How to Get a High-Paying Amazon Web Services Certification and Salary

Could anybody have predicted how popular AWS certifications would become in such a short amount of time when Amazon Web Services (AWS) first announced its certification program in the spring of 2013? In six years, there will be a substantial worldwide demand represented by testing facilities all over the world. AWS tests are now available in a variety of languages, and an increasing number of IT professionals are curious about the process of earning an AWS certification (or possibly multiple certifications).

When the Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report is issued, AWS certifications are always a standout. The widespread adoption of AWS cloud services by businesses worldwide has resulted in some of the highest pay for IT professionals who pursue these credentials.

AWS certification was mentioned by 1,011 of the 12,271 IT professionals that took part in the Global Knowledge 2019 IT Skills and Salary Survey. An AWS-certified IT professional earns an average of $129,868 per year, making it one of the highest-paying certification categories in North America.

The AWS role-based certification tracks are targeted at developers, systems operations administrators, and solution architects and provide associate and professional-level pathways.

The highlights of each certification, as well as what you need to know to achieve them, are listed here.

AWS Solutions Architect Certification

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect certificates are available in two levels: associate and professional. Before moving on to the professional level, you must first obtain your associate's qualification.

Associate Qualifications

The average income for people with AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Level in the United States and Canada is $130,883, according to our 2019 IT Skills and Salary Survey. Candidates should be familiar with the following concepts before taking the exam:

On AWS, designing and implementing scalable, high-availability solutions
Choosing the right AWS service based on your needs
Using AWS to deploy on-premises apps

Professional Expertise

After earning the Associate credential, IT professionals should consider moving up to the Professional level. According to the 90 survey respondents who have this qualification, the average pay is $148,456. Candidates should have the following qualifications:

On AWS, you should have some experience building and delivering dynamically scalable and dependable apps.
The ability to transfer complicated multi-tier systems to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Developer with AWS Certification

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate certificate earns an average of $130,272, ranking sixth in North America. Candidates should have the following qualifications to obtain this increasingly popular certification:

A solid understanding of how to select the appropriate AWS services for the application
Using software development kits (SDKs) to communicate with your application's services
Creating performance-enhancing code
Application security at the code level

AWS SysOps Administrator Certification

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate credential holders earn an average of $130,610 per year. This certification verifies your technical knowledge of AWS deployment, administration, and operations. Candidates for this certification should be familiar with the following concepts:

Implementing and managing data flow to and from AWS
Migrating on-premises apps to Amazon Web Services
Identifying cost-control measures for operations

DevOps Engineer AWS Certified

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer is a professional-level certification for both the Developer and SysOps Administrator associate levels, which means you must already have one of those certificates. This qualification is held by 52 respondents from the United States and Canada in the IT Skills and Salary Report. The average income in the tiny sample group was $137,724. This certification verifies technical knowledge of the AWS platform for deploying, running and managing distributed application systems. Candidates should have a strong grasp of topics such as:

Using AWS to develop and manage continuous delivery systems and processes
Keeping instruments to automate operational procedures up to date
Processes for security and governance