Developers are builders. They are responsible for imagining, designing, and building applications. This study guide is designed to help you develop, build, and create solutions by using AWS services and to provide you with the knowledge required to obtain the AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification.

The study guide covers relevant topics on the exam, with additional context to increase your understanding of how to build applications on AWS. This study guide references the exam blueprint throughout all of its chapters and content to provide a comprehensive view of the required knowledge to pass the exam. Furthermore, this study guide was designed to help you understand the key concepts required to earn the certification and for you to use as a reference for building highly available applications that run on the AWS Cloud. However, the study guide does not cover any prerequisite knowledge concerning software development; that is, the study guide does not cover how to program in Java, Python, .NET, and other platform languages. Instead, you will use these languages to build, manage, and deploy your resources on AWS.

The study guide begins with an introduction to the AWS Cloud and how you can interact with the AWS Cloud by using API calls. API calls are the heart of the AWS Cloud, as every interaction with AWS is an API call to the service. As such, the initial chapter provides you with the core knowledge on which the rest of the chapters are built. Because security is a top priority for all applications, the first chapter also describes how to create your API keys by using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). The rest of the chapters cover topics ranging from compute services, storage services, databases, encryption, and serverless-based applications.

The chapters were designed with the understanding that developers build. To enhance learning through hands-on experience, at the end of each chapter is an “Exercises” section with activities that help reinforce the main topic of the chapter. Each chapter also contains a “Review Questions” section to assess your understanding of the main concepts required to work with AWS. However, understand that the actual exam will test you on your ability to combine multiple concepts. The review questions at the end of each chapter focus only on the topics discussed in that chapter.

To help you determine the level of your AWS Cloud knowledge and aptitude before reading the guide, an assessment test with 50 questions is provided at the end of this introduction. Two practice exams with 75–100 questions each are also included to help you gauge your readiness to take the exam.