May 2023 Certification List Update: Staying The Course
Today is the last day of May and just like clockwork I am doing my monthly certification list update. This is the first time that I have posted directly on Medium. Here is the January 2023 blog post for reference.
May 2023 Accomplishments
Completed 3 Cloud Academy learning paths
· AWS Access and Key Management Service
· PL-900 Exam Prep
· Operations with GCP — Level 3
5/22/23 — Received the Blacks for Technology Grow with Google Cybersecurity Career Certificate Access
5/28/23 — Completed ExamPro PL-900 course
5/30/23 — Accepted into Clicked Salesforce sprint
I have not done anything on my original list because I have been so busy building skills, interviewing and renewing my certifications. In addition, I have learned that I don’t need to sit for AI-102 because I can renew my AI-100 AI Engineer and it will be good through 2024.
However, since Andrew Brown mentions that he will run a Terraform Associate bootcamp this summer, this is my clue to start going through the certification training (even though the exam has changed this month). I am all about getting ahead of the curve for this upcoming bootcamp. Furthermore, many employers are starting to mention cloud agnostic (not created by a specific cloud [AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.]) Terraform over AWS CloudFormation and Azure Resource Manager so I will tilt my learning accordingly.
Completed 3 Cloud Academy Learning Paths
I will say the best thing that I have ever done is continue doing my 3 days a week Cloud Academy goal. I have had a second interview today and the fact that I have remembered most of the AWS, Azure and Oracle Cloud services is a testament to do it every other day. Oftentimes, I would exceed my 3-day goal.
Doing Cloud Academy also makes me think that I am far more advanced that I give myself credit for (See my latest AWS She Builds CloudUp post). Now I know that I am capable to passing both AWS and Azure certifications in the same month; and, I will do this in June because I have my AWS Community Builder voucher and two outstanding Microsoft Cloud Week for Partners vouchers.
Received the Blacks for Technology Grow with Google Cybersecurity Career Certificate Access
This is a great thing because 1) this certificate has cyber interviewing module attached to it; 2) I get to learn more programming languages and 3) I want to do a write-up about it to see if you can study this certificate and get both your CompTIA security+ and Certified in Cybersecurity (not advertised in the Grow with Google course page but there may be overlap).
Outside of the cybersecurity, I also get access to the Business Intelligence career certificate. If you’ve been following me since the beginning, you would know that I am very big on data. This certificate may give me an opportunity to beef up my SQL skills. I do have 1 Microsoft Cloud Week for Partners exam voucher which can go towards PL-300.
Completed ExamPro PL-900 Power Platform Fundamentals Course
This course was way better and more current than Cloud Academy’s course. Cloud Academy’s course as of May 2023 was so bad it forced me to email them and tell them to revamp it. The company agreed because it was so outdated. ExamPro has all of the latest information; and it aligns with the Microsoft Learn PL-900 practice assessment. I highly recommend this course.
Speaking of ExamPro, I have some outstanding courses that will help me pass my certifications. I am getting on these especially since I have the stamina to complete the PL-900 course. I will say that before May 2023, I felt that the Cloud Academy and ExamPro learning paths were intimidating. They would say 39 hours. I was like Yikes! However, going through them meant that I could muster up the strength to complete the remaining Solutions Architect Associate and Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) courses. I am very big on completion so I can see this as a challenge for me.
Accepted Into Clicked Salesforce Sprint
Last week I received this team sprint application invite as part of the Salesforce Black Talent cohort. I was determined to learn more about Salesforce; plus, I already had the agile project management background to do sprints. I just felt while going through the application that I would be accepted.
And I was.
The sprint starts next week June 5th so I will keep you posted.
June 2023 Objectives
Land a full-time remote job
· Actively interviewing for ITIL, project manager and cloud jobs.
Pass my recertifications
· Azure AI Engineer Associate
· SC-100 Cybersecurity Architect Expert
· Certified Scrum Master + Certified Scrum Product Owner
· ITIL 4 foundation and ITIL 4 Create, Deliver and Support
Pass my AWS Solutions Architect Professional
· Will automatically renew my AWS Solutions Architect Associate and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Pass my AZ-204 and AZ-305
· There is significant overlap between the two certifications.
As always, thanks for reading and here’s to an even better June 2023!
