I got my AWS Cloud Practitioner certificate

I passed the Certified Cloud Practitioner exam (CLF-C02). It’s AWS’s entry-level certificate: less about building things, more about knowing what all the pieces are, how they fit together and what they cost.

Why I took it

I work at Irvine Systems, an AWS partner, where this certificate is expected of everyone. I was keen to do it anyway: almost everything we build runs on AWS, and it was a good chance to properly understand what it all is.

How I studied

Mostly with freeCodeCamp’s CLF-C02 course by Andrew Brown. It’s one 14-hour video on YouTube and covers everything on the exam, from the basics of the cloud to security, billing and support. And it’s completely free.

AWS has a name for pretty much everything and by the end I knew what most of them are for. Not all of it was new, either. The networking side overlapped a lot with a networking course I did in my final year of university, so those parts felt familiar.

I also made a little website to help me study.

So, what now?

I know a lot more than I did. I can tell you what most of these services do and when you’d reach for one, but I haven’t built much with them yet, so it still feels a bit like knowing the rules of a game I haven’t played. Actually using it is the next step. It’s valid until May 2029, so there’s time. The badge is on Credly, if you want to see it.

Honestly though, it feels really good to have it. I’m already thinking about doing the AI Practitioner one next, just for fun.