An Introduction to AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate

Table of Contents

• Before We Begin
• What The Certification Is About
• Service Level Differences
• What You Can Do With This Certification
• Personal Thoughts on the Certification
• Conclusion

This is kongs from Cloud Solution Group 2.

With the ongoing initiative within the department to promote cloud related learning among members (especially AWS), I have recently challenged myself to take the updated AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate exam. With the adequate preparation, I was able to successfully pass the certification without issue.

I think that many cloud engineers as well as readers are curious to understand what “CloudOps” is, as well as what the certification is actually about. On top of that, with the recent version update, I believe many people would be eager to know what has changed, and why the certification has received a name change . Since I have personally taken the exam, I think that I can provide a first-hand account of what the certification contains, what has changed, as well as whether readers should consider taking this certification.

Before We Begin

I want to first point out that the certification used to be named AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate, but is now renamed to AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate with the recent version update. This is to clear out some confusion surrounding the naming and versions of the certification.

“SysOps” is an abbreviation of System Operations. “CloudOps” is a new word that AWS has chosen to use for the rebranding of the certification, and can be assumed to mean Cloud Operations. With this understanding, the rebranding of the certification with the version renewal shows AWS is shifting the focus of the certification from system operations administration, to more of a role for cloud operations engineering. Of course, this is not a mere name change, as the contents of the exam have also been changed.

One significant change is that the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam was one of the harder associate level exams, as it contained a practical section that candidates need to go through. Instead of multiple choice questions, candidates are instructed to perform steps to achieve a certain task or goal. This means that you not only needed to understand AWS cloud knowledge, you also needed to know how to perform said operations. Luckily, this has now been removed, and the exam format is the same with other typical AWS certification exams.

What The Certification Is About

The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate certification teaches you how to manage cloud related operations. This is best suited for DevOps related roles, as well as cloud related admins that wish to ensure compliance and security of the cloud, while using efficient means to regulate how the cloud is both managed and maintained.

The recent trend of businesses and companies using the cloud is that they would develop, deploy, and maintain some web-based application using the tools and services available on the cloud. With this in mind, the rebranding actually serves a significant purpose. Since modern applications involve the deployment and use of containers or orchestration tools (mainly Docker and Kubernetes), the focus of the certification has shifted so that the management of operations also revolves around said tools and technologies.

You will now need to know how to use certain AWS services and tools to perform monitoring of cloud environments, including how to perform logging of key metrics from ongoing operations and resources. Many unintended issues as well as issues commonly arise in various cloud operations that pose a risk to security and compliance, and you will be tasked in figuring out the most efficient manner in mitigating, and even automating said remediation actions. Other focus points of the exam involve the correct setup of networking related access controls, as well as figuring out the best ways to deploy and automate future deployments of update patches of key components in use in your cloud project.

Service Level Differences

The exam topics covered for the cloudops engineer certification is slightly different from the solutions architect certification. As a cloudops engineer, the main focus is intended to efficient use of AWS tools and services to best manage project environments, ensuring security and compliance targets are met. This means that when compared to the solutions architect exam, there is less emphasis on infrastructure provisioning and deployment.

A few notable services that you will see commonly are Cloudwatch and Eventbridge, specifically being used to perform some form of automation. Cloudwatch Agent will also be mentioned frequently as a tool that you should use to log system level metrics, such as memory and CPU utilization. Other notable mentions include using AWS Config to monitor for common compliance issues, and using SSM Automation Runbook to perform the necessary remediation actions automatically. Of course, there are much more services involved, but the above are some notable ones that I wish to point out.

What You Can Do With This Certification

With this certification, you will have a better understanding of how to manage an already deployed cloud environment, with an emphasis on how to make it secure, safe and compliant for all members involved.

Cloud solution architects are typically tasked with designing the infrastructure, provisioning the required resources and deploying them. However, as I have previously mentioned, most cloud projects now involve running and subsequently maintaining an ongoing web application. This means that the tedious but necessary maintenance work, such as figuring out how members should not be able to modify some critical security feature, provision unnecessary resources, and even how security patches should be deployed, should be figured out beforehand instead of dealing with it passively as it comes up.

This is where the knowledge of this certification comes into play. A cloud engineer that also has this knowledge can not only design the cloud infrastructure that is required to achieve some solution, they can also recommend how the environment should be maintained, how to implement security best practices and how certain issues and incidents can be prepared and dealt with before it happens. By using the knowledge proactively and presenting it as something that should be considered, you can provide additional value compared to normal cloud engineers.

Personal Thoughts on the Certification

I think that the certification has it’s own value, especially if you are closely involved with management of web applications on the cloud. Provisioning resources on the cloud is straightforward, but maintaining applications on the cloud while making sure that the environment is operated in a safe and secure manner while meeting compliance targets is challenging. However, with the knowledge that this certification provides, you can actually implement a secure cloud environment while also meeting the goals that you wish to achieve.

Personally, I think that the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification is valuable while acting as an medium level introduction to AWS cloud. However, it is a certification that is commonly sought after, and conversely has become over saturated. Cloud engineers typically obtain the AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification or AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate certification to stand out better while improving their own skills to better handle a wide range of tasks. Therefore, I believe the certification offers a new perspective and domain knowledge, even for certified cloud engineers.

Conclusion

I personally think that the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate has its own value, especially if you are aiming to become a cloud project admin or have the desire to break into the field of DevOps. For members that currently have the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification, getting this certification can also help you stand out and become more capable of handling admin related tasks. Last but not least, I believe that these certifications can act as a foundation towards obtaining the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional certification. I recommend members to take a look at this certification and consider taking it.