A clear AWS certification sequence keeps you from over-spending on exams that do not move your role forward. This roadmap is tuned for 2025 hiring trends we see through ITRise resume reviews and recruiter surveys.
Phase 1 – Go from Zero to Cloud Fluent
- Foundational labs (2–3 weeks). Build an AWS Organization, launch EC2, wire an Application Load Balancer, and publish logs to CloudWatch. Document every lab in a GitHub repo so hiring managers trust your screenshots.
- Cloud Practitioner (Weeks 4–6). Use the free AWS Skill Builder course plus Stephane Maarek’s practice tests. The goal is vocabulary mastery—not memorizing question dumps.
Tip: schedule the exam before you finish week one. A fixed date keeps the pace urgent.
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Phase 2 – Associate Depth
- Solutions Architect Associate (8 weeks). Pair “AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide” with hands-on builds: static site on S3 + CloudFront, serverless contact form via API Gateway, Lambda, and DynamoDB.
- Optional alternatives. If you are heavy in operations, take SysOps Associate; for dev-heavy roles, Developer Associate + CodeCatalyst labs.
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Phase 3 – Professional Validation
- Architecture notebooks. Capture every reference architecture you study with diagrams and trade-off notes. Those become the backbone of interview stories.
- Professional exam window (10–12 weeks). Alternate between Tutorials Dojo practice sets and Well-Architected labs. Track weak domains—reliability and cost optimization remain the biggest blockers for 2025 cohorts.
Phase 4 – Specialty Signal (Pick One)
| Track | When it matters |
|---|---|
| Security Specialty | Ideal for companies layering AWS Control Tower and GuardDuty. |
| Data Analytics | Required when the workload mixes Glue, Redshift, and Lake Formation. |
| Advanced Networking | Differentiator for telco, gaming, or hybrid roles. |
End every phase with a portfolio refresh: short Loom walkthrough, architecture diagram, and README. Recruiters prefer seeing a crisp repo over a paragraph of buzzwords.
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