Chasing the Golden Jacket:

My 7-Year Journey to AWS Mastery

After a 7-year journey, 13 AWS certifications, and hundreds of hours of study, Jani has officially earned the coveted "golden jacket" of AWS expertise

Jani Flaaming, Principal Cloud Architect at Rebase Consulting

Today... Wow. My hands are practically vibrating. My trusty merino wool t-shirt was no match for the nervous energy; it's officially sweat-soaked. I can feel a potent cocktail of endorphins and adrenaline coursing through my veins. At this very moment, I feel a thrilling kinship with extreme sports enthusiasts. For me, this was plenty extreme! The past four hours have been a masterclass in venturing far, far outside my comfort zone. I've just conquered the final hurdle: the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam! My 13th AWS certificate is now winging its way to my mailbox.

The Legend

It feels like yesterday, back in 2018, when I first dipped my toes into the AWS ocean, that whispers of a "golden jacket" first reached my ears. A mythical prize, almost too fantastical to be true. Why would anyone chase them all? Weren't they tailored for different roles? Why not just focus on your specific path?

First Blood

My serious study quest began in February 2020, during a parental leave. I'd rise an hour or two before the household stirred, diving into YouTube or A Cloud Guru, soaking up material. My strategy was to tackle multiple certifications simultaneously before sitting the first exam, allowing for repeated reinforcement of the material. Multiple-choice questions aren't the norm in Finnish universities, so the whole idea of a standardised test felt... daunting. I hadn't faced an exam since my Certified Web Application Penetration Tester ordeal in 2018.

Nevertheless, I devoured the courses, scribbled notes, powered through practice exams, and engaged in practical training. And voilà, the certificates started rolling in. I feel those certifications truly pieced together the AWS puzzle for me. I'd tinkered with many services, but the grand architectural vision only crystallised after dedicated study.

I successfully earned a total of six certificates during those four months of intense study, dedicating approximately 300 to 400 hours to the cause.

• 2020-04-02 AWS Certified Developer - Associate
• 2020-04-16 AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
• 2020-04-23 AWS Certified Security - Specialty
• 2020-05-16 AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate
• 2020-05-19 AWS Certified Database - Specialty
• 2020-06-12 AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

However, I then became a tad too self-confident, took on the AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty, and failed spectacularly. I simply lacked the deep, hands-on expertise required for complex hybrid and multi-account networking scenarios at that point.

Just Working

I must admit, those initial certifications yanked me miles out of my comfort zone, making me think that pushing further wasn't beneficial. Fast forward to a few days after Christmas 2022, and I decided to renew my Solutions Architect - Associate. This time, a mere day or two of revision was enough, and the exam felt surprisingly smooth. Though not quite as straightforward as the first attempt. The exam had evolved, presenting more intricate scenarios rather than simple "Which AWS service for X?" questions.

May 2023 marked the renewal of my Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional certification. No major drama; a few days to revisit topics, and I sat the exam one morning before breakfast.

But my old nemesis, Advanced Networking, still loomed. Fortunately, daily work had now immersed me in Transit Gateway and other enterprise-grade networking services. So, back to A Cloud Guru I went, tackled a practice exam (or two), and this time, conquered it. I warmed up my multiple-choice muscles with an AWS Certified Security - Specialty renewal (technically a redo, as it had expired in April 2023). I strategically placed this one first to bank a positive experience (and a fresh, applicable certificate).

• 2023-11-17 AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty

With that win under my belt, I dived into the Solutions Architect - Professional course, clocking about 50 hours of videos from PluralSight and YouTube. However, the perfect storm of time, motivation, and courage to actually sit the exam remained elusive.

Time marched on, and life bustled. One significant change post-certifications was my new habit of religiously following AWS blogs daily. I even set up a Slack channel, a personal AWS digest, funnelling interesting blog posts via RSS feeds. This constant, passive exposure to services beyond my daily grind proved immensely helpful.

Last Sprint

Then came another parental leave in April 2025. It felt like a "now or never" moment: conquer the remaining exams, broaden my horizons (especially in Machine Learning), and finally claim that legendary golden jacket. So, I re-upped my subscription to A Cloud Guru (now proudly part of PluralSight) and got the wheels spinning.

My tried-and-true pattern resurfaced. First, immerse myself in the course. For the truly beastly ones (I'm looking at you, AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty!), meticulous note-taking was key. This round, I embraced mind maps over simple lists, a change that paid dividends. At the course's conclusion, I'd hit the PluralSight practice exams. They aren't carbon copies of the real deal, but are fantastic for getting into the mindset of multi-select (and the occasionally tricky multi-answer) questions.

The more approachable Practitioner and Associate-level exams I often tackled after bedtime (around 9 pm). It was logistically simpler and a good test of focus under fatigue. The final two titans (Certified Machine Learning Specialty and Solutions Architect Professional) I faced in broad daylight, ensuring I wasn't self-handicapping. My thoughts on sitting for two to four hours straight, sans food, drink, or bathroom breaks? It's not exactly a picnic, but with proper preparation, it's more manageable than it sounds. For the exam itself, I offer three nuggets of wisdom:

1. First, sweep through all the questions, flagging any you want to revisit. Then, check back in to review those flagged items. This helps build momentum and a (perhaps occasionally false) sense of "I've got this!", rather than getting bogged down and disheartened by the third question.
2. Don't obsess over the clock. I generally spent between one and a half and two and a half hours on the exams and have never run out of time. The questions, especially at the professional level, seem less like verbose reading comprehension tests and more focused on raw technical acumen. And for non-native English speakers, you can get a permanent ESL accommodation, granting an extra 30 minutes for every exam. This can be activated from CertMetrics in a minute and applies to all future exams.
3. Don't over-prepare to the point of paralysis, and try not to let nerves get the better of you.

This final 24-day sprint encompassed approximately 100 to 150 hours of intense study. Lacking recent hands-on AI/ML experience and with my statistics knowledge dating back to 2011, these certificates were undeniably the steepest climbs. The final Solutions Architect exam felt like a comforting return home, allowing me to leverage my broad AWS skillset. Still, it was no cakewalk; I blitzed through all 260 PluralSight practice questions, took copious notes, and revisited unfamiliar course sections to bolster my confidence.

• 2025-04-18 AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
• 2025-04-21 AWS Certified AI Practitioner
• 2025-04-24 AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate
• 2025-05-01 AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate
• 2025-05-05 AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty
• 2025-05-09 AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional

Final Thoughts

All told, after dedicating 500-700 hours of study and nearly seven years to AWS as my primary focus, I'm immensely proud to have embarked on and completed this journey. The rewards have been manifold: enhanced job prospects, the gleam of that golden jacket, and, most importantly, a profound understanding and confidence in effectively wielding AWS. Having conducted over fifty job interviews as an interviewer in the last four years, I firmly believe that certifications are a prime way to distinguish yourself and demonstrate a commitment to going the extra mile.

Which ones proved most useful? I plan to maintain at least the Professional and Security Specialty certs, as they mirror my current core expertise. The AI/ML certificates have already started to fuel new product development ventures in my current project. Exam jitters still get me, but that's just part of the dance. So, if you've been working with AWS in any position for over a year, what are you waiting for? Dive in and grab that first certificate!

Special Thanks To

• PluralSight for their excellent exam materials.
• Vesa Alho and Patrik Heimdahl, who introduced me to this new, exciting world
• Markku Kaskenmaa and Markus Lindqvist for confirming that the certificates aren't too hard
• Teemu Niiranen for showing that it's possible to get that golden jacket
• Everyone else who has helped and challenged me on this journey so far

As part of the Gofore Group, Rebase Consulting is an AWS Partner, ready to help you with your cloud journey.