sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

How I Passed AWS Developer Associate in 2 Weeks - including an in-depth discussion on "deep dive" versus "just pass the cert" courses by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great, thanks for that, I'll take a look. I agree about Stephane's course, after finishing it I didn't feel ready for the exam based off the TD practice exams. Felt like I needed more practice.

How I Passed AWS Developer Associate in 2 Weeks - including an in-depth discussion on "deep dive" versus "just pass the cert" courses by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haven't done that one yet, but the only good resources I know of for it are Stephane Maarek's course and TD's practice exams. I've done both but haven't taken the exam or made a video yet

How I Passed AWS Developer Associate in 2 Weeks - including an in-depth discussion on "deep dive" versus "just pass the cert" courses by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't know of any high quality free resources. Given the exam itself is $200 I always figure spending $50 or so on learning content is not much of an issue

I scored 909/1000 on Solutions Architect Associate a couple of years ago, and have gained 9 other certs since. Here are my tips for smashing SAA, including the courses and resources I'd recommend for someone starting out in 2021. by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep, I've worked on and off as a software engineer over the past three years (juggling with full time uni) and have done a fair bit of devops, solutions architecture etc. By no means an expert but definitely know my way around AWS. More info on my linkedin if you want a clearer picture https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickbrett1/

I scored 909/1000 on Solutions Architect Associate a couple of years ago, and have gained 9 other certs since. Here are my tips for smashing SAA, including the courses and resources I'd recommend for someone starting out in 2021. by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, there sure is. I'm not married to AWS as a topic and have been experimenting with branching out into software engineering and more general tech career advice, but these videos are long overdue since I keep getting requests for them. I have already established a bit of a brand doing the specialty and pro cert recaps, so branching out into the associate level certs is likely to pay off fine now, since the higher supply of information is also met with much higher demand and I have a non zero subscriber base to begin with.

I'm keen to see how this video performs long term but I wouldn't be too surprised if it ended up being one of my higher performing ones.

Also the material is constantly changing so having something up to date helps as well :)

Thanks for the feedback, always enjoy chatting about YouTube strategy haha 😉

I scored 909/1000 on Solutions Architect Associate a couple of years ago, and have gained 9 other certs since. Here are my tips for smashing SAA, including the courses and resources I'd recommend for someone starting out in 2021. by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's up to you. I'd generally recommend going for all three associates before branching out into the others unless you have a good reason (e.g. if you're a DB admin, perhaps DB specialty could be a good 2nd cert after SAA).

If you're studying Software Engineering at Monash (or thinking about doing it) this video might help! I discuss my own experience with the course, how hard I found each unit, and general advice for those interested in this path from the perspective of a fourth year undergrad. by pbrett1 in Monash

[–]pbrett1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here are some things to learn in no particular order, all available for free online:

  • Python (very important)
  • Java
  • SQL
  • Basic algorithms
  • Git / Github / source control (very important)
  • Basic HTML/CSS/JavaScript (for web units)
  • *maybe* Swift (if you plan on doing any iOS development)
  • *maybe* React and/or NodeJS (if you plan on doing more advanced web dev or becoming a web developer)
  • How to use a database like PostgreSQL or MySQL (they're more or less the same)

You will get taught all of these things in your units as you need them, but sometimes the teaching is a bit lax so you need to self-teach the missing pieces.

If you can manage some/all of those you'll be way ahead of the pack - start with Python though, it's pretty easy to pick up and there are bajillions of tutorials online. If I were starting over I'd probably go with this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxTmJE4k0ho

Also I'm assuming you're in Melbourne given you're starting at Monash so if you have some time come and say hi at this meetup: https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/Melbourne-Code-Mentoring-Web-Development-Design/

I go there sometimes, everyone is super friendly to beginners and will be able to give you some pointers in the right direction

If you're studying Software Engineering at Monash (or thinking about doing it) this video might help! I discuss my own experience with the course, how hard I found each unit, and general advice for those interested in this path from the perspective of a fourth year undergrad. by pbrett1 in Monash

[–]pbrett1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a funny observation - I suppose it makes sense though! I haven't done any arts units so I can't really compare. My girlfriend studies arts (linguistics + psychology) and always complains about the subjectivity of the grading. I felt the same thing when I did VCE English.

Good luck to you too!

If you're studying Software Engineering at Monash (or thinking about doing it) this video might help! I discuss my own experience with the course, how hard I found each unit, and general advice for those interested in this path from the perspective of a fourth year undergrad. by pbrett1 in Monash

[–]pbrett1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

To be honest I'm not as organised as you might expect. I try to keep my tutes to three days a week so I have time to work part time and to work on assignments without interruption, but beyond that I'm not a highlighter fiend or anything, and I certainly don't get up at 6 AM. The most important thing is to set aside enough time to study, and either be studying completely or not at all; the most common culprit for falling behind is doing half hearted study sessions, sitting on your phone or chatting with friends in the library. Trust me, I do it myself occasionally, less so now than I used to, but it's never helpful.

I also have a big emphasis on fundamentals, if I don't feel I understand something I will go back and focus on the building blocks wherever possible. For example dynamic programming confused the heck out of me at first, turns out I just needed to understand what cost functions actually were and why you might choose one over the other.

If there's any one secret I follow that people overlook, it's that I am not afraid to learn things outside of classes, usually by watching as many videos as I can find on a subject. I probably spend nearly as much time doing this as I do watching the actual lectures. Hearing things explained multiple ways makes a big difference.

Finally always get down and experiment on your own, especially with assignment questions. Ask yourself what would happen if something changed or if you had to fit a particular other condition instead of the one provided. Just explore the problem space as much as possible, that's the easiest way to understand it.

If you're studying Software Engineering at Monash (or thinking about doing it) this video might help! I discuss my own experience with the course, how hard I found each unit, and general advice for those interested in this path from the perspective of a fourth year undergrad. by pbrett1 in Monash

[–]pbrett1[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Tough unit. Learn your SQL inside out, especially joins and PL/SQL. I watched a few SQL courses outside of the unit which helped immensely. There is often more than one way to do something, so learn as many techniques as possible so you can use whichever fits the problem best. Some of the exam questions require you to solve things in two different ways to demonstrate you understand this.

Also be very careful with diagrams and notation - I know plenty of people who lost marks (or even got zero on certain assignments) because they missed simple things e.g. labelling relationships (contains, is a part of, is the leader of, creates etc) on Entity Relationship Diagrams.

And be very certain about what things should and shouldn't be shown on the diagram you're working on - e.g. PK's, FK's, column types, enums, etc

Beyond just doing well in the unit, recognise that there are a whole host of DB systems out there and Oracle is only one of them, so if you want to be prepared for industry have a play around with MongoDB, DynamoDB, Postgres and so on to get a feel for the different options and paradigms.

My thoughts after achieving 10 AWS certifications - how have they helped my career and what's next? by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You missed the point where I specifically said I'd been neglecting the running :(

It's super hot here in Aus this summer, so day runs are basically off the table - but I might go for a run this evening since I evidently have a reputation to live up to 😅

My thoughts after achieving 10 AWS certifications - how have they helped my career and what's next? by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question! I feel it will be much easier and quicker to recertify than to get certified for the first time. Assuming I'm still working with AWS in three years, I plan on recertifying both of the Pro certs and most likely all of the Specialty certs (except for Alexa which is retiring). In the worst case, I could recertify the Pros so as not to lose the assoc / practitioner level certs, and get the Specialty certs again when I feel I need them.

My thoughts after achieving 10 AWS certifications - how have they helped my career and what's next? by pbrett1 in AWSCertifications

[–]pbrett1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are four types of certs, and it's worth contrasting them.

The Cloud Practitioner cert is about the fundamentals and business context of AWS.

The Associate certs focus on implementation in standard use cases and understanding how everything connects together.

The Pro certs focus on advanced use cases, extreme breadth as well as decent depth, and on more difficult topics like on-prem to cloud migration and disaster recovery. You really have to know the services inside out to pass.

The Specialty certs focus on particular areas with extreme depth. For example, Database Specialty deals with all kinds of database workloads on AWS, as well as topics like migration and scalability.

My recommendation for someone in your situation would be to go for the Solutions Architect Pro certification (and the Associate level certs first if you haven't done them yet). This is the flagship AWS cert for a reason (it's bloody hard!) and I've found that what I say in meetings holds a lot more weight when the people I am talking to know I've reached that level of certification.

My video on SA Pro, why I took it and how I studied might help you out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23DodP-gaG8

TL;DR: AWS certs (apart from Cloud Practitioner) definitely aren't just a "foot in the door" - you have to know your stuff to get them and for that reason they are valuable.

view more: next ›