The story of how an administrative staff member with almost no knowledge of AWS passed the CLF and AIF exams
Long time no see. This is Koyacho ('ω')ﾉ
This year, I've been working at the ClassMethod Group, Annotation Inc. for 10 years!
Despite working for 10 years at the ClassMethod Group, which provides comprehensive AWS support, I, as an administrative staff, only vaguely knew what AWS services were. I finally challenged myself to take the certification exam that I had been thinking I should properly study for someday.
The exam I took this time was...
"AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF)"
And, riding the AI promotion wave that's also happening in our company (and since I could apply CLF knowledge)
"AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF)"
I took both exams!
And!
I passed!
So!
In this blog, I want to talk about whether CLF and AIF are difficult for non-engineers who have no knowledge of AWS.
Quick Impressions
Just my personal opinion, but
"Without basic IT knowledge, CLF would require considerably more study"
"Without CLF knowledge, AIF would require a bit more study"
is what I thought.
CLF Study Method and Impressions
Since the CLF study method overlaps with a lot of content already available online, I'll cover it briefly.
I studied for about a month and a half using textbooks and practice questions.
I spent one month thoroughly reading a textbook once, and the rest of the time I repeatedly went through practice questions.
CLF is truly an exam where you can learn the basics of AWS, and for someone like me with almost no knowledge of AWS, it was "an exam that helps you understand what you can do with AWS."
Things like: Oh, there's a virtual server service. Oh, there's a database service. Oh, you can use it in different ways depending on your purpose. Oh, these are the pricing plans available... and so on.
This is why I wrote earlier that "without basic IT knowledge, CLF would require considerably more study."
In today's increasingly IT-oriented world, there might be non-engineers who aren't tech-savvy but want to get CLF certification. However, if you don't know what "servers" or "databases" are in the first place, it might be a bit challenging.
I recommend getting the IT Passport certification first.
As for me, I'm someone who uses computers to some extent at work and home (at home it's for gaming...).
But I'm someone who doesn't understand AWS or development.
If you're like that, I think you can study without much difficulty.## How to Study for AIF and Impressions
Next is my AIF study method. I was planning to study with textbooks and practice problems as usual, but since the exam only started in August 2024, there aren't many textbooks available yet.
So I searched online for study methods and looked at recommended AWS Skill Builder content and blogs, but without prior knowledge, I found the content difficult to absorb.
At that time, a colleague at work recommended this book:
AWS Certified AI Practitioner Exam Prep: Text + Practice Problems
I should have realized, Classmethod has published a book on this!
This book is very beginner-friendly for AI novices, explaining difficult terms and mechanisms with examples that make them easier to understand.
If you want to understand AI to some extent before tackling practice questions, I highly recommend reading this.
After reading through this book, I continuously solved practice exams on Udemy.
I went through these three times.
After spending about a month with these two resources, I passed! You can succeed even starting with zero knowledge.
Looking back:
You can manage by just doing practice exams, but reading a book for background knowledge makes it easier.
You can pass without CLF, but having CLF knowledge makes it easier.
That's my impression.
Finally
As I mentioned at the beginning, I wrote this blog as a reference for people without AWS knowledge who want to obtain CLF and AIF certifications, so there may be better ways to deepen your understanding.
I hope this can be a starting point for non-engineers like me who want to get CLF and AIF certifications.
Thank you for reading this far! See you again!### About Annotation Inc.
Annotation Inc. continues to challenge itself as a group company of Classmethod with the aim of becoming a company that can deliver "Operational Excellence."
Under the slogan "Work like yourself, live like yourself," diverse members with various backgrounds have continued to provide services to customers through highly flexible work styles. Currently, we are recruiting members who can help energize our company together.
If you are even slightly interested, please visit the Annotation Inc. website.
