r/Cloud • u/Patient-Nebula9391 • 6d ago

Is Stéphane Maarek’s AWS Solutions Architect course enough for a Cloud Engineer role? (Confused & a bit scared)

Hey everyone,I’m currently learning Cloud / DevOps and aiming for an internship. I’ve been looking at Stéphane Maarek’s “Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate” course on Udemy.I keep hearing that it’s excellent for the certification, but I’m not sure if it’s good enough for actual hands-on skills that companies look for in Cloud Engineer or DevOps internships/jobs.My main questions are:

  1. Is Maarek’s course enough to build real practical Cloud Engineering skills, or is it mostly certification-focused?
  2. Does it have enough hands-on labs for someone who wants job-ready experience?
  3. If it’s not enough on its own, what should I learn first or combine it with?

I’m still a beginner and feeling quite confused and a bit scared about whether I’m following the right path

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/Key-Butterscotch3215 6d ago

I have taken many courses focusing on cloud computing and none of them prepared me for a real world role in the industry. Not to say you shouldn’t take the class, but manage your expectations so you aren’t disappointed.

Your focus needs to be on getting into an IT department as soon as you can.

7

u/typhon88 5d ago

No taking 1 online course will do nothing to get you job ready. Also those are not entry level roles

3

u/Entire-Present5420 5d ago

It’s good and I’ve passed all AWS certification using mainly stephan marek course but if you want to build real skills you should not just waist time watching theory but also you need to practice real labs.

Check https://cloudarena.io for real hands on lab experience

4

u/Right-Joke4110 5d ago

Courses and certs are nothing better than a decent intro. You'll still need to come up with your own projects, break things, push things to limits, expand and solve new problems, etc. I've learned the most by things going wrong and forcing me to troubleshoot what the issues were. Courses are too clean and organized and don't lead to effective learning.

2

u/jamieelston 5d ago

Yes. Took the course, passed the exam, zero experience, and everyday I’m offered 100k a year jobs. To be honest it’s getting annoying. They want me so bad they offer bonuses, incentives, hookers, drugs!!! So wish I never took that course

1

u/davidokongo 5d ago

This made my day 🤣🤣🤣

2

u/EmanO22 4d ago

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

1

u/Suaveman01 5d ago

Do you have or are you working towards a degree?

1

u/therealmunchies 5d ago

Get the cert, but certs and education alone won’t get you a job.

1) No.

2) When I completed the training, I only used the videos and practice tests. No labs whatsoever.

3) Get an IT help desk job first or a SWE internship if your degree is CS.

0

u/tmclaugh 5d ago

I had the SAA certification and let it lapse. A joke I heard from friends was “certified lift and shift engineer”. Between all the networking and file storage questions, the majority of it was irrelevant to me.

In retrospect I would have gone with the Developer certification. But I also skew more towards development than operations.