Looking into the topic of AWS certifications you get easily be distracted by the fancy ones like DevOps Engineer” or the “Security: Speciality” - because you want to be knowledgeable as those badges indicate.

So coming back from dreaming you have to face reality and look at the starting points. Question is “should I really start with the “Cloud Practitioner: Foundational” or would the “Solutions Architect: Associate” already be fine - since I know what the cloud is?

Be honest to yourself!
Do I really have a clue what AWS offers in total?
Have I every worked with it and I am aware of the availability zones and billing?

So the journey begins at the very “bottom” with the groundwork: Cloud Practitioner Foundational. As I am not the only one on this journey the path is well trampled down and therefore it becomes hard again to choose which support you take. It was quite helpful to read through reddit posts about how to start AWS to not only conclude on the Cloud Practitioner Exam but also which resources to take. As basic explanation video I chose AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Course (CLF-C02) - Pass the Exam!. It was well prepared and recommended and I also have good experience with freeCodeCamp.org.

But only watching videos is boring of course, so my own lab (as described in previous posts) really helps to grasp some of the concepts and make it 1000x more fun. Additionally it also is quite interesting to here and there dive into real-life scenarios and best practices but other experts in this field. I really enjoyed going through some of the examples mentioned at AWS Fundamentals.

While all this is granting me the input I really need to challenge myself in how my brain is processing all this. Therefore I created an account at Exampro to test my knowledge with the practice exams. The first one I directly failed - that’s fine though since I am just starting and have not yet fully completed the lectures.
Still annoying though :/