My name is Marcia, a consultant at GEKKO since last October. I have just passed the AWS Certified Developer – Associate and IBM Application Developer – Cloud Platform (Bluemix) certifications, and I would like to share my experiences with you.
AWS Certified Developer associate
I start with AWS.
AWS Certified Developer associate: even if this certification seems simpler than that for the architect, AWS is a very complex system that needs to be deepened, in order to get the best for the proper functioning of its applications .
So, how do you prepare for this certificate? First there is the information from the AWS site: the exam Blueprint document tells you what you need to know … and you need to know everything … this is really the right reference!
I did a 3 day external training “Developing on AWS”. This training was very good for me because I was starting on AWS, so everything got in shape at that time in my head. If you already know the platform well and want to prepare for certification, this training can be interesting but not essential.
There are several online courses to prepare for AWS certification. I did “linux academy” and “cloud academy”. Even if I personally preferred that of “linux” for the purpose of certification, both are good and helped me a lot, especially to make and redo quiz to train me. I also did a practical exam at webassessor (the portal to register for certification)… it costs $ 20 and gives an idea of the level of the exam, but it’s still very far from the real exam (unlike that of IBM: I will come back later).
You should absolutely read the AWS FAQ for all services; they help to remove any doubts you may have. AWS also has a very useful YouTube channel. Finally you can do labs with the QwikLabs site to train. For AWS there are many sources of research, just search and think about what is the best strategy for you.
Bluemix is much less known than AWS. But hey it is not the same thing, the target is very different: Bluemix is a PaaS platform; today you can also purchase IaaS (IBM SoftLayer) services from the Bluemix console, but the great advantage of Bluemix is to deploy and manage your applications.
IBM Application Developer
IBM Application Developer – Cloud Platform: for me it was necessary to pass this certification because I work on a mission in which I use this platform a lot; and in any case it is a very nice product for developers, I love it! Personally, if I had to choose where to host an application, it would be in Bluemix.
To prepare you must look for the document on the IBM certification program website; it’s a bit complicated because there are a lot of certifications on this site. You must go to the “Test Preparation” menu for this certification and download the “study guide”. This document is really very good, and it was the reference that I came back to consult for each need … But to prepare well, it is a bit light to stay on that.
You have to understand that Bluemix is a PaaS platform, so it’s like doing certification only with AWS ElasticBeanstalk and everything that goes with it to make the application run underneath. Okay I didn’t want to compare the offers, but basically that’s it !! So that means you have to get into it.
To prepare, there is an online course in the IBM certifications page … It covers the whole subject and it’s free, but I, frankly, I did not manage to follow it (even if it is adapted for the certificate). On the other hand, I found a good reference to read: “Essentials of Cloud Application Development on IBM Bluemix”, it is a Redbooks from IBM and I found it for free on the internet.
Unlike AWS, I did not find many online courses on the internet: only one at Udemy (paid), which I followed and which is really very good; he helped me a lot and I recommend him. There is also a Mooc at OpenClassrooms (in French), which shows how to deploy an application on Bluemix; this Mooc is really good for those who do not know Bluemix (but to do so you need a premium account, so it pays too).
List of online courses & practice exams for AWS & Bluemix (updated April 2020)
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Ultimate Exam Training 2020
- AWS Certification from home (New)
- IBM Cloud Platform Application Development v1 – Questions & Answers
