When I was let go on my last job, I decided I was going to take a one year off from all work. I also made the personal goal of getting all AWS Associate and Professional level certifications during my time off. This is in large part because I really dislike not being technically productive in one way or another even if I’m not working (This explains why I have a homelab and I’m always experimenting new tools around it).
By setting the goal of getting the certifications, I could held myself accountable (preventive measure from playing videos games all day!) during my one year sabbatical, at the same time improving my resumé so when the time come to search for a new job, having the one year off on my CV wouldn’t look to bad on the eyes of potential employers. Needless to say my plans didn’t turned as I originally planned. I accepted a new job offer just four months into my supposed one year sabbatical. Everything was not doom and gloom because I’m really excited on this new venture that I’ve taken, and I did achieve to get some certifications during my short time off:
Of all three exams I took, surprisingly I found the CompTIA Cloud Essentials to be the most difficult. This was mainly because much of the exam contents is a general overview of cloud computing concepts from ten years ago! On the other hand, working with AWS on a daily basis for over fours game me much exposure and knowledge to easily pass both the AWS Cloud Practitioner and AWS Solutions Architect Associate with not much problems. In fact, I found both exams being fairly easy.
I’m still planning on eventually getting the reaming Associate and Professional level AWS certifications, however it may a little more time now that I’m working full time.