Thinking Like an Architect
The world is moving fast. Artificial intelligence, new apps, and global platforms all look shiny on the outside. But if you peel back the layers, what really powers all of it is raw computing, security, storage, and networking. And that’s where AWS comes in.
In my experience, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) exam wasn’t about memorizing 300+ services. It was about learning to think like an architect. It tested me on areas such as:
- Security
- Cost optimization
- Operational overhead
- Networking
- Serverless architectures
- System design
- Disaster recovery
- High availability, fault tolerance
- Practical case-based scenarios
And that’s what got me hooked. It felt like practice for the real-world problems we solve as engineers: how to think like system designers. We write code that needs to scale, and this experience taught me how to design systems that scale.
My Journey So Far
I’ve been working with AWS for about 6 months now. During that time, I realized how massive the ecosystem is, with hundreds of services, each solving a different problem. It’s both exciting and overwhelming.
To challenge myself and bring structure to my learning, I set a goal: clear the Solutions Architect Associate exam. I gave myself 3 months of dedicated prep, with countless hours spent in hands-on labs and practice tests.
My Preparation
1. Stephane Maarek’s Course
I started with Stephane Maarek’s Udemy course. It was Clear, structured, and explained in a way that made sense.
2. Practice Exams
Then I moved on to his practice exams. At first, my scores were rough (in the 50s and 60s). But after reviewing mistakes, retaking, and connecting it back to hands-on, I saw jumps into the 90s.
Here’s my score progression:
| Exam |
1st Attempt |
2nd Attempt |
| Exam 1 |
58% |
75% |
| Exam 2 |
65% |
88% |
| Exam 3 |
63% |
76% |
| Exam 4 |
72% |
92% |
| Exam 5 |
70% |
72% |
| Exam 6 |
74% |
94% |
3. AWS Skill Builder
Finally, I highly recommend AWS Skill Builder. The practice exam there felt the closest to the real deal. If you’re preparing, don’t skip it.
You can book or reschedule your exam here: AWS Certification Portal
About the Exam: What to Expect
If you’re planning to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam, here are the key details:
- Format: Multiple-choice and multiple-response questions (select 2 or select 3).
- Duration: 130 minutes (non-English speakers can request an extra 30 minutes, I didn't).
- Delivery: You can take it online (with strict proctoring, camera on, photos of your desk) or in-person at Pearson VUE test centers.
- Scoring: Scaled from 100–1000. A score of 720+ is passing.
- Out of all the questions, 15 are unscored “experimental” ones that AWS uses for future exams but you won’t know which ones. So aim for 720 in general.
- And after the exam, AWS doesn’t reveal which answers you got right or how much weight each question carried, to protect the integrity of the test.
- Cost: USD $150 + $17 (tax) = $177
- Languages Available: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and more.
- Read more about it in detail: aws.amazon.com/certification
The D-Day (18th August 2025)
I chose an in-person test center (Pearson VUE) near me. Smooth process:
- Took two ID proofs, because they need 2 for some reason.
- They gave me a locker for all my belongings.
- Had to empty my pockets completely, asked me to shake it... the T-Shirt 😅.
- Provided a notepad and marker for rough work.
- System was ready, already logged in with my ID. Just a “Start Exam” button.
I managed to finish the exam in about 1:30 hours. I had marked a few questions for review, so I spent the next 20 minutes going over them carefully before finally hitting submit.
I was so nervous after the exam, but at the same time, I had this quiet feeling that it had gone well. I had studied non-stop for three months straight, and I really didn’t want all that effort to go to waste.
Results
About four and a half hours later, the email finally arrived, and my Credly badge was ready. I quickly opened it… Score: 832.
For a moment, I just sat there, letting it sink in. All the late-night labs, all the retries, all the hours of grinding through practice exams. It suddenly felt worth it. Every bit of effort had led to this one moment of triumph.
Officially Certified!
The Email That Made My Day
![AWS]()
Score Board
![score board]()
AWS Meets Microsoft MVP, Two Badges of Honor
![Credly]()
![AWS certification]()
The most focused area for me was these services. Let me try to explain them in one line, if possible.
35 Services in One Liners
Here are the services I leaned on most in prep:
- EC2 – Virtual servers in the cloud
- S3 – Object storage for files/backups
- EBS – Block storage for EC2
- EFS – Shared file storage
- RDS – Managed relational databases
- Aurora – High-performance DB
- DynamoDB – NoSQL store
- ElastiCache – In-memory cache
- VPC – Private networking
- Subnets – Public/private zones
- Route 53 – DNS and routing
- CloudFront – Content delivery
- API Gateway – Managed APIs
- Lambda – Serverless compute
- SNS – Pub-sub messaging
- SQS – Queues
- Kinesis – Streaming data
- IAM – Access management
- Organizations – Multi-account setup
- CloudFormation – Infrastructure as code
- CloudWatch – Monitoring/metrics
- CloudTrail – Logging/auditing
- Config – Compliance tracking
- Trusted Advisor – Cost/security checks
- ELB – Load balancing
- Auto Scaling – Elastic compute scaling
- ECS – Container orchestration
- EKS – Managed Kubernetes
- Fargate – Serverless containers
- Step Functions – Workflow automation
- Glue – ETL analytics
- Athena – Query S3 data with SQL
- Redshift – Data warehouse
- KMS – Key management
- Secrets Manager – Store credentials securely
Final Thoughts
Honestly, this badge feels like more than just a certificate. For me, it’s a little reminder of just how much of the modern world runs behind the scenes on cloud platforms. I mean, think about it, AI crunching billions of parameters, Netflix streaming in 4K without a hiccup, or e-commerce sites scaling instantly when everyone goes online at once… chances are, AWS is powering some part of that story.
Going through this process gave me a whole new perspective on how these systems work, and it’s kind of mind-blowing to realize how much is happening behind the scenes. Of course, this is just the beginning; there’s still so much more to learn, but I’m really glad I’ve taken this first step.