Certified Solutions Architect
Passed the exam today. Really pleased at reaching this goal. I guess I've gone from knowing just enough to be dangerous to being actually dangerous! The test was challenging but also about what I'd expected. My road to certification started with a great course from Ryan Kroonenburg of ACloudGuru. He not only knows his stuff, but he is an excellent communicator. It can sometimes be hard to get both in one person. I also had some key resources that helped. First, beyond the course itself, was the official study guide from AWS. It was originally published in October 2016, so some parts are dated. But for the most part it was an excellent resource. I also read that the folks who wrote the book also wrote the exam (haven't verified this myself). Second, I bought some quizzes from Whizlabs. They have 8 full length tests that are challenging and informative. They help identify weak points to study. In addition, I got some tests from IAASAcademy. Those were also good, although I thought the Whizlabs were better. And lastly (but certainly not least in importance) was the AWS documents, including the FAQs for each service. Very useful resources for sure. (Oh and of course the labs.)
So now that I hit my goal, it's time to do some damage.