How I Made $84,000 With 2 Certifications and 0 Experience

Making $84,000 per year puts you in the top 1% of income earners worldwide. Not the top 10%. Not the top 5%. The actual top 1%. And I got there with two certifications, zero prior experience in the field, and a promise to myself that I would do whatever studying it took to pass the exams. No tech degree. No years of on-the-job training. Just two certifications from Amazon Web Services and the willingness to learn.

In this post I am going to break down exactly how I did it. I will tell you which certifications I earned, how I found them, what study plan actually worked for me as a complete beginner, what happened when I failed on the first attempt, and how I bounced back to pass both exams. I will also give you the real numbers on how many jobs are waiting right now for people with these certifications, so you can decide for yourself whether this path makes sense for you.

What You’ll Walk Out With

The two exact AWS certifications that took my income to $84,000 per year
Why certifications from Amazon pay far better than most people expect
The two biggest myths about certification income debunked with real data
A step-by-step study plan built for beginners who have no background in tech
What actually happens when you fail the exam on the first try and how to come back
Current LinkedIn job numbers showing how many entry-level AWS roles exist right now
Honest drawbacks so you can go in with clear expectations
A free tool at finder.platformproof.com that matches your current skills to the right online income path

The Two Big Myths Holding People Back

Before I get into the certifications themselves, I want to address two questions that almost everyone asks when they hear the words “certification income.” These myths are the exact reason most people talk themselves out of even trying.

The first myth is that certifications don’t actually pay well. To kill this one with data, I asked ChatGPT to pull the top 20 highest-paying certifications and their average salaries. The results showed salaries ranging from $80,000 all the way to over $140,000 per year. These are real, verifiable numbers. The certification path pays, and it pays very well.

The second myth is that you need expert-level, ninja-level skills to earn these certifications and get hired. Here is the reality: the only skills you actually need are the ability to use a computer and the willingness to learn. That is the full list. If you have those two things, you can pass these exams and land one of the thousands of jobs that are waiting for certified candidates. Most of the people I have spoken to who thought they weren’t “technical enough” simply hadn’t tried yet.

How I First Heard About Certifications

A few years back I was doing what a lot of people do when they want to make more money: searching the internet for answers. I typed something like “how to make more money online” and got the usual flood of garbage back. Watch YouTube ads. Click buttons. Fill out surveys. None of it works. None of it was ever going to work. I was close to giving up entirely.

Then I found a video from a YouTube channel called A Cloud Guru. In that video, they listed off a range of certifications that paid serious money. Something clicked for me. Instead of chasing the quick-flip stuff, maybe the move was to learn a real skill, get a piece of paper proving I knew it, and let employers compete for me. I started researching which certifications paid the most, and that research led me directly to Amazon Web Services.

Why Amazon? The Numbers Behind the Company

When I was researching, I stumbled on a stat that stopped me in my tracks. Amazon Web Services powers roughly 50% of the internet and around 90% of e-commerce. When you look at it that way, having a certification from the company that runs half the internet is not a niche skill. It is one of the most broadly useful credentials you can hold in tech right now.

That scale is exactly why the job demand is so high. Any company running a website, an app, a database, or a cloud-based product is almost certainly touching AWS at some point. Certified professionals who can work with those systems are needed everywhere, and there are not nearly enough of them to fill all the open roles. That supply-demand gap is what turns a certification into a high salary.

The Two AWS Certifications I Chose

After my research, I landed on two specific certifications, both from Amazon Web Services: the AWS Solutions Architect Associate and the AWS Developer Associate. These two were attractive for a very specific reason: neither of them required any prior experience. You did not need a job in tech. You did not need a degree. You just needed to pass the exam.

The Solutions Architect Associate focuses on designing distributed systems on AWS. You learn how to pick the right AWS services for different problems, how to make systems reliable and cost-efficient, and how to think through cloud architecture at a high level. The Developer Associate goes deeper into actually building and deploying applications on AWS. Together, these two certifications give you a broad-to-deep picture of how AWS works in practice, which is exactly why employers value them.

If you are just starting out and trying to decide which certification to chase first, the Solutions Architect Associate is the more common entry point. It gives you the foundation. The Developer Associate builds on top of it. Doing them in that order is the approach that worked for me.

Why AWS’s Own Study Plan Failed Me

Once I knew which certifications I wanted, I went back to the internet looking for a clear study plan. AWS itself actually has an official recommendation for new learners: read their white papers. I tried. I genuinely tried.

The problem was that those white papers were written for people already working in the industry. They are packed with technical jargon that assumes you already know what the terms mean. As a beginner, I was spending more time looking up the vocabulary in the white papers than actually absorbing the content. I made it through about half of one white paper before I gave up and went looking for something better.

This is not a knock on AWS. Their white papers are genuinely useful once you have some foundation. But as a first step for someone brand new to cloud computing, they are not designed with you in mind. If you have tried to study for these exams before and got stuck on the official materials, that is not a sign you can’t do it. It is a sign you need a different resource.

The Udemy Discovery That Changed My Study Path

Going back to the internet one more time, I found Udemy. If you have not heard of it, Udemy is an online marketplace where instructors sell courses on just about every topic imaginable, usually for a fraction of what a traditional class would cost. For someone trying to learn AWS from scratch, it turned out to be exactly what I needed.

The courses on Udemy are structured for learners, not for experts. Instructors walk you through concepts step by step, explain the jargon before using it, and give you hands-on practice so you are not just memorizing definitions. I enrolled in three different courses, and while some of the material overlapped, hearing the same concepts explained in different ways actually helped the information stick faster.

Beyond the video courses, Udemy also offers practice tests specifically designed to mirror the actual AWS exams. I bought practice tests both on Udemy and from a few other sites I found during my research. Those practice tests ended up being the most valuable study tool I had. They showed me exactly where my knowledge had gaps before I was sitting in the exam room finding out the hard way.

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My Exact Step-by-Step Study Plan

Once I had my courses and practice tests lined up, I built a study plan that gave me structure and urgency. Here is exactly what I did:

Step 1: Schedule the exam first. I booked my exam date before I felt ready. That sounds backwards, but it is the move. Having a fixed date on the calendar turns studying from something you can postpone into something with a real deadline. I gave myself just over a month, which was tight enough to keep me focused.
Step 2: Enroll in Udemy courses. I enrolled in three courses on Udemy. Going through multiple courses covering the same material from different angles helped me build a more complete understanding than any single course would have given me.
Step 3: Buy and work through practice tests. I bought practice tests from Udemy and several other sites. These are timed, multiple-choice tests that closely mirror the real exam. I treated each practice test like the real thing and reviewed every wrong answer carefully.
Step 4: Build note cards from the practice tests. Every question I got wrong went onto a note card. I studied those cards during the day, at night, and during my lunch breaks. The goal was to make sure every gap I identified in the practice tests was closed before the actual exam.

That plan is repeatable and it does not require you to already know anything. If you can follow those four steps and put in genuine study time each day, you are doing what it takes to pass these exams.

Test Day: How I Failed by a Few Points

I drove to a testing center in Illinois on a Saturday morning, went over my note cards one last time in the parking lot, walked in, sat down, and took the exam. I felt prepared. I had put in the hours. I believed I was going to pass.

I failed. Not by a lot. Just a few points short of the passing score. But it still counts as a fail, and it still stings when you have spent weeks studying and told everyone around you that you were going to pass this thing. I drove home with my tail between my legs, trying to figure out how to explain to the people I had been bragging to that I didn’t make it.

Here is what I want you to take from this: failing the first time does not mean the path is not for you. It means you need one more round. The exam is hard. Amazon designed it to be hard because they want certified professionals to actually know the material. A first-time failure rate is built into the reality of these exams. The people who ultimately make $84,000 are the ones who treat a fail as information, not a verdict.

The 90-Day Comeback

Amazon requires you to wait 90 days before you can retake a certification exam. You also have to pay the exam fee again. Those two facts sting a little, but they are also a forcing function. You cannot rush back in and take it again without adequate preparation. You have to sit with the failure, study deliberately, and come back stronger.

I used those 90 days well. I went back through the exam questions I could remember, watched more YouTube videos covering the topics where I knew I was weakest, and ran through the Udemy courses again with fresh eyes. The second pass through the material hit differently because I now knew which parts of the exam had actually tripped me up. I was not studying everything equally. I was fixing specific weak spots.

On the second attempt, I passed. Both certifications came through. And with those two certifications in hand, the job offers started coming. Not just applications I sent out. Actual recruiters reaching out to me through LinkedIn because they saw AWS listed on my profile. That is when I understood the real power of certification credentials: they make employers come to you.

Is AWS Still Worth It? The Current LinkedIn Numbers

One of the most common objections I hear about AWS certifications is that the market is saturated, that everyone has already done this, and that the window has closed. I do not believe in saturation as a concept, and here is why: something only feels saturated when you are trying to copy exactly what someone else did. If you are building your own path, there is no ceiling.

But let’s go beyond belief and look at the numbers. Before making this video, I went to LinkedIn and searched for AWS jobs. The result was over 76,000 job listings. That is not a small, niche market. That is a massive employer base actively hiring people with these credentials.

But you might say: most of those 76,000 jobs want experienced people. So I sorted by experience level and filtered to entry level only. The result was over 16,000 entry-level AWS job listings. That means there are more than 16,000 employers right now who will hire someone with a certification and no prior work experience in the field. You just need the certification and the willingness to learn on the job.

Beyond jobs, I still get messages from recruiters who found me on LinkedIn just because I have AWS listed in my profile. Years after earning those certifications, the credential is still opening doors. That does not happen with most “make money online” tactics. Certifications build a foundation that compounds over time.

Honest Drawbacks

I want to be straight with you about the parts that are not easy, because you deserve an honest picture before you commit time and money to this path.

You can and might fail the first time. Even with solid preparation, these exams are genuinely difficult. Budget for the possibility of a retake both in terms of money and in terms of the 90-day wait.
There is real study time involved. Passing these exams as a beginner takes weeks of consistent daily study. If you are working full time, that means early mornings, lunch breaks, and evenings. It is manageable, but it requires real commitment.
You need to spend some money upfront. Udemy courses go on sale frequently for under $20, but the exam fees are in the $150 to $300 range depending on the certification level. A retake means paying again. This is an investment with strong returns, but it is not free.
Entry-level salaries vary by location. The 76,000-plus LinkedIn listings span the entire world. Salaries in certain markets will be higher than others. The $84,000 figure reflects what was achievable in the U.S. market. Research rates in your specific area before setting expectations.
The certification is a starting point, not a finish line. You get the credential, you get the job, and then you start the actual learning curve. The exam tests whether you understand the concepts. The job tests whether you can apply them under real conditions. Go in knowing you will still be figuring things out on the job.

Find Your X

The certification path worked for me. AWS was my X, the specific skill that matched both what the market needed and what I was willing to put in the work to learn. But your X might be something different. The right answer depends on your current situation, the time you have available, and the income gap you are trying to close.

If you want a shortcut to figuring out which path fits you best, go to finder.platformproof.com. Answer a few questions about your skills, your schedule, and your goals, and it will match you with the specific platform or skill that gives you the best shot at your first real income online. It is free and it takes about two minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to pass the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam?

Most beginners I have spoken to put in somewhere between four and eight weeks of consistent daily study before taking the exam. The exact time depends on how much you can study per day and how familiar you already are with basic computer concepts. I scheduled my exam about a month out to give myself a deadline and a sense of urgency.

Do I need a computer science degree to earn AWS certifications?

No. AWS certifications are designed to be accessible to people without degrees in the field. The core requirement is the ability to use a computer and the willingness to learn the material through courses and practice tests. The certification itself is what employers are looking for, not the degree behind it.

How much do the AWS exams cost?

AWS exam fees vary by certification level. Associate-level exams like the Solutions Architect Associate are typically in the $150 to $300 range. If you fail and need to retake, you pay the fee again after the 90-day waiting period. Factor retake costs into your budget so a first-time fail does not derail you.

What Udemy courses should I use to study?

Search Udemy directly for “AWS Solutions Architect Associate” or “AWS Developer Associate” and sort by ratings and number of reviews. The highly-rated courses with tens of thousands of students are usually the most reliable. I enrolled in three courses for each exam to hear the same concepts explained from multiple angles, which helped things stick faster.

Are there really 16,000 entry-level AWS jobs available?

Yes. At the time I checked LinkedIn before creating this content, a search for AWS jobs filtered to entry level only returned over 16,000 listings. That number changes daily as new postings go up and old ones close, but the volume of entry-level demand for AWS-certified candidates is consistently high because there are more open roles than there are certified people to fill them.

What is the difference between the Solutions Architect Associate and the Developer Associate?

The Solutions Architect Associate focuses on designing cloud architecture: choosing the right AWS services for different use cases, building reliable systems, and managing costs at a high level. The Developer Associate goes deeper into actually writing and deploying applications on AWS. If you are choosing between the two for your first certification, the Solutions Architect Associate is the more common starting point because it builds the foundational vocabulary you will use everywhere else.

Will AWS certifications become outdated as technology changes?

AWS updates its certifications periodically to stay current with changes to their platform, so the material you study today reflects what the market needs today. Certifications have expiration dates (typically three years) and require renewal to stay active. The broader skill of working with cloud infrastructure is not going away. If anything, demand for cloud professionals continues to grow as more businesses move away from on-premise servers.

Is the AWS certification market oversaturated?

My honest answer is no, and here is my reasoning. Saturation is what happens when everyone copies everyone else and tries to compete for the same exact position. When you build your own approach and find your own lane, there is no ceiling. Beyond that, the raw numbers back this up: over 76,000 AWS job listings on LinkedIn, with over 16,000 at the entry level. A saturated market does not look like that.

Sources

Amazon Web Services certification catalog: aws.amazon.com/certification
A Cloud Guru YouTube channel: original source of certification income research
Udemy: udemy.com (course marketplace used for AWS exam prep)
LinkedIn job search: 76,000+ AWS jobs, 16,000+ entry-level (verified at time of video production)
ChatGPT: used to compile top 20 highest-paying certifications and salary ranges ($80,000 to $140,000+)

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.