I have some experience with Azure fundamentals, but my new company uses Amazon's stack. Given my background, which AWS certification should beginners start with? to bridge the gap quickly? I’m familiar with cloud concepts like VMs and blob storage, but I need to learn the specific AWS terminology and service names to be effective in my new team.
3 answers
Since you already understand cloud concepts from Azure, you can move quite fast. I’d still recommend starting with the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner just to map the Azure services to AWS equivalents (like knowing that Azure VMs are EC2 instances and Blob Storage is S3). It will probably only take you a week of study since you already know the "why" and just need to learn the "how" in a different environment. After that, go straight for the Solutions Architect Associate. The transition is usually very smooth for people who already have that "cloud mindset" from another provider.
Are there any specific "mapping" guides you recommend that compare Azure services directly to AWS services to speed up the learning process?
Go for the Solutions Architect Associate. If you know Azure, the Cloud Practitioner will feel way too simple and might bore you.
I agree with Donna. If you have the basics down, the Architect exam is where you'll find the meat of the platform and really see the differences between the two providers.
Hi Ryan! AWS actually has an official "AWS for Azure Professionals" guide on their website. It’s a lifesaver. It lists almost every Azure service and its direct AWS counterpart. Reading through that while studying for the Cloud Practitioner exam will make everything click much faster. I used it when my firm migrated, and it cut my study time in half.