AWS Career Paths: Top 5 Jobs You Can Get With an AWS Certification

AWS certification has been rated as one of the most valuable IT certifications globally. One of the key reasons behind this is the huge popularity of AWS systems and its wide prevalence in the cloud industry. 

AWS occupies the largest cloud market share at around 33%, which is more than the combined market share of its two largest competitors, Google and Microsoft [Source: Statista].

94% of global IT decision-makers agree that certified team members provide added value to the organisation. 

Catering to this, the AWS certification has been curated as per the industry requirements and thus provides a validation that one has the skills that an employer is looking for. As per surveys, around 87% of the IT professionals globally hold at least one cloud certification.

There are multiple AWS certifications offered by Amazon, based on various kinds of IT roles. The most popular one among these is AWS Solutions Architect Certification, with the majority of students going for it. 

Certifications like these improve your prospects to get an AWS job, as they validate your ability to design, deploy and evaluate applications on AWS within diverse complex requirements.

In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the top AWS jobs that one can get through an AWS course certification. Some of the key certificates considered for this include AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Certified Solution Architect, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator, and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

1. AWS DevOps Engineer

With an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer (Professional), you can pursue a career as a DevOps Engineer. 

These are IT professionals who work with the development as well as the operations team to reduce the gap between actions needed to quickly change an application, to maintain its reliability. DevOps Engineers oversee and facilitate code releases and deployments on a CI/CD basis.

Some of the responsibilities handled in the DevOps Engineer role are:

• Project Management - Candidates handle various IT projects, making sure that everyone is clear about the objective, deadlines, and other criteria.
• Designing and Improving IT Infrastructure - DevOps Engineers identify ways to improve the IT infrastructure to encourage collaboration and get the releases to the market quickly.
• Performance Testing and Benchmarking - They conduct tests and evaluate how well a system is running.
• Automation - They automate repetitive tasks by building useful software plugins.
• Optimising Release Cycles - Such professionals also look for ways to optimise the release cycles, identify and remove hidden time drains, and introduce new ways of moving the process along.
• Monitoring and Reporting - They provide feedback from production to reduce time to detect (TTD) errors and time to minimise (TTM) them.

Average Salary: ₹6 lakh per annum [Source: Glassdoor]

2. AWS Cloud Architect

An AWS Cloud Architect will be responsible for managing the cloud computing architecture of an organisation. This will include front-end platforms, servers, delivery, storage, and networks.

Some of the day-to-day responsibilities they will have to handle will include:

• Identification  - They will identify the best cloud architecture options for the company to achieve its strategic goals.
• Designing - They will design a cloud environment that satisfies the needs of the company.
• Management - They will manage the cloud-based systems and also examine cloud hardware, software, and apps on a regular basis.
• Handle Activities - They handle various activities within the cloud framework like maintenance, monitoring, deployment, and management.
• Security - They will monitor the company’s cloud privacy and ensure cloud security.

Average Salary: ₹14 lakh per annum [Source: Glassdoor]

3. AWS Solution Architect

AWS Solution Architects are the professionals who will be responsible for evaluating an organisation’s needs and ensuring that the software solutions align with the company's resources, planning, and risk identification.

Some of the main responsibilities handled by a solution architect are:

• Creating and leading the process of integrating IT systems to meet the organisation’s requirements.
• Conducting system architecture evaluations and also working with the IT development team and project managers to improve the architecture.
• Evaluating the project constraints to reduce risks, find alternatives and perform process re-engineering.
• Updating the stakeholders with issues related to architecture, the status of the product development processes, and the budget.
• Conducting research on emerging technologies and proposing changes to the existing architecture.

Average Salary: ₹7 lakh per annum [Source: Glassdoor]

4. AWS SysOps Administrator

The key responsibilities of a SysOps Administrator in AWS will be to configure the AWS cloud management service and to monitor & manage their services carefully.

Some of the common responsibilities that an AWS SysOps Administrator will handle are listed below.

• They monitor the utilisation of AWS resources through the use of complex Amazon CloudWatch.
• They maintain a backup of the resources by using the AWS services.
• They reduce the production time by deploying automation infrastructure by using the AWS Cloud Formation technique.
• They work on resource tagging to designate costs and for thorough planning of budgeting, governance, and reporting.
• They monitor billing efficiently and develop cost optimization strategies.

Average Salary: ₹6 lakh per annum [Source: Glassdoor]

5. AWS Cloud Developer

The work of an AWS Cloud Developer is to analyse the customer needs, design systems, and create applications that are served on the cloud.

Some of the responsibilities handled by an AWS Cloud Developer are listed below.

• They design and implement the cloud infrastructure and also ensure the effective design of business processes in the cloud.
• They monitor cloud planning, maintenance, security, and usage across the company.
• They conduct code reviews and tests in a mapping environment.
• They update and make changes in the processes and development of executable workflows.
• They revise and restore the configuration if a problem arises during a change or update.

Average Salary: ₹6 lakh per annum [Source: Glassdoor]

The AWS certifications do not directly guarantee jobs, but they do provide substantial proof that one is skilled in AWS, and also help to distinguish a candidate from other non-certified professionals. It's to be noted that the certification can only help during initial screening, and the candidates would have to prove their mettle during subsequent rounds. There are also cloud computing boot camps that can help candidates increase their knowledge and employability.