I passed the AWS Security Specialty exam about 6 months ago and became the world’s youngest aws expert at the age of 15. Today I would like to tell you about my experience in this difficult process.
What is AWS Security Specialty?
The AWS Security Specialty exam is one of the most difficult AWS exams dealing with cloud security. In this exam, you are held responsible for 6 different domains. You are expected to have detailed information about these domains and to answer any questions asked about these domains. You can get detailed information about these domains here.
Exam Procedures
- This exam takes 170 minutes. If you’re a non-native English speaker then you can request +30 minutes extra to complete the exam.
- The minimum passing score is 750 points.
- It costs 300 USD. If you have a voucher then it can be cheaper.
How I Got Interested in AWS Security Specialty?
Cyber security is an area that I have been working on for a long time and made a lot of progress in this area, but I had never had experience in cloud security before. One day I saw my friends at the office chatting about cloud security. After that, I searched for a good roadmap myself to learn cloud security and found this exam. So I set myself this exam as my goal to learn.
My Preparation Process
I too have seen many intimidating articles and comments about the exam before I went into the exam preparation process. But my experience is definitely not like that. I think the exam preparation process was fun and unusual. As someone who is familiar with cyber security, some subjects were really easy for me, but some subjects are just as difficult. I learned a lot about DevOps, especially during the exam preparation process. What I learned has broadened my security perspective.
The most challenging process in this exam was studying. During this process, I received help from many sources. Especially Udemy Courses and AWS Documents helped me a lot. I highly recommend reading the AWS documentation. While reading these, definitely don’t forget to take notes regularly with an application like Notion.
Exam Result
I took the exam the day before my birthday. I had many problems before I took the exam. (such as the application freezing and not taking you to the exam for 1 hour) Although these problems annoyed me a lot, I focused on the exam and answered the questions. When I came out of the exam, I thought I had failed. The next day, the exam result is announced. I didn’t want to look at my test result first. Later, my mentor Güray looked at my exam result and said that I passed the exam with 850 points out of 1000. Thus, at the age of 15, I received this certificate and became the youngest AWS expert in the world.
While preparing for the exam, I read comments on many blogs that this exam requires 5-6 years of experience. I strongly advise you not to believe them. It’s a test you can pass if you study hard enough and want to.
Conclusion
Becoming the youngest AWS Security Specialist in the world has been a source of inspiration, not just for myself, but also for other young professionals considering a path in this field. This experience has demonstrated the importance of hard work, perseverance, and maintaining focus on a goal.
The AWS Security Specialty certification is a highly demanded skill in an era where security in cloud technologies plays a vital role. This certification will solidify your place in the industry and provide you with a significant competitive advantage.
Lastly, I wish each of you success in your AWS Security Specialty journey. Perhaps one day, someone else will read this blog and be inspired to write their own success story.