AWS Solutions Architect Guide for Learning & Certification

The AWS certification is one of the most valuable in the cloud computing industry, and becoming an AWS Certified Solutions Architect opens the door to numerous job opportunities. 

To be successful in this role, an AWS Solutions Architect needs a mixture of soft skills and technical skills. On the technical side, they require an understanding of AWS services and capabilities in networking, security, and DevOps. 

They also need proficiency in Python, Java, or a similar modern programming language, as well as problem-solving and communication skills, enabling them to work as part of a multidisciplinary team.

These professionals understand business needs and design and implement technical solutions that run on the Amazon Web Services platform. Unlike developers, who write code to solve specific problems, solutions architects focus on broader strategies and high-level solutions. They may need to interact with customers, developers, and engineers, and they have to be able to communicate effectively with all three groups at a level that addresses their needs and interests.

This guide outlines everything you need to know about becoming an AWS Solutions Architect, including how to pass the certification exam and apply your knowledge to real-world architectures, along with how Git can help.

What is an AWS Solutions Architect?

An AWS Solutions Architect designs scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions for the Amazon Web Services platform. They work in a variety of industries, serving start-ups, government agencies, and enterprise clients.

These architects have a broad knowledge base that covers infrastructure, security, storage, networking, and application design. They need to be able to communicate with clients and engineers, bridging the gap between business needs and technical implementation. 

As a growing number of businesses adopt cloud solutions, business architects are becoming increasingly in demand to implement new solutions or port existing legacy solutions to the cloud.

Why Get AWS Solutions Architect Certified?

While there are many cloud services providers, AWS Solutions Architect certification is in demand for many reasons:

AWS Solutions Architect is the most recognized cloud architecture certification in the world

The certification can open the door to employment opportunities, such as:

• Cloud engineer
• DevOps engineer
• Infrastructure lead
• Technical consultant

The average salary for an AWS Solutions Architect in a cloud services role can exceed $130,000 in the U.S.

The certification is often required for those applying to partner networks or enterprise cloud teams.

Holding the AWS Solutions Architect certification tells employers you have a deep knowledge of AWS services, architecture patterns, and cloud best practices. Even if a company is considering using other platforms or technologies, having this knowledge is invaluable and suggests that you can learn other platforms and their toolchains quickly.

Cloud architecture roles are in high demand and have strong job security. The projected job growth in the sector over the next several years is around ~20%. Solutions architects benefit from remote or hybrid working arrangements, which provide them with a lot of flexibility. 

The industry is fast-changing, and architects must stay on top of emerging trends and skills. 

Which AWS Solutions Architect Certification Should You Take?

There are two tiers to the AWS Solutions Architect certification:

• Solutions Architect – Associate: This is an entry to mid-level certification. It indicates that the holder possesses a broad knowledge of AWS architecture fundamentals.
• Solutions Architect – Professional: This advanced certification signals deep expertise in complex architectures, migrations, and hybrid deployments.

While most people start with the associate certification, if you already have many years of real-world cloud system experience, you may be able to go straight to the professional qualification. However, even the Associate certification is in high demand in the industry.

What’s Covered on the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate Exam?

The AWS Solutions Architect – Associate examination is broken down into several categories:

1. Design Secure Architectures

Security is perhaps the most critical aspect of any cloud solution. Clients considering migrating their systems to the cloud want to feel confident that their data is properly protected. Designing secure solutions requires a full understanding of authentication, access control systems, and encryption. 

The AWS Solutions Architect – Associate examination covers topics such as:

• IAM, KMS, Secrets Manager, and the shared responsibility model
• The principle of least privilege access, data encryption
• Multi-AZ resilience

2. Design Resilient Architectures

Web applications must be able to cope with fluctuating customer demand and have as close to 100% uptime as possible. Whether you’re working with a small business or an enterprise with a huge number of users, designing scalable solutions is essential.

It’s also essential to have a plan for business continuity. The AWS Solutions Architect exams include sections on disaster recovery, scalability, and load balancing. Candidates should be able to answer questions about:

• Auto scaling, elastic load balancing, S3 durability
• Multi-region redundancy
• RTO/RPO and disaster recovery patterns

3. Design High-Performing Architectures

AWS offers solutions for a variety of use cases at several cost points. Database types, instances, and storage solutions are aimed at different markets. For example, the requirements for a simple website may differ from those of a game or data archival solution. 

Before taking the AWS Solutions Architect examination, learn as much as you can about the solutions offered on the platform and the types of applications and use cases they’re suited to. Be sure you can speak confidently about:

• EC2 instance selection
• EBS vs EFS
• Caching strategies
• Databases (Aurora, DynamoDB, RDS vs NoSQL)
• Latency considerations

4. Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

Cost optimization is one of the most challenging aspects of designing cloud solutions. Poor architecture choices can greatly increase a company’s AWS hosting costs. Exam candidates should have an understanding of right-sizing instances, the difference between on-demand and spot instances, and how to manage cloud hosting costs. 

Topics covered on the exam may include:

• Right-sizing your instances
• Spot instances 
• Savings Plans
• Data lifecycle management
• Monitoring and optimization using CloudWatch and Trusted Advisor

The exam has 65 multiple-choice questions, and candidates have 130 minutes to answer them. Candidates can take the exam at a Pearson Vue test center or as an online/remote proctored examination.

Having 2 minutes per question may seem like a long time for a multiple-choice/multiple-response exam. However, the questions are highly technical, and the answers are often worded in a way that may make more than one option seem correct at first glance. 

It’s important to be well-versed in all the topics above and confident that you can apply the concepts you’ve learned in a real-world situation before you attempt to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect examination.

How to Study for the AWS Solutions Architect Exam

If you’re new to Amazon Web Services, it’s essential to study theory and get some real-world experience on the platform before taking the AWS Solutions Architect exam.

Review the AWS Well-Architected Framework to get a good understanding of best practices for cloud systems. Be sure to learn how services interact, not just how they work in isolation. Take my Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate 2025 online course to learn core concepts and work through some practice tests to get an idea of what will be on the exam.

Use hands-on labs to get experience with EC2, IAM, S3, VPC, Lambda, and RDS. The AWS Free Tier offers an easy way for students to learn the platform, and the company regularly gives out credit to allow start-ups and independent developers to launch small projects on AWS. These offers make it easier to experiment with the platform and turn theoretical knowledge into valuable real-world experience.

Aim to tie the concepts you’re learning into real-world scenarios so you can speak confidently on the trade-offs between services. For example, consider when a spot instance would make sense vs an on-demand instance, and which type of storage would be most suitable for an online store vs archival data. Thinking about these scenarios in-depth will help you understand the purpose of each offering.

Once you have an understanding of the platform, take some timed practice tests to familiarize yourself with the exam format. If you’re feeling confident, take my Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional 2024 exam course to get a deeper understanding of how AWS works. 

Even if you’re not looking to take the Professional examination, having an awareness of load balancing, scaling, and more sophisticated caching options will help you to think like an experienced systems architect.

Tips for Passing the AWS Solutions Architect Exam

Amazon recommends that people have around a year of experience in designing cloud solutions before taking the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate examination. 

Follow these tips if you’re new to the cloud and studying for the exam from scratch:

• Focus on use case matching: Rather than trying to memorize the answers to sample tests or a long list of facts, focus on use case matching. When working as a solutions architect, you may encounter clients or use cases that weren’t on any exam. Being able to think on your feet and match a customer’s need with a cloud solution is essential.
• Read the exam questions carefully: Read every question and all the potential answers at least twice. At first glance, multiple answers might appear to be correct, and subtle differences in wording can make a big difference.
• Understand pricing and costs: Pay attention to pricing models and cost optimization strategies. These are likely to be focused on in the examinations.
• Take practice tests: As the exam date approaches, try at least two full-length practice exams to get an idea of where you stand. Practice tests help you become familiar with the mental load the exam will place on you.
• Read and understand white papers: Read the Well-Architected Framework and Security Best Practices white papers in full more than once.

Applying Your Skills After Certification

If you pass the certification, you’ll have a qualification that’s in demand with employers in many different industries.

To ensure your success as a cloud solutions architect, be sure to design architectures with high availability, security, and scalability in mind. Follow these best practices:

• Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools, such as CloudFormation or Terraform, to create consistent infrastructure and save yourself time. 
• Set up monitoring and logging for security and troubleshooting purposes
• Implement cost optimization workflows

Many of your jobs will likely involve helping teams migrate from legacy on-premise systems to the cloud. Take a step-by-step approach, breaking down large workflows into smaller segments and migrating them one at a time to reduce risk and ensure maximum reliability.

The work you do after earning your Asociate-level certification will help you gain the experience required for the Professional-level certification. As you gain experience, you may decide you’d like to specialize in DevOps, advanced networking, or cloud security, in which case, there are other certification routes you can follow.

How Git Helps You Become an AWS Solutions Architect

Whether you want to learn about the broad field of DevOps, explore Amazon AWS for the first time, or focus on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate level examination, Git’s combination of slides, practice questions, labs, cheat sheets, and flashcards will help you gain the experience you need to approach your certification exam with confidence.