AWS Certified Developer Associate Exam - My Experience, Feedback and Tips on how to best prepare

A couple of weeks ago I passed the AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C01) exam on my first attempt. This was the second time I took this exam having previously become AWS Developer Associate certified about 4 years ago. The exam has definitely changed since then. In the old exam with the knowledge from the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate and a few more things facts around Amazon DynamoDB you could easily pass the exam. The current exam is definitely much more developer focussed with questions testing your knowledge of Developer Tools, development best practices, and understanding of code samples.

With that being said, I still don’t believe you need a strong background in development to pass this exam. Indeed, my background is more around Enterprise Solutions Architecture than development and I actually found the exam slightly easier than the SAA-C02 beta exam I took recently. You will need to understand some basic code samples such as JSON code, config files, and IAM policy documents but they’re pretty easy to understand. With the right training, this is an achievable certification no matter your background.

In this video, I will break down the exam blueprint, provide some feedback from my exam experience, and share some tips on how best to prepare for this exam. I'll also tell you about my general experience and provide some tips for what you need to study if you’re planning to take the AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C01) exam.

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[DShanos]

MAN! your cheat sheets are pure gold, ill put them to frame on my wall, I really appreciate it

[b]

The cheat sheet is insanely useful. Was finding my mind getting bogged down with random facts from practice tests and this thing really brought me back to a manageable place. Thank you very much for sharing that and this video.

[GaneshNayak]

Hi.. thanks for sharing the video and your blog with detailed notes..It helped me to clear my developer certification.. I went through your dynamodb, api gateway and lambda notes for last minute prep and confirm that I have covered everything.. Appreciate

[AviNk]

Hey Neal, are you up to putting a course for professional architect anytime soon?

[steveaustin]

just passed solutions architect associate, going for Developer Associate now.

[TheBeach]

Thanks Neal. I am enrolled in a couple of your courses on Udemy. Im still working on the CCNP Encor. I work as a network admin but I really want to get into the DevOps world. My plan is to get the CCNP Automation cert then I was going to maybe go Cloud Practitioner and maybe DevOps. I used to do some basic testing of web apps using HP Loadrunner back in the day. I kind of feel DevOps will get me in a nice place. Was going to check out your DevOps course also.

[DevSaitoTECH]

Hey, Neal! I'm willing to take your ultimate package course, how much study time you expect in order to pass on the exam?

[nitlover]

I passed the cloud practitioner last week . Should I go for CSA or the developer associate??

[oswaldoantoniomartinezreye]

Hello Neil! I recently passed my SOA-01 Certification (I study your courses in Udemy), and now I'm wandering if it is mandatory to be a developper or have development knowledge to pass this certification, (to be honest I have none).