A guide to the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03)

Foundational certifications can show employers that you grasp general AWS concepts. But if you want to prove that you can practically deploy, manage, and operate AWS workloads, look no further than the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate. 

In this article, we’ll cover all the most common questions you might have about this cert and the exam, so you can decide if you want to take it (and if you do, pass it with flying colors).

What is the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate certification?

The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate is an intermediate-level certification for CloudOps engineers. Unlike the SAA or DVA, it is more focused on more practical, hands-on skills rather than just conceptual knowledge. 

Side note: This certification was formerly known as the AWS SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02). If you’re wondering what changed, it’s mostly a rebrand to use CloudOps terminology vs SysOps. There also used to be a lab component, which is not in the exam any more.

How hard is the CloudOps Engineer - Associate exam?

Compared to AWS’s other associate-level exams, like the SAA or DVA, the SOA is a lot harder. The questions are a lot more practical and operations focused, diving into service-specific features that are hard to memorize unless you’ve actually got real experience.

As part of the exam, you’ll have to answer multiple choice questions (One correct answer and three distractors) and multiple response questions (Two correct responses out of five options).

How much experience do I need to take the exam?

Since this isn’t a beginner-level cert, we recommend you take the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate and spend a lot of time getting hands-on with AWS. Alternatively, you should have at least one year’s worth of hands-on experience using and working with AWS. This experience should include deployment, management, troubleshooting, networking, and security on AWS. 

AWS suggests that you should have the following specific knowledge when taking the exam:

• The AWS Well-Architected Framework

• AWS storage and container solutions

• AWS monitoring tools

• How to use the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, infrastructure as code (IaC) solutions, and AWS CloudFormation

• AWS networking and security services

• How to implement AWS security controls and compliance requirements

• Cloud financial management

• Operations within hybrid and multi-VPC environments

• AWS database services (for example, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon ElastiCache)

• AWS compute services (for example, Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, Amazon Elastic Container Service [Amazon ECS])

What taking the CloudOps Engineer - Associate exam is like

The exam lasts 130 minutes, during which you’ll have to answer approximately 50 scored multiple choice and multiple response questions, and 15 unscored questions. The reason for the latter is so AWS can test them out for future exams.

These unscored questions may feel out of left field. Don’t let them mess with your head! If you see a question that you feel totally unprepared for, it’s a safe bet it’s one of these.

Once you have finished the questions and reviewed everything, you hit submit and the exam is complete. At this point, you will not be able to go back and change any of your answers.

How much does the exam cost?

The exam costs 150 USD, but you can check out AWS’s exam pricing for additional information (E.g. Foreign exchange rates.)

What domains does the exam cover?

According to AWS, the exam has the following content domains and weightings:

• Content Domain 1: Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization (22% of scored content)

• Content Domain 2: Reliability and Business Continuity (22% of scored content)

• Content Domain 3: Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (22% of scored content)

• Content Domain 4: Security and Compliance (16% of scored content)

• Content Domain 5: Networking and Content Delivery (18% of scored content)

How to prepare for the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate exam

If you want to study and pass the exam, check out Pluralsight’s dedicated certification path for the AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate. By taking the course, you’ll built the knowledge and confidence to ace your exam with a variety of prep tools, including video courses, demos, and practice exams.