Summary  
This chapter explains how to structure the software development lifecycle into four key areas—building with service APIs, enforcing security through role-based access and encryption, automating deployments with infrastructure-as-code, and monitoring plus troubleshooting applications.

General domain of usage  
Cloud-native application development

# What Will Be on the Exam?

1. **Development with AWS Services**  
   Build and manage cloud-native apps using services like Lambda, DynamoDB, and S3.

2. **Security**  
   Covers IAM roles, authentication, encryption, and general app-level security.

3. **Deployment**  
   Automate deployments using CodePipeline, CloudFormation, and Elastic Beanstalk.

4. **Troubleshooting & Optimization**  
   Use tools like CloudWatch and X-Ray to monitor and fix application issues.



### Avoiding Surprise AWS Costs  
Stick to the **free tier**, monitor usage via the **billing dashboard**, and **clean up unused resources**.

### Final Thoughts  

Getting AWS Certified can help you get a **promotion**, **better job**, or simply **boost your skills**. This course is your step-by-step guide to making that happen.

### Links

- <a href="https://d1.awsstatic.com/training-and-certification/docs-dev-associate/AWS-Certified-Developer-Associate_Exam-Guide.pdf" target="_blank"><svg width="1em" height="1em" viewBox="0 0 30 32" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path fill="none" stroke="#098f67" style="stroke: var(--color1, #098f67)" stroke-linejoin="miter" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-miterlimit="4" stroke-width="2.4156" d="M17.289 17.305v0c-1.754 1.754-4.597 1.754-6.351 0l-7.76-7.759c-1.755-1.755-1.755-4.601 0-6.356v0c1.753-1.753 4.595-1.756 6.351-0.005l6.208 6.187"></path><path fill="none" stroke="#098f67" style="stroke: var(--color1, #098f67)" stroke-linejoin="miter" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-miterlimit="4" stroke-width="2.4156" d="M12.504 13.97v0c1.754-1.754 4.597-1.754 6.351 0l7.762 7.762c1.754 1.754 1.754 4.597 0 6.351v0c-1.754 1.754-4.597 1.754-6.351 0l-5.953-5.953"></path></svg> AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam Guide</a>;
- BONUS: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/g1ve18/i_am_charged_60k_on_aws_without_using_anything/?rdt=62367" target="_blank"><svg width="1em" height="1em" viewBox="0 0 30 32" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path fill="none" stroke="#098f67" style="stroke: var(--color1, #098f67)" stroke-linejoin="miter" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-miterlimit="4" stroke-width="2.4156" d="M17.289 17.305v0c-1.754 1.754-4.597 1.754-6.351 0l-7.76-7.759c-1.755-1.755-1.755-4.601 0-6.356v0c1.753-1.753 4.595-1.756 6.351-0.005l6.208 6.187"></path><path fill="none" stroke="#098f67" style="stroke: var(--color1, #098f67)" stroke-linejoin="miter" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-miterlimit="4" stroke-width="2.4156" d="M12.504 13.97v0c1.754-1.754 4.597-1.754 6.351 0l7.762 7.762c1.754 1.754 1.754 4.597 0 6.351v0c-1.754 1.754-4.597 1.754-6.351 0l-5.953-5.953"></path></svg> How a dev was charged $60K on AWS</a>.

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification validates your ability to develop, deploy, and troubleshoot cloud-based applications using AWS. This course provides a structured and hands-on approach to mastering AWS development concepts, from fundamental tools like AWS SDKs, IAM, and CloudFormation to serverless computing, event-driven architectures, and CI/CD automation. You'll gain practical experience with databases, caching solutions, and security best practices while optimizing applications for performance, scalability, and cost efficiency. The course also includes real-world scenarios and curated practice exam questions to help you confidently pass the certification exam. Whether you're a developer new to AWS or looking to formalize your knowledge, this course provides the essential skills needed to build modern cloud applications.

This course is designed for developers who want to build, deploy, and optimize applications on AWS. Specifically, it benefits: Software Developers, DevOps & Cloud Engineers, Solution Architects (with Developer Focus), and Tech Leads & Engineering Managers

Get an overview of the AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification, including its purpose, benefits, and ideal candidates. Understand the exam format, domains, and knowledge areas tested. Learn about key prerequisites and how this course is structured to help you build AWS development expertise step by step.

Learn how to interact with AWS programmatically using AWS SDKs, CLI, and authentication mechanisms like IAM roles and Amazon Cognito. Explore Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like AWS CloudFormation, AWS CDK, and AWS SAM, understanding when to use declarative vs. programmatic approaches.

We'll dive into AWS databases and caching solutions to design high-performance, cost-efficient applications. Learn to model NoSQL databases with Amazon DynamoDB, optimize queries, and use DynamoDB Streams for real-time processing. Explore Amazon RDS and Aurora, focusing on scalability, high availability, and failover strategies. Finally, we'll look into improving application responsiveness with Amazon ElastiCache (Redis, Memcached) and DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) for caching and in-memory data storage.

Learn to build and deploy serverless applications using AWS Lambda, optimizing performance and execution costs. Explore event-driven architectures by integrating applications with Amazon SQS, SNS, and EventBridge for asynchronous communication and automation. You'll also learn to orchestrate serverless workflows using AWS Step Functions, ensuring scalability and fault tolerance. This section will enable you to design highly responsive, scalable applications using AWS-native serverless tools.

Automate application development and deployment using AWS CI/CD tools, including AWS CodeCommit, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy. Learn to implement different deployment strategies to ensure reliability and minimize downtime. After that, we'll look at some best practices for migrating existing applications to AWS, refactoring them to leverage AWS-native features for better performance and scalability by exploring a few real-world scenarios.

Implement effective monitoring and debugging using AWS CloudWatch, AWS X-Ray, and centralized logging. Learn how to secure AWS applications with AWS Secrets Manager, Parameter Store, and KMS encryption, while protecting APIs with API Gateway security features, AWS WAF, and AWS Shield. This section ensures your applications are secure, well-monitored, and optimized for reliability and performance.

A few practical tips on taking the exam (how to approach different question types, time management, and common pitfalls to avoid). Explore additional resources for further study and hands-on practice.


Exam Domains

What Will Be on the Exam?

Avoiding Surprise AWS Costs

Final Thoughts

Links

Awesome!

Exam Domains

What Will Be on the Exam?

Avoiding Surprise AWS Costs

Final Thoughts

Links