Introduction
I’m happy to share a recent milestone: I’ve earned the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification!
Over the past two years, I’ve mainly been working with the GCP platform, gaining hands-on experience in SaaS cloud operations. But while preparing for this certification, I got the chance to take a more systematic and comprehensive look at AWS cloud architecture and best practices.
Actually, this whole journey started from a fun experience at the AWS Summit this August. I joined one of the sessions where the speaker hosted a small competition. Luckily, I won a prize spot, and to my surprise, the prize was a 100% discount voucher for the AWS foundational-level exam (worth around USD 100!). That turned out to be the real “value for money” reward of the event. I didn’t get any other swag, but honestly, this voucher alone made the trip more than worthwhile. And that’s how I got the chance to take this certification exam.
In this era of AI explosion, the importance of the cloud is clearer than ever. At the same AWS Summit, one quote really stuck with me:
It’s true, the AI services we use every day, like ChatGPT, Agents, or Vibe Coding, all rely heavily on cloud infrastructure.
And when we migrate services from on-premises to the cloud, it’s not just about moving things over. The design has to consider Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Operational Excellence, and Cost Optimization. Doing this right requires both solid technical knowledge and forward-looking architectural thinking.
For me, continuous learning isn’t only about picking up new technical skills. It’s also about living up to my responsibility as a Team Leader. Every architectural decision, big or small, can significantly shape the future of the product and the growth of the team.
Moving forward, I plan to bring together my experience in both GCP and AWS to design more resilient and efficient cloud architectures, while also embracing the new opportunities that AI and the cloud will bring.
PS: AWS certifications need to be renewed every three years, so they’re not permanent. Time to keep learning!
Credly Link: Here
How to Prepare?
The first step is to decide which language you want to take the exam in, because this will directly affect how much preparation you need.
Although AWS offers a Chinese version (with some extra time allowance, which is quite friendly for non-native speakers), I chose to take the English version. The reason is simple: translations can sometimes be inaccurate, and since I usually work in English anyway, I treated it as a small challenge.
Exam Scope
The preparation strategy is straightforward: repeatedly review each AWS service, understand its main purpose, and be able to distinguish between services that look similar. AWS doesn’t provide duplicate services, so if two seem to overlap, it’s important to clarify their differences.
Since AWS has hundreds of services, here’s a small trick: check the Official Exam Guide. If you can immediately explain every term listed there, you’re probably ready for the exam.
Study Materials
I didn’t use Udemy or YouTube. Instead, I focused only on AWS official resources plus practice exams, and that was more than enough.
Search: Cloud Practitioner Essentials
This course is available in both Traditional Chinese and English. However, I strongly recommend the English version, because I noticed the Chinese course content is shorter (about 7 hours), while the English version is nearly 13 hours. The English one feels more complete, rich, comprehensive, and up-to-date.
My suggestions:
- Go through the entire 13-hour course without skipping any detail.
- Complete every quiz with a perfect score (100%).
- If you make mistakes, review why and clarify the concepts.
- Take notes and keep revising them repeatedly.
Practice Exams
After finishing the course, the next step is practice exams. They are incredibly helpful for understanding the exam style, question depth, and difficulty. Honestly, practice exams are a must!
Two sources I recommend:
- Examtopics (free, but limited number of questions)
- Passnexam (nearly 300 questions, highly recommended to go through all of them)
Exam Process
The exam can be taken in two ways: online from home or at a testing center.
Personally, I recommend the testing center, because it feels more like a formal exam 😆. Another reason is that you only need to bring valid IDs (passport and national ID card). No extra setup is required, and the risk of technical issues (like poor internet) is eliminated.
I took mine at the 恆逸 Training Center near Nanjing Fuxing Station in Taipei. The staff were professional and experienced.
The process was:
- Check in and sign consent forms about exam regulations.
- Undergo a pocket check (no belongings allowed inside). Backpacks must be stored in lockers.
- If you arrive early, you can start the exam early.
- A staff member will guide you into a large room divided into many small, enclosed booths. Each booth has a computer, monitor, and chair.
The booth is quite small that basically it's just enough for one person. The chair is almost against the door, and there’s no space for a second person. The whole session is under video surveillance.
The exam lasted for 100 minutes, but I completed it in about 60 minutes and submitted my answers. Immediately after submission, the screen displayed the result, showing whether I had passed or not.
Conclusion
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification is a great starting point for anyone who wants to step into the cloud world.
It provides a clear understanding of what cloud infrastructure is, why it matters, and how AWS services create value. The exam itself is designed at the entry level, so it doesn’t require prior coding or technical knowledge, yet it still gives a complete overview of the cloud landscape.
This makes it especially suitable for non-engineers, project managers, sales professionals, or anyone who has never written a line of code or had any cloud-related background. For those with experience in other cloud platforms such as GCP or Azure, it offers a structured way to quickly get familiar with AWS. And for absolute beginners, it serves as an accessible doorway into the world of cloud computing, opening up opportunities to grow further in this field.