AWS Solutions Architect vs Developer Associate: Which Cert First?

Both AWS Associate-level certifications are worth having. But you shouldn't take them in the same order, and which one you do first depends entirely on what you actually do day to day — not on which one sounds more senior.

The question comes up constantly: “I'm a backend developer / cloud engineer / DevOps person — should I do SAA or DVA first?” Here's our honest breakdown.

01What each cert actually tests

The names are deceptively close. The exams are testing meaningfully different things.

The SAA asks: given a set of requirements, design the right AWS architecture. High availability, cost optimisation, security, disaster recovery — all from a design perspective. You need breadth across the full AWS service catalogue.

The DVA asks: you're building an application on AWS — how do you use the SDK, configure Lambda, structure a DynamoDB table, set up deployment pipelines with CodeDeploy, and handle errors in serverless functions. It goes deep on developer-facing services and assumes you write code, not just draw diagrams.

02What the job market actually asks for

In our reading of cloud engineering and DevOps postings, the SAA appears in job descriptions far more frequently than the DVA — roughly 3 to 4 times as often in the roles we track. That gap is driven by the types of roles that require certifications at all: cloud engineers, infrastructure engineers, DevOps engineers, and solutions architects all tend to be screened for the SAA. Backend developers are less often required to hold any AWS certification.

The DVA appears most often in two contexts: job postings at AWS consulting and implementation partners (where breadth of AWS developer credentials matters for partnership tiers), and postings that explicitly ask for “AWS certified developer” as a differentiator in developer roles at cloud-first companies.

The SAA is the default cloud credential. The DVA is a specific signal for developers at companies where AWS is the application platform, not just the hosting layer.

03The SAA in depth — who it's for and what to study

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) is one of the most widely held AWS certifications. It's the foundation credential for cloud infrastructure roles and typically the first cert hiring managers look for on a cloud or DevOps resume.

The exam covers four domains: Secure Architectures (~30%), Resilient Architectures (~26%), High-Performing Architectures (~24%), and Cost-Optimized Architectures (~20%). No single service is tested in isolation — questions present scenarios and ask you to choose between multiple valid options. The trick is knowing not just what a service does, but why you'd pick it over the alternatives.

Standard prep path for SAA:

1. 1

   Stephane Maarek's SAA course on Udemy. In our read, the most widely recommended SAA course — comprehensive, well-maintained, includes hands-on labs. Check current price and length.

2. 2

   AWS documentation for services you're weakest on. The SAA tests breadth — you need to understand what RDS Multi-AZ vs Read Replicas mean, when to use SQS vs SNS vs EventBridge, and what Glacier Instant Retrieval is.

3. 3

   Tutorials Dojo practice exams (Jon Bonso). 6 full practice exams, harder than the real thing. Aim for 80%+ before sitting the exam.

4. 4

   AWS Skill Builder official practice question sets — free with AWS account, good calibration for the actual difficulty level.

Realistic prep time: 4–8 weeks for someone already working in cloud or DevOps. 8–14 weeks for someone new to AWS. The exam is multiple choice, which makes it more approachable than the CKA — but the breadth of services covered is significant.

04The DVA in depth — who it's for and what to study

The AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) is aimed at developers who build applications on AWS rather than engineers who design infrastructure. It goes deep on the application layer: serverless, CI/CD, caching, and debugging deployed applications.

Key domain areas: Development with AWS Services (~32%), Security (~26%), Deployment (~24%), and Troubleshooting and Optimization (~18%). The exam assumes you write code — it tests things like how to handle Lambda cold starts, how DynamoDB partition keys affect performance, how to configure CodeDeploy deployment strategies, and how X-Ray tracing works in a distributed application.

Standard prep path for DVA:

1. 1

   Stephane Maarek's DVA course on Udemy — same author as the best SAA course, same quality. If you've done SAA already, about 60% of this course will feel familiar; the remaining 40% on Lambda internals, DynamoDB advanced patterns, and CI/CD tools is where to focus.

2. 2

   Build something real in Lambda. The DVA tests Lambda deeply — cold starts, layers, execution roles, destinations, concurrency limits. Reading about these concepts is not the same as running into the 15-minute timeout in production.

3. 3

   Tutorials Dojo DVA practice exams. The developer-specific scenario questions require you to know which SDK method throws which exception — the kind of thing that only clicks after hands-on experience.

05Can you do them together — or in the wrong order?

AWS does not require you to complete Associate before Professional, or SAA before DVA. They are independent certifications. But the SAA and DVA share roughly 40–50% of content — networking, IAM, S3, and core compute — which means taking one first makes the second significantly faster to prep for.

Our general guidance: if you want both eventually (which is a defensible strategy for cloud engineers who also write code), do SAA first. The architecture foundations transfer directly to the DVA. The reverse is less efficient — DVA's depth on serverless and CI/CD doesn't help as much with the SAA's architecture breadth.

If you want both, SAA first makes the DVA faster to prep for. DVA first doesn't give you much of a head start on SAA.

06The AWS Professional certs — what comes next

Both associate certs feed into the Professional tier, which is where, in our read, career impact becomes more dramatic (we have no sourced salary figure for it):

The professional tier is where the SAA demonstrates the most compounding value — SAA unlocks both professional certs and is effectively the entry ticket to architect-track roles. The DVA unlocks the DevOps Engineer Professional, which is the more targeted path for engineers who want to go deep on cloud-native deployment patterns.

07Our recommendation by role

Rather than a single answer, here's our role-by-role read: