling and getting another cert? Or, should I turn the blinders on and put every ounce of my mental energy into being a top performer at this new job?

 

[BackInTheGame78]

It may be worth it in the long run if you are looking for jobs that place a high priority on this certification or you can get extra money for having it.

I have my Azure Certification but it hasn't really done much as of yet for me.

 

[nicksaiz65]

It may be worth it in the long run if you are looking for jobs that place a high priority on this certification or you can get extra money for having it.

I have my Azure Certification but it hasn't really done much as of yet for me.

I decided to take the extra time and go for the cert. Many companies place value on it, it seems. I'm also planning to start interviewing again 3 months before my contract expires just in case.

I decided to get the AZ-900 because the test is very similar to AWS Cloud Practitioner, and I always see companies asking for Azure whenever I'm out looking for jobs.

 

[Pierce Manhammer]

Given that mostly all devops/sre roles are being outsourced to India and the FSU countries, I don’t think this is a great idea.

I ran a 150 person cloud engineering team in Pune for less than what 50 US based folks cost…

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Given that mostly all devops/sre roles are being outsourced to India and the FSU countries, I don’t think this is a great idea.

I ran a 150 person cloud engineering team in Pune for less than what 50 US based folks cost…

Not all. And usually it's only a matter of time before they insource back to the US once they fvck up enough stuff.

Can't tell you the number of applications I have had to rewrite that were outsourced and were spaghetti code disasters the company thought they could save a few bucks on only to spend triple in the end of what it would have cost if they just built it here in the first place between paying them and the constant maintenance headaches over the next few years and then paying to have it rebuilt from scratch here.

You always get what you pay for in business at the end of the day.

In my case our team does all our own DevOps work as well so I work in Azure just as much as I do software engineering work, so the Azure certification definitely was good to have.

Additionally while it won't likely prevent you from getting hired if you don't have a certification, you likely can negotiate a higher salary with it. Companies like pieces of paper that verify you have some level of knowledge.

 

[Pierce Manhammer]

My experience is a few years dated, but I had outstanding work done, of course I had strong leaders and our project specs where well written. Where there mess ups? Yea but truly no more than the local teams. Mostly had senior engineers working stateside and the wrote solid SOPs.

I’ve heard my share of nightmare stories though. The issue is salary deflation overall, or was. 10x engineers will always garner good wages.

 

[nicksaiz65]

Not all. And usually it's only a matter of time before they insource back to the US once they fvck up enough stuff.

Can't tell you the number of applications I have had to rewrite that were outsourced and were spaghetti code disasters the company thought they could save a few bucks on only to spend triple in the end of what it would have cost if they just built it here in the first place between paying them and the constant maintenance headaches over the next few years and then paying to have it rebuilt from scratch here.

You always get what you pay for in business at the end of the day.

In my case our team does all our own DevOps work as well so I work in Azure just as much as I do software engineering work, so the Azure certification definitely was good to have.

Additionally while it won't likely prevent you from getting hired if you don't have a certification, you likely can negotiate a higher salary with it. Companies like pieces of paper that verify you have some level of knowledge.

This on the certifications. Companies love pieces of paper