Which AWS certification is right for me?

So, you’re thinking about getting Amazon Web Services (AWS) certified. That’s great!

Cloud computing skills are in huge demand. In fact, cloud is one of the top tech skills gaps. Put another way, 63% of IT leaders say it's harder to find qualified cloud engineers than Bigfoot.

Whether you’re looking to take your career to the next level or jump into a new field, developing cloud skills and getting the right Amazon Web Services (AWS) certification can help open the door to some life-changing career paths.

But what is AWS? Which AWS certification should you do first? Which AWS certification learning path is right for you? Which AWS certifications do you need for which jobs?

If you're looking for a true TL;DR, start with the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CCP) and then move on to the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (CSAA). 

But if you want more details or links to the best AWS training for beginners, read on.

AWS certifications validate your cloud knowledge. They’re a way to show what you know to current and prospective employers. 

• Certifications ARE proof of knowledge: They prove that you’re proficient enough to pass the exam.

• Certifications are NOT proof of experience: There’s no substitute for actually working in the cloud. (Luckily, there are many ways to get hands-on AWS cloud training outside the workforce and jump-start your cloud career with minimal experience.)

• Certifications ARE door openers: They can get you an interview or considered for a promotion.

• Certifications are NOT golden tickets: An AWS certification won’t guarantee you a cloud job, but they can tee you up for success. It's up to you to earn it from there.

• Certifications ARE valuable: The average salaries for AWS cert holders are well over $100,000 USD per year. AWS certifications are some of the top-paying cloud certifications out there.

• Certifications are NOT just about earning power: They confirm your knowledge and help ensure teams possess a common cloud language or cloud fluency.

Certifications are tools. They're not the end goal; they're milestones along the way. This means certifications are often a necessary step to accelerate or achieve your goal.

So, where should you start? Which AWS certification should you do first?

Amazon Web Services offers 12 certifications spread across four levels. Figuring out where to start and which is the best AWS certificate for you and your career goals can seem super intimidating at first. Fortunately, once you figure out what’s what, the path to get there’s pretty clear.

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CCP) is the easiest Amazon Web Services certification. It's a beginner-friendly cloud certification that covers the basics of AWS and the cloud and requires no technical experience as a prerequisite. Though, unless you have some experience with AWS, you'll still need to study to ace it. (It's not that easy.)

Learn the skills and knowledge you need to pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam.

You might be thinking, "What’s the best AWS certification for me?"

Let’s take a look at the different certifications offered by Amazon Web Services. There are currently 12 certifications, spread across four experience levels:

• Foundational
• Associate
• Professional
• Specialty

Your career goals will direct you down the right certification learning path.

Every journey starts somewhere. For AWS, that starting point is a Foundational certification.

Foundational certifications are probably right for you if: You need to know foundational cloud or AI/ML concepts—like what is cloud, what is cloud migration, and how does AWS work at a high level—but won’t be getting your hands dirty with implementation or building AI/ML solutions on AWS.

• Prerequisites: None
• Recommended experience: Six months of AWS and industry knowledge
• Skills covered: 
  • Basic AWS architectural foundations
  • Key AWS services
  • AWS security and compliance 
  • Generative AI concepts and tools

The AWS Cloud Practitioner exam certification gives you a high-level introduction to AWS. It doesn’t go deep on any particular services. Instead, it provides a general overview of how AWS is structured.

We recommend our AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner course as the best place to start for anyone new to cloud computing. This will help you build the foundation you’ll need as you delve deeper into the inner workings of AWS. You can also check out our cloud playlist of hands-on labs for learning AWS essentials.

The AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification gives an overview of in-demand artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), generative AI concepts, and AI/ML technologies on AWS. 

This is a beta exam, which means AWS is still validating the final exam questions. Passing the beta exam will still earn you the cert. And you’ll be one of the first people to earn the AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification.

While there are no formal prerequisites, AWS recommends learning AWS cloud essentials before pursuing this certification. 

We’re working on a comprehensive AWS Certified AI Practitioner course. In the meantime, check out our blog article with everything you need to know about the AI Practitioner exam.

Associate certifications are probably for you if: You’ll be working in AWS environments. While the Foundational certifications provide a solid conceptual footing, the AWS Associate-level certifications are where the rubber really meets the road in terms of day-to-day implementation.

• Recommended experience: One year of experience working in AWS to solve problems and implement solutions
• Skills covered: 
  • How AWS-based applications work
  • Building secure applications on AWS platform
  • Deploying hybrid AWS systems
  • Hands-on AWS application design
  • AWS application development 
  • Security in AWS environments 
  • Implementing and operationalizing ML models

Wondering which AWS certification is most in demand? There’s a reason the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate has been the #1 cloud certification for years running. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification gives you a broad overview of AWS and a valuable foundation to build on moving forward. 

The CSA – Associate certification focuses on the core AWS services, including identity and access management (IAM), virtual private cloud (VPC), S3, and EC2. Studying these core services will give you a good understanding of how AWS approaches security, networking, data storage, and compute capability. (Check out our playlist of hands-on labs for Amazon S3 to get an intro to S3.)

For anyone new to cloud computing, we recommend our AWS Solutions Architect – Associate course as the next best step after you’ve gained your AWS Cloud Practitioner certification.

Ideally, you don’t want to learn enough to just scrape by on the exam. You want to set yourself up for future cloud career success. If you’re ready to build up real AWS skills to ace the CSA – Associate certification exam and ensure you’re ready for a career as a solutions architect, explore our six-course AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification track.

You developers and sysadmins might be tempted to go straight to the Developer – Associate or SysOps Admin – Associate certs, and more power to you. But we’d still recommend going through the Solutions Architect – Associate exam first.

You might think the AWS Certified Developer – Associate cert is for developers. After all, it says "developer" right in the name. But it’s really for anyone who uses AWS.

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification takes you deeper—but not too deep—into services like DynamoDB, Elastic Beanstalk, SQS, and SNS. It expects you to know how you would use these services and how they present themselves to the outside world through APIs and SDKs. For example, you’ll want to know topics like data persistence and CRUD operations using DynamoDB in Alexa SDK!

This is another certification we recommend to everyone. In fact, we recommend that you move on to our AWS Certified Developer – Associate course immediately after you finish the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam. There’s a lot of overlap between the certs, and taking them close together will make this one easier to finish off quickly.

The AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate certification title is also somewhat misleading. It’s not for just SysOps Admins. It’s for anyone who runs things on AWS. 

This exam goes rather in-depth on CloudWatch, among other things. Going through this certification gives you a much stronger grasp of what’s actually going on in your AWS architecture.

Think you're ready? Prepare for this challenging cloud cert with our AWS Certified SysOps Admin – Associate course. And check out our AWS SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 practice exam questions, tips, and FAQs.

The AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate certification replaces the AWS Data Analytics Specialty certification, which was retired in April 2024.

This new certification is less focused on data analysis and visualization, instead emphasizing data security and governance, alongside data transformation, management, and operations. Earning this cert will build your skills for data engineer, data architect, and other data-related roles.

To start studying, we recommend our AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate learning path. This will take you through the services and considerations you need to ace the exam.

Learn everything you need to know about the AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate certification in this six-minute video.

AI and machine learning specialists will be the second most in-demand jobs in 2025. 

If you’re looking to become a machine learning engineer, or work with machine learning on a technical level, the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate certification is a great place to start.

Like the AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification, this cert is in beta. AWS is still validating the exam questions, but passing the beta exam will still earn you the official cert. 

We’re working on an AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate prep course. Can’t wait? Learn more about the Machine Learning Engineer - Associate exam and start your AWS machine learning journey with these courses.

The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate certification is geared towards folks early in their ML career or transitioning into the ML space. The exam focuses on core concepts and solving ML engineering problems.

The AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty certification is designed for more advanced technologists with at least two years of hands-on ML experience. The exam involves more complex scenarios and requires deeper ML knowledge.

Professional certifications are probably for you if: You’re already experienced working in AWS, have mastered your AWS Associate-level certifications, and are ready to take the next step.

If you’re not sure if you’re ready to pursue an AWS Professional-level certification, you’re probably not. These exams are no joke. They represent the pinnacle of AWS certifications and are both broad in scope and deep in focus. You have to know a whole lot about a whole lot.

• Recommended experience: Two years of comprehensive experience using AWS, with experience designing, operating, and troubleshooting solutions
• Skills covered:
  • Deploy complex AWS migration 
  • Learn cost-optimization strategies
  • Implement CD strategies
  • Monitor and log AWS systems
  • Implement scalable systems on AWS

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification is the pinnacle of general AWS expertise. With a CSA – Pro cert, you should be equipped to make good use of any AWS feature or service. And, because you understand the ecosystem at a deep level, it’ll be easier to stay up-to-date as AWS keeps changing.

When it comes to the Solutions Architect – Pro exam, every service in the AWS ecosystem is in play, and quite a bit of depth is required in specific areas like security and Direct Connect. Snagging this certification is not for the faint of heart—you pretty much have to know all the things about all the things AWS has to offer.

Prep for the exam with our AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional course.

DevOps is all about combining development, operations, and a quality mindset to shepherd systems over time. 

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional certification reflects that. It really requires you to think about static systems that are deployed once and systems that change and evolve.

While the CSA – Pro is an all-encompassing elephant of a certification, the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional goes deeper into specific areas like deployments and lifecycles plus services like CloudFormation. On the whole, though, it has a rather narrower scope.

If you’re interested in earning your Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional and your Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, which should you do first? 

Honestly, there’s no set order. On one hand, the Certified DevOps Engineer – Pro certification is a valuable stepping stone between the Associate-level certs and the Certified Solutions Architect – Pro certification. So it makes sense to pass the DevOps exam first.

On the other hand, there’s quite a bit of overlap between the Certified DevOps Engineer – Pro and CSA – Pro exams. Plenty of people find it valuable to study for both at the same time.

Ready to do the DevOps thing? Master the skills you need to ace the exam and move up in your career with our AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional course.

AWS Specialty certifications are probably for you if: You’re already highly experienced in a specific area of AWS and are ready to validate that experience for your career.

AWS Specialty certifications dive deep into narrow focus areas, specifically advanced networking, security, and machine learning. Like the Professional-level certs, Specialty certs are not to be approached lightly. To earn these certs, we highly recommended multiple years of hands-on professional experience in each specialty domain.

• Recommended experience: Two to five years of hands-on experience and advanced knowledge of AWS in the specific specialty area
• Skills covered:
  • Automate AWS systems for network deployments
  • Understand AWS for ML solutions
  • Design secure ML solutions
  • Create and implement security solutions

The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification digs into hybrid and AWS-only networks as well as things like multi-region setups and cost optimization. It’s not an all-encompassing cert—there are some services you don’t need to know anything about—but where it does focus, it goes very deep. You need to know absolutely everything about certain services like Direct Connect, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and routing.

Tip: If you take the Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty exam first, certain aspects of the Certified Solutions Architect – Professional exam will be much easier for you.

Ready to get certified? Take the work out of AWS networking with our AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty course.

The AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty certification focuses on, well, machine learning. You'll be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the underlying concepts of machine learning, such as data collection and analysis, modeling, and machine learning algorithms.You should also be proficient in Kinesis for streaming data collection and SageMaker for building, training, tuning, and deploying machine learning models.

Note that this certification is different from the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate certification. The main difference? The level of complexity and depth. The Speciality certification requires more advanced knowledge and at least two years of hands-on ML experience. 

Of the Specialty certifications, the AWS Certified Security – Specialty certification is the broadest. It makes sense—security cuts across a ton of other domains, so this cert is less focused on specific services. 

Still, it does go into depth on a number of security-specific services, such as identity and access management (IAM), virtual private cloud (VPC), Key Management Service (KMS), CloudTrail, AWS Config, and web application firewall (WAF). Questions on this exam ask you to figure out how different security settings interact or conflict.

Eager to put your security skills to the test? Prepare for your exam with our AWS Certified Security – Specialty course.

We’ve got 12 total AWS certifications (for now), spread across multiple levels and discipline areas. If you’re the sort who just has to collect them all, more power to you. But what if you’re following a more focused track or pondering a career change into cloud computing? What AWS certifications should you go after?

It depends.

Certifications are only potential career boosts. They can open doors, but it’s up to you to make good on the cloud career opportunities. That’s why it’s important to think of a certification as a means to an end. And it's your goal that ultimately determines which certifications are right for you.

So, what do you want to do?

We can’t dive into every possible combination of motivations and ambitions, so let’s divide it up into a few general categories:

If you’re going to work with the cloud rather than in the cloud, you should consider an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification. After gaining this certification, you’ll be able to keep up with your IT teams and understand cloud concepts enough to apply them to your company or industry's cloud innovation.

If you’re looking to make a career of cloud computing, you should earn the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification. The CSA – Associate is the jumping-off point for all other AWS certifications. 

It’s widely regarded as one of the most valuable certifications in all of IT. As such, it can help you get started in a cloud career and become a stepping stone for additional AWS certifications.

Maybe you’ve already got your AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification. (If not, you should sit that exam.) You’re ready to step it up to the next level, broaden your horizons, and secure a promotion. 

A good place to start is with the remaining Associate-level certifications: the AWS Certified Developer, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator, AWS Certified Data Engineer, and AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer.

From there, you can pursue the Professional-level certifications or consider nabbing some of the Specialty certifications.

If you work in a specific area of the cloud, such as security or networking, the AWS Specialty certifications are a natural path to take. You need at least one Associate-level certification (or the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner cert) before you can snag a Specialty cert, but once you meet the prerequisites, you can level up your knowledge in your specific area of expertise.

Even one certification can open the door to new opportunities. But it’s up to you to take those opportunities. You can’t expect that someone else will be there to cover the details you don’t understand. Specialization can be important, and teamwork is critical, but you still need to be able to handle running systems yourself.

Given that, it’s a good idea to go for multiple AWS Associate certifications to build a solid foundation for using AWS effectively day-to-day. With these, you’ll understand how to design, build, configure, monitor, and maintain systems built on AWS.

After securing the Associate certifications, the next logical path is to go after the two Professional certs—the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional in particular. The CSA – Pro is the pinnacle of AWS knowledge. Obtaining this certification is the AWS equivalent of defeating a video game’s final boss.

There’s no right way to earn the “core 5” AWS certifications, but doing them in a certain order gives you some nice stepping stones along the way. And if you start with the optional Certified Cloud Practitioner, you can enjoy an even easier learning experience as you get comfortable with key AWS services.

1. AWS Certified AI Practitioner – Foundational
2. Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
3. Certified Developer – Associate
4. Certified SysOps Admin – Associate
5. AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate

When you’re ready for a challenge, you can move on to the Certified DevOps – Professional and Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certifications to take you to the next level.

So, which AWS certification is right for you? If you’re just getting started in the cloud, the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and the Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certs are definitely where you want to start. 

From there, it’s possible to pass along information and make some general recommendations, but determining the right certification (or collection of certifications) and AWS learning path ultimately comes down to your circumstances and career goals.

• Remember that certifications are like a stepping stone. They can help you reach the next level, but taking the leap is still up to you.

• Just getting started or need to know the basics? Start with the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

• If you're going any further in the cloud, you pretty much can't go wrong with the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate.

• Beyond that, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional is the pinnacle of AWS expertise.

• AWS cloud certifications include several Specialty-level certifications for security, advanced networking, and machine learning.

Pluralsight courses are the perfect way to prepare for your exams and begin your cloud career. Start a free trial for you or your team.

Looking for inspiration? Get insights from people who forged their cloud career journeys.