AWS Partner Network (APN) Blog

AWS Certifications – What You Should Know

Looking for a way to gain visibility and credibility to AWS Customers and internal AWS teams for your proven experience working with AWS? It’s time to explore AWS Certifications.

What are AWS Certifications?

AWS Certifications recognize IT professionals at your firm that possess the skills and technical knowledge necessary for designing, deploying and managing applications on the AWS platform. We have thousands of AWS Certified Solutions Architects, Developers, and SysOps Administrator professionals in over 50 countries around the world, and we continue to develop and launch new AWS Certifications to help AWS Customers readily identify IT professionals with particular levels of expertise working with the AWS platform. We currently offer exams for four AWS Certifications:

What’s New?

The Friday before re:Invent, we announced a new AWS Certification for the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional. DevOps practices increase IT efficiency for your business, allowing you to respond more quickly to your customers by providing stable, secure, and predictable IT environments. As cloud computing becomes more mainstream, the demand for DevOps skills continues to rise as companies are seeking to gain benefits from this practice. This certification helps IT professionals validate their skills in the DevOps area and helps APN Partners to differentiate their business practice with AWS. AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional is the next step in the path for AWS Certified Developers and SysOps Administrators to validate their skills in the DevOps. It is intended to identify individuals who are capable of implementing and managing systems which are highly available, scalable, and self-healing on the AWS platform. Beta exams will be offered through December 21st.

What do AWS Certifications Mean for APN Partners?

APN Partners who have gained AWS Certification are crucial for AWS Customers, who increasingly ask us to help them identify APN Partners with AWS Certified staff. Being AWS Certified gives our customers assurance of your firm’s skillset and abilities on AWS in particular areas, and provides validation of your skills not only to our customers, but also to our internal teams. We have a high level of incentive to consult with and to engage APN Partners with a large number of AWS Certified staff. AWS Certifications already apply toward APN Technical Training minimums and APN Competency requirements for APN Partners, and in 2015, we will launch new requirements surrounding AWS Certifications for Upgrade eligibility to the Standard, Advanced, and Premier APN tiers. Below are the new requirements, to be implemented in January 2015:

Standard-tier Upgrade eligibility:

  • 2 Associate Level Certifications

Advanced-tier Upgrade eligibility:

  • 4 Associate Level Certifications
  • 2 Professional Level Certifications

Premier-tier Upgrade eligibility:

  • 8 Associate Level Certifications
  • 4 Professional Level Certifications

To learn more about AWS Certifications and resources to help you prepare for exams, visit the AWS Certification preparation page. To learn more about the new requirements beginning in January 2015 for APN Partners, click here.