Discover some of the highest-paying jobs in tech with Amazon Web Services (AWS), what AWS cloud practitioners do day-to-day, how much they get paid, and what AWS certifications you’ll need to land these roles. We’ll also explain how Revolent can fast-forward your career, so you can cross-train and gain essential AWS certifications before progressing onto a 2-year work placement, without any prior experience in AWS.
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Certification breakdown and salary
To help you choose the right AWS certification path, here’s a summary of the top three specialist careers within AWS, complete with expected salaries for certified individuals, and the certifications you’ll need to get there.
Why choose a career in Amazon Web Services (AWS)?
If the last couple of years have shown us anything, it’s how unpredictable our economy is. In this tumultuous economic climate, career security (i.e choosing a career that will have long-term job opportunities on a global scale) is even more important than having job security. What’s more, the World Economic Forum predicts that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025.
If you have an existing background in tech, you could get ahead of the game and secure a rewarding career in AWS—one of the most sought-after and fastest growing cloud technologies. The growing skills gap in AWS makes it a candidate-driven market, offering some amazing opportunities to get certified and earn while you learn.
Is AWS certification cost actually worth it?
Before you invest resources into AWS certification and training, it’s only right to ask if all that time and energy will actually pay off?
According to the most comprehensive annual publication on AWS careers and salaries, Jefferson Frank’s Careers and Hiring Guide, 59% of respondents held at least one AWS certification, while 56% stated that their salary had increased since gaining a certification.
Even if you’re an experienced IT professional or a Computer Sciences graduate, you may be completely new to AWS. You need to find a way to stand out from the crowd while learning crucial skills that will propel you in the right career direction. Certifications can help you kick-start your career and equip you with essential skills and knowledge that you can apply on the job.
After surveying hundreds of AWS professionals worldwide, Jefferson Frank also found that the top two AWS programming languages you should invest your time and money to learn are Python and Java.
Containers such as Kubernetes, Docker, and Jenkins are also important skills for AWS professionals to master and will certainly make your CV stand out.
Some survey respondents did remark that certifications are challenging to gain. 87% also highlighted that exposure to large projects was essential to increasing their earning potential.
At Revolent, we combine the best AWS certification and training by providing a stimulating and supportive environment, allowing you to learn at the right pace, followed by a 2-year paid work placement. Our AWS-accredited program is designed to help you focus on getting trained and certified without worrying about how to present your AWS certification and training on your CV or interview to land amazing AWS jobs.
During your work placement, you’ll be able to work on projects for world-leading brands. This will allow you to gain that all-important exposure to large projects while applying your new knowledge to a real-life setting. What’s more, once you join our training program, you’ll have access to our careers support and our Learning & Development resource center to help you keep your skills up to date.
How to choose the best AWS certification path and career for you?
Since AWS powers one-third of the world’s cloud computing applications, it offers a huge range of lucrative career paths that cater to different skill sets and interests.
For example, some people are generalists with an eye on the bigger picture, while others prefer to specialize and become experts in one area. AWS needs both types.
To work out the best AWS career path for you, consider:
- The salary expectations for different roles
- Career progression routes after you earn your first certifications
- What existing background and experience in tech you may need
- Soft skills you have that are essential to the role
- What you enjoy doing day-to-day
To get you started, we’ve broken down the three most popular AWS career paths—AWS Cloud Data Engineer, AWS DevOps Engineer, and AWS Cloud Engineer—below.
For a more complete list of all AWS jobs and certifications, you can also download The Jefferson Frank AWS Careers and Hiring Guide.
AWS Cloud Data Engineer
The cloud and big data go hand in hand. Using the cloud allows companies to utilize data more efficiently, without the need to invest resources to manage clunky databases and servers. There’s a huge demand for AWS Cloud Data Engineers who have the skills and knowledge to manage data in a way that’s secure and accessible to other team members.
AWS Cloud Data Engineer role overview
As an AWS Cloud Data Engineer, you’ll build solutions based on AWS. You’ll create apps and services that are powered by and deployed on the AWS platform. That could mean developing anything from infrastructure and software applications to containers, operating systems, and system management tools. You’ll be expected to be able to test, secure, maintain, and support your creations to make sure they’re operating at peak performance levels at all times.
As a fully trained AWS Cloud Data Engineer, your day-to-day responsibilities could include:
- Building and updating data warehouses to make them as efficient and user-friendly as possible
- Creating and maintaining the data storage framework, designed by the AWS Cloud Data Architect
- Ensuring that data can be easily retrieved by other professionals in the team
- Creating and documenting processes, and outlining how other data professionals in the team will be able to harvest, authenticate, and model the information
How to get your AWS certifications as a Data Engineer
If you choose to cross-train with Revolent, you’ll master core AWS services and get up to speed with the best practices while earning your AWS-accredited certifications.
Our training covers:
- A wide range of AWS services, as well as Application Integration, Serverless Architecture, Deployment Strategies, CI/CD pipeline to deploy applications
- An introduction to DevOps
- Advanced data management and storage concepts
- Learning how to implement machine learning algorithms, containerized solutions, and HPC architectures
- Learning how to design online transactional processing (OLTP) database solutions
AWS Cloud Data Engineer salary breakdown
As one of the most essential AWS data specialists, an AWS Cloud Data Engineer can expect to earn $120,000 per year in a junior role in the US, rising to $147,000 in a mid-senior role to $180,000 in a senior position. Self-employed AWS Application Developers earn, on average, $161 per hour.
In the UK, a junior AWS Application Developer can expect to earn £45,000 per year, rising to £68,750 with 4-8 years of experience and £85,500 in a senior position with 9+ years of experience. Freelance professionals can charge up to a whopping £820 per day.
AWS Cloud Data Engineer career progression routes
Once you’ve gained your AWS certifications while cross-training with Revolent, your journey to an amazing career is just beginning!
You’ll then progress onto a paid work placement with one of our world-leading clients, including market-leading companies, tech giants, and other AWS end-users.
Once you have the certifications and experience under your belt, you can look to progress in your career. Here’s one example of how that might look like. After some experience as an AWS Cloud Data Engineer, you could look to progress as a Senior Data/ML Engineer, then Lead Data Engineer, then Head of Data Engineering and, finally, Chief Data Officer.
AWS DevOps Engineer
The ultimate goal of DevOps software development strategy is to narrow the gap between developers and other IT specialists. Under this model, development and operations teams are merged into one, with DevOps Engineers working across the entire lifecycle of an application. They wear lots of hats, developing, testing, and deploying the product while managing, evolving and automating operations.
AWS DevOps Engineer role overview
As you’d expect, based on the description above, AWS DevOps Engineers need to have a broad understanding of engineering, operations and coding. They’re also great communicators, working across various departments to create and develop cost-effective systems within a company. Their end-goal is to increase productivity in the workplace. They would have an in-depth understanding of software development lifecycle, with extensive experience in configuration, packaging, and orchestration necessary to software-define even more of the life cycle.
As a certified AWS DevOps Engineer, your day-to-day responsibilities would be wide and varied. Some of these will include:
- Creating and implementing systems software to analyzing data and improving existing practices
- Analyzing the current technology utilized within the company and developing steps and processes to improve and expand upon this
- Using CI (Continuous Integration) or CD (Continuous Development) concepts to focus on software-defined life cycles, highlighting tools that emphasize automation, ultimately adding to an agile development environment
- Working closely with engineering professionals within the company to maintain hardware and software that’s needed for projects to be completed efficiently
- Collaborating with software developers, system operators, and other IT staff within the company to manage code releases
How to get your AWS certifications as an AWS DevOps Engineer
77% of DevOps Engineers surveyed in the latest Jefferson Frank Careers and Hiring Guide said that certifications helped them stand out in the job market.
If you’re serious about a career as an AWS DevOps Engineer, then gaining the following certifications is crucial:
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner – Foundation
- AWS Certified SysOps Admin – Associate
- AWS Certified Developer – Associate
If you have an existing background in tech, you could soon be earning your first AWS-accredited certifications and cross-training at a world-leading brand as an AWS DevOps Engineer with our fully-funded two-year training program.
AWS DevOps Engineer salary breakdown
Qualified junior AWS DevOps Engineers can make $140,000 per year in the US, rising to $155,000 after 4-8 years and $192,000 in a senior role (9+ years). Freelancers can charge up to $165 per hour.
In the UK, the annual salary for junior DevOps Engineers equates to £57,500, rising to £65,000 in a mid-senior role and £91,250 in a senior role. The average freelance rate can be as high as £750 per day.
AWS DevOps Engineer career progression routes
Though becoming a qualified AWS DevOps Engineer is enough of a challenge, if you’ve got your eye on the big picture, here are two typical career progression routes that you can take after becoming a qualified AWS DevOps Engineer.
DevOps Engineer >
- Senior DevOps/Site Reliability Engineer >
- Lead DevOps Engineer/Principal Engineer
DevOps Engineer >
- DevOps Architect >
- Solutions Architect
AWS Cloud Engineer
If you’re someone with a keen interest in online infrastructure, who likes to build existing processes and adopt innovative new ones, then a career as an AWS Cloud Engineer is for you.
AWS Cloud Engineer role overview
Once the Cloud Architect has constructed their vision for an organization’s new cloud-based system, it’s up to the Cloud Engineer to make that vision a reality. Typically, they’ll construct and implement any new cloud functionality or migrate existing processes to the cloud and maintain them. They’ll engineer processes across various areas like servers, applications, and databases and monitor them to ensure everything works as it should, taking necessary steps to facilitate spikes in traffic and usage.
As a fully trained AWS Cloud Engineer, your day-to-day responsibilities could include:
- Reviewing existing cloud applications deployed on AWS, highlighting key drivers for change and implementing improvements that align with best practice, security protocols and are cost-efficient
- Designing and implementing on premises to cloud migration projects incorporating the 4 Rs (Rehost, Refactor, Replatform, and Replace)
- Architecting hybrid cloud solutions with a view to both short and long-term organizational needs
- Collaborating with Developers, SysOps, and DevOps professionals to architect new cloud solutions
How to get AWS certifications as a Cloud Engineer
If you choose to cross-train with Revolent, you’ll master core AWS services and get up to speed with best practices while earning your AWS-accredited certifications.
Our training covers:
- A wide range of AWS services and best practices for monitoring and managing AWS resources using Management Console and CLI
- Learning how to perform business continuity and disaster recovery procedures
- How to identify, classify, and remediate incidents
- extensive Consultancy Training, so you have the skills and confidence to present your solutions to clients
AWS Cloud Engineer salary breakdown
As one of the most sought-after AWS cloud practitioners, an AWS Cloud Engineer can expect to earn $119,00 per year in a junior role in the US, rising to $173,400 in a senior position. Self-employed AWS Cloud Application Developers earn, on average, $112 per hour.
In the UK, a junior AWS Cloud Engineer can expect to earn £39,000 per year, rising to £50,000 with 4-8 years of experience and £66,250 in a senior position with 9+ years of experience. Freelance professionals can charge up to a whopping £720 per day.
AWS Cloud Engineer progression routes
Some Cloud Engineers go on to specialize in a particular area of AWS, often security or networking, while others concentrate on using DevOps strategies to get the job done.
Many progress onto roles as Cloud Architects, taking a more comprehensive view of cloud systems and leading teams on implementation and migration projects.
After gaining your AWS Cloud Engineer certifications and work experience with Revolent, the world is your oyster! We’ll help you shape your career path in whichever direction you’d like to progress.
