This is the 2nd part of a 2 post series. You can view the original post here: https://stephen.mcmaster.cloud/2022/08/20/hands-on-with-aws-skills-builder/
As promised, I am returning with a refreshed view of AWS Skill Builder, having first tried the service back in August, 2022.
In truth, it has been a hectic year and I had expected to return to this sooner. So without further ado, let’s get into what has changed over the past 4 months.
What is AWS Skills Builder?
Refer to the previous post for an introduction to “AWS Skill Builder”. However here is a quick excerpt:
AWS Skill Builder is a new offering from AWS, allowing access to online training courses, hands-on AWS Labs, as well as free training courses: Self-paced digital training on AWS – AWS Skill Builder.
Has the price changed?
The price is still the same: $29 / month (or $299/year) when billed annually.
Having so many AWS accounts and logins, it did take me a while to find my subscription (which was connected to my APN account), however, this may be an issue that was unique to someone with so many different ways of connecting to AWS.
How much new content has been added?
There is an abundance of free content available on AWS Skill Builder. However, additional content is reserved for subscribers. The following table shows the changes between August, 2022 and the date of this post.
| Leaning Category | August, 2022 | January, 2023 | Change % (+/-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Builder Labs | 126 | 141* | +12% |
| AWS Jam Journey | 1 | 4 | +300% |
| AWS Cloud Quest | 4 | 6 | +50% |
| Subscription Learning Paths | 24 | 23 | -4% |
| AWS Practice Exams | 3 | 3 | – |
| Industry Quest | – | 1 | ~ |
* of the 141 Build Labs only 16 (11%) of those are at an “Advanced” level.
15 new AWS Builder Labs
15 new AWS Builder labs have been added. Given its 4 months since my original review of AWS Skill Builder, I was expecting this number to have been higher.
3 new AWS Jam Journeys
3 new Jam Journeys have been added. These help you validate your understanding of AWS Services related to Security (available at initial launch), and now Networking, Machine, Learning, and Databases have been added. Jam Journeys may be valuable to people aiming to sit an AWS Certificate focussed on one of these domains.
2 new Cloud Quests
2 new learning Cloud Quest learning pathways have been added – Cloud Practitioner, and Data Analytics. However, these quests are squarely aimed at people with lower levels of AWS experience, and would not be relevant to seasoned cloud practitioners. Apart, perhaps, through curiosity.
All badges earned through “AWS Cloud Quest” are available to a user through Credly. For many, this benefit alone may be valuable – particularly if you want to add some colour and depth to your CV easily and quickly.
No new Subscription Learning Paths
No new Subscription Learning paths have been added (indeed, 1 has been removed). However, as per my previous post, these learning pathways often have free versions. The main difference here is that the learning paths also feature labs
New Category: Industry Quest
A new category (Industry Request) has been launched that gives a gamified experience. This only covers Financial Services at the moment. “Assignments” within these questions include “Real-time Fraud Detection”, “Loan Forms Processing”, “Credit Scoring Automation”, etc.
This may be useful for those in the Financial Service industry. However, given the solutions are all AWS Services (as you would expect), these “assignments” may not be as relevant to FSI organisations that have a mature technology stack and with micro-services running in Kubernetes stacks, and who have a heavy reliance on in-house developed solutions.
Having a single Industry focussed quest available was perhaps not a wide move, as – by definition – it is excluding other important industries for the outset (i.e. Healthcare and Life Science, Retail, Defence, etc.).
No new Practice Exams
There are no new practice exams, compared with my post in August.
Practice exams have a value attached to them, and you would otherwise pay to access these exams. Seeing no new exams here, therefore, was disappointing. This would have been an easy way for AWS to improve the value of AWS Skill Builder.
Final Conclusion
If you are starting your cloud Journey
AWS Skill Builder can be a useful way to boost your AWS Service skills, and to earn some early badges through AWS “Quests”.
The content and labs here will give you some real hands-on experience with AWS Services, without having to pay to use these services yourselves.
If you are an experienced Cloud Practitioner
In truth, there may not be much that would justify the monthly cost of AWS Skill Builder, particularly given the following:
- Only 11% of Labs target an advanced level (just 16 of 141);
- No new practice exams have been issued. Of the practice exams that are available, 1 is practitioner, 1 is at associate (SysOps) level, and 1 is the AWS Architect Professional exam. If you have already sat these exams, then these free papers will not add anything; and
- Cloud Quest Learning Pathways are set at a level that you have already most likely passed. The badges do have a Credly “novelty” value, but your attention might be better focussed on targeting speciality exams.
Note: This article is an opinion and does not constitute professional advice – any actions taken by a reader based on this article are at the discretion of the reader, who is solely responsible for the outcome of those actions.
