Bart Castle
Cloud Computing & Cloud Security
Standardize your team on AWS
AWS Certification Training & Courses for IT Teams
From the CLF-C02 Cloud Practitioner baseline through the SAA-C03 architect and SCS-C03 security specialty paths, every AWS certification track comes with structured training, practice exams, and team admin reporting. Build an AWS-fluent cloud team — and prove the capability coverage your auditors and leadership ask for.
11
Certifications
5
Role paths
5
Levels
AWS-credentialed team
Built for teams running production AWS workloads with audit-ready coverage proof.
CertificationsAWS11 certs · Entry to Practictioner
Spotlight
Most popular AWS certifications
6 certificationsThe AWS certifications IT directors most often standardize their teams on. Each comes with blueprint-weighted practice exams and team admin reporting included.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
PractictionerLabsPracticeCLF-C02
AWS Cloud conceptsSecurity and complianceTechnology
Demonstrate your understanding of the AWS Cloud and its services, including architecture, pricing, security, and more. This certification is ideal for individuals who want to gain a broad understanding of the AWS Cloud and its applications. It's a great starting point for those new to AWS or looking to transition into a cloud-focused role.
Exam investment: $100 USD
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeSAA-C03
Designing resilient architecturesDesigning high-performing architecturesDesigning secure applications and architectures
Demonstrate your ability to design and deploy scalable, secure, and efficient cloud architectures on AWS. This certification validates your skills in designing and deploying cloud-based solutions, and is ideal for professionals with 2+ years of experience in designing and deploying cloud architectures.
Exam investment: 150 USD
AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeSOA-C03
AWS Management ConsoleAWS CLIMonitoring and Reporting
The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate certification validates your ability to deploy, manage, and operate scalable, highly available, and secure systems on AWS. This certification is ideal for IT professionals who have hands-on experience with AWS and are responsible for deploying and managing systems on the platform. It's recommended for those who have at least one year of experience with AWS and have a strong understanding of AWS services and their use cases.
Exam investment: 150 USD
AWS Certified Developer – Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeDVA-C02
AWS SDKAWS CLIAWS services integration
Demonstrate your skills in developing cloud-based applications and solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This certification validates your ability to design, develop, and deploy cloud-based applications and solutions using AWS services. It is recommended for developers who have at least one year of hands-on experience with AWS.
Exam investment: $150 USD
AWS Certified Security – Specialty
SpecialtyLabsPracticeSCS-C03
Incident responseLogging and monitoringInfrastructure security
The AWS Certified Security – Specialty certification validates your skills and knowledge in designing and implementing secure applications and systems on the AWS platform. This certification is ideal for security professionals, architects, and engineers who want to demonstrate their expertise in AWS security features and best practices.
Exam investment: 300 USD
AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
SpecialtyLabsANS-C01
Design and implement hybrid IT network architectures at scaleImplement core AWS services according to basic architectural best practicesDesign and maintain network architecture for all AWS services
The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification validates your skills and knowledge in designing and deploying scalable, secure, and highly available network architectures on AWS. This certification is ideal for network engineers, architects, and professionals who design and deploy network infrastructure on AWS. It demonstrates your expertise in designing and deploying AWS services such as VPCs, subnets, route tables, network ACLs, security groups, and Direct Connect.
Exam investment: 300 USD
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Practitioner5
Associate2
Professional2
Specialty1
Practictioner1
Practitioner5
Associate2
Professional2
Specialty1
PractictionerPractitioner Level
1 certificationAWS Certified AI Practitioner
PractitionerLabsPracticeAIF-C01
Machine LearningDeep LearningNatural Language Processing
AWS Certified AI Practitioner validates in-demand knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative AI concepts and use cases. Sharpen your competitive edge and position yourself for career growth and higher earnings.
Exam investment: $100
Associate Level
2 certificationsAWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeDEA-C01
Data EngineeringAWS Data ServicesETL
The AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate certification validates your skills and knowledge in designing, building, and managing scalable and secure data processing systems on AWS. This certification is ideal for data engineers, data architects, and data scientists who want to demonstrate their expertise in designing and implementing data processing systems on AWS. It is also suitable for professionals who want to migrate their data processing workloads to AWS.
Exam investment: $150 USD
AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate
AssociateLabsMLA-C01
machine learningdeep learningAWS services
The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate (MLA-C01) certification validates the ability to design, implement, deploy, and maintain machine learning solutions on AWS. It is intended for individuals who perform a development or data science role and have one to two years of experience using machine learning and deep learning on the AWS Cloud.
Exam investment: $150
Professional Level
2 certificationsAWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
ProfessionalLabsSAP-C02
Design Solutions for Organizational ComplexityDesign for New SolutionsContinuous Improvement for Existing Solutions
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional validates advanced technical skills for individuals performing a solutions architect role. The certification focuses on designing optimized AWS solutions based on the AWS Well-Architected Framework, including complex organizational architectures, new solutions, continuous improvement, and workload migration and modernization. It is aimed at professionals who can evaluate cloud application requirements, make AWS deployment recommendations, and provide expert architectural guidance across multiple applications and projects.
Exam investment: 300 USD
AWS Certified Generative AI Developer - Professional
ProfessionalLabsPracticeAIP-C01
AWS Certified Generative AI Developer - Professional showcases advanced technical expertise in building and deploying production-ready AI solutions using AWS Services like Bedrock. Perfect for developers with 2+ years of cloud experience looking to advance their careers.
Exam investment: $300
Customer outcome
AWS capability your team can prove on the job
IT Directors measure AWS training value in operational terms — faster onboarding into cloud admin roles, defensible IAM and security configurations for audit reviews, and a shared AWS vocabulary across cloud, security, and dev teams. Those are the outcomes leadership cares about, not seat-time or completion percentages.
Role-based paths
AWS certifications by IT job role
Match AWS certs to the actual roles your team holds. Each path bundles the right certs plus the operational depth engineers need day-to-day.
AWS certs for Cloud Admins & Solutions Architects
3 certificationsThe associate-level credentials for teams operating production AWS. SAA-C03 is the architect baseline every senior cloud engineer should hold; SOA-C03 covers CloudOps for the team running the workloads. CLF-C02 establishes the shared cloud vocabulary across the org.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
PractictionerLabsPracticeCLF-C02
AWS Cloud conceptsSecurity and complianceTechnology
Demonstrate your understanding of the AWS Cloud and its services, including architecture, pricing, security, and more. This certification is ideal for individuals who want to gain a broad understanding of the AWS Cloud and its applications. It's a great starting point for those new to AWS or looking to transition into a cloud-focused role.
Exam investment: $100 USD
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeSAA-C03
Designing resilient architecturesDesigning high-performing architecturesDesigning secure applications and architectures
Demonstrate your ability to design and deploy scalable, secure, and efficient cloud architectures on AWS. This certification validates your skills in designing and deploying cloud-based solutions, and is ideal for professionals with 2+ years of experience in designing and deploying cloud architectures.
Exam investment: 150 USD
AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeSOA-C03
AWS Management ConsoleAWS CLIMonitoring and Reporting
The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate certification validates your ability to deploy, manage, and operate scalable, highly available, and secure systems on AWS. This certification is ideal for IT professionals who have hands-on experience with AWS and are responsible for deploying and managing systems on the platform. It's recommended for those who have at least one year of experience with AWS and have a strong understanding of AWS services and their use cases.
Exam investment: 150 USD
AWS certs for Cloud Developers
1 certificationThe developer-associate track for teams shipping serverless and containerized applications on AWS. DVA-C02 covers SAM, CDK, Lambda, DynamoDB, and the patterns AWS-shop dev teams use day-to-day.
AWS Certified Developer – Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeDVA-C02
AWS SDKAWS CLIAWS services integration
Demonstrate your skills in developing cloud-based applications and solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This certification validates your ability to design, develop, and deploy cloud-based applications and solutions using AWS services. It is recommended for developers who have at least one year of hands-on experience with AWS.
Exam investment: $150 USD
AWS certs for Security Engineers
1 certificationDefend the AWS stack with SCS-C03 (Security – Specialty). Covers GuardDuty, Security Hub, IAM hardening, encryption at rest/in transit, and incident response patterns auditors want to see documented.
AWS Certified Security – Specialty
SpecialtyLabsPracticeSCS-C03
Incident responseLogging and monitoringInfrastructure security
The AWS Certified Security – Specialty certification validates your skills and knowledge in designing and implementing secure applications and systems on the AWS platform. This certification is ideal for security professionals, architects, and engineers who want to demonstrate their expertise in AWS security features and best practices.
Exam investment: 300 USD
AWS certs for Network Engineers
1 certificationANS-C01 (Advanced Networking – Specialty) for teams running Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, hybrid VPN, and multi-account network topologies. Pairs with the SAA-C03 architect track for full network-architecture coverage.
AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
SpecialtyLabsANS-C01
Design and implement hybrid IT network architectures at scaleImplement core AWS services according to basic architectural best practicesDesign and maintain network architecture for all AWS services
The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification validates your skills and knowledge in designing and deploying scalable, secure, and highly available network architectures on AWS. This certification is ideal for network engineers, architects, and professionals who design and deploy network infrastructure on AWS. It demonstrates your expertise in designing and deploying AWS services such as VPCs, subnets, route tables, network ACLs, security groups, and Direct Connect.
Exam investment: 300 USD
AWS certs for Data & AI Engineers
3 certificationsDEA-C01 covers the data engineering track (Glue, Redshift, EMR, MSK). AIF-C01 and MLA-C01 cover the AI/ML specialties for teams shipping generative AI and predictive ML workloads on AWS.
AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate
AssociateLabsPracticeDEA-C01
Data EngineeringAWS Data ServicesETL
The AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate certification validates your skills and knowledge in designing, building, and managing scalable and secure data processing systems on AWS. This certification is ideal for data engineers, data architects, and data scientists who want to demonstrate their expertise in designing and implementing data processing systems on AWS. It is also suitable for professionals who want to migrate their data processing workloads to AWS.
Exam investment: $150 USD
AWS Certified AI Practitioner
PractitionerLabsPracticeAIF-C01
Machine LearningDeep LearningNatural Language Processing
AWS Certified AI Practitioner validates in-demand knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative AI concepts and use cases. Sharpen your competitive edge and position yourself for career growth and higher earnings.
Exam investment: $100
AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate
AssociateLabsMLA-C01
machine learningdeep learningAWS services
The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate (MLA-C01) certification validates the ability to design, implement, deploy, and maintain machine learning solutions on AWS. It is intended for individuals who perform a development or data science role and have one to two years of experience using machine learning and deep learning on the AWS Cloud.
Exam investment: $150
Hands-on AWS practice
Human-led training is the point: engineers practice real skills with expert guidance, not just video playback.
Why CBT Nuggets
How CBT Nuggets is different for AWS teams
The platform features IT directors comparing training platforms ask about most often.
Practitioner-led
AWS training your team learns from
Built and taught by engineers who have spent decades running production AWS infrastructure — not crowd-sourced contributors.
Scott Pletcher
Cloud Computing & Cloud Security
Knox Hutchinson
Cloud Computing & DevOps
Team outcome
Cloud certification readiness
Role-aligned AWS paths help managers assign the right training without building a certification plan from scratch.
Best fit for: teams standardizing cloud fundamentals, hands-on labs, and certification coverage across a growing engineering group.
Frequently asked questions about AWS training
Common questions IT directors ask when evaluating AWS training for their team.
Which AWS certification should our team standardize on first?
It depends on what your team is shipping. For most IT teams, CLF-C02 (Cloud Practitioner) is the right shared baseline — short, conceptual, and prerequisite to every associate track. SAA-C03 (Solutions Architect – Associate) is the next step for the senior cloud bench; SOA-C03 (CloudOps Engineer) is the right track for the team actually running production. Most teams run all three programs in parallel against different role groups.
What's the difference between Foundational, Associate, Professional, and Specialty AWS certifications?
Foundational (CLF-C02) validates cloud vocabulary and conceptual fluency. Associates (SAA-C03, SOA-C03, DVA-C02, DEA-C01) prove role-level operational competency. Specialties (SCS-C03 Security, ANS-C01 Networking, MLA-C01 ML) prove depth in a specific domain — the credentials leadership expects on the engineer signing off on AWS security architecture or hybrid networking design.
How do you measure ROI on AWS training for a team?
The metrics that matter aren't seat-time. For AWS teams, start with onboarding velocity for new cloud hires, cert coverage by role (especially security and networking specialties on the senior bench), time-to-productivity on AWS admin tasks, and the audit-readiness of your IAM and security posture. CBT Nuggets gives managers the reporting surface to track completion and cert coverage while the training itself keeps engineers moving through the right AWS path.
Does this work for compliance training programs (SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI, FedRAMP)?
Yes. Team reporting helps managers document assigned training, completion, and cert coverage for internal governance or audit conversations. Teams in regulated industries pair AWS cert paths (SCS-C03 Security, ANS-C01 Networking, plus the SAA-C03 architect track) with the broader CBT Nuggets platform features designed for team visibility, access control, and reporting.
How does CBT Nuggets handle AWS cert refreshes?
AWS certifications expire after 3 years and most associates require a recert exam. CBT Nuggets helps managers keep refresh work organized through assigned training paths, progress visibility, and updated catalog content as AWS refreshes exam objectives (SAA-C02 → SAA-C03, SCS-C02 → SCS-C03). When AWS restructures a track, updated courses stay aligned with the same team training plan.
Can our team learn AWS without prior cloud experience?
Yes. CLF-C02 (Cloud Practitioner) is designed as an on-ramp for engineers new to cloud computing — no prerequisites, conceptual rather than hands-on. From CLF, the natural progression is the associate-level cert that matches the engineer's role (SAA-C03 for architects, SOA-C03 for cloud admins, DVA-C02 for developers). Most teams budget 4–6 weeks for CLF and 2–3 months for associate-level prep from a cold start.
AWS has both 'CloudOps' and 'SysOps' associate credentials — which one matters for my team?
AWS recently renamed the SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C02) to CloudOps Engineer Associate (SOA-C03), reflecting the broader operational scope the cert now covers — observability, automation, and cost management on top of traditional sysadmin work. SOA-C03 is the active credential to standardize on; CBT Nuggets courses are aligned to the current exam objectives.