AWS Serverless Badge: Value and Potential for Cloud Professionals
During re:Invent 2022, AWS announced the release of their new AWS Serverless digital learning badges. For context, Digital Badges are issued as part of the AWS Skill Builder platform as part of completing an assessment at the end of a learning path. Similar concept to certifications, except that they're free to attempt, and aren't proctored.
Having experience with serverless tech and having previously written about the need for an AWS Serverless-oriented certification, I sat the assessment, and now it's time to share my thoughts.
Process
The badge comes as part of the Skill Builder Serverless Learning Plan, where you can either start at the beginning with the courses, or jump straight ahead to the Serverless Learning Plan Badge Assessment.
The assessment has 50 questions, and no time limit. Score to pass is 80% (40 questions correct), with a one-day waiting period to retake the assessment if you fail an attempt. Upon passing, you'll receive a link to your Credly badge within up to five days, but in my experience, it's usually within one business day.
Difficulty
The difficulty level would be similar to an Associate-level ceritifcation, with substantial overlap with the AWS Certified Developer Associate certification.
The Learning Path seems to cover all of the topics you'd need to pass the assessment, so even if you don't know all the answers yet, you can find them between the courses and the AWS Documentation.
Badges vs Certifications
The main difference between a Digital Badge and a Certification is that the assessments for Badges are not proctored. Where a Certification Exam must be taken within a controlled environment, like at a testing centre, or under very strict conditions at home, the assessments for Badges can be undertaken in your web browser, without restrictions or time limits.
Since there's no restrictions, the candidate can research any answers for the Digital Badge assessment, like an open book exam. This means the candidate doesn't need to prove their knowledge in the same way as with a certification exam.
Being able to reference documentation is a critical timely skill. But that doesn't count if and when brain dumps of the assessment begin appearing online, and people use them to bypass the need for knowledge entirely.
Worth it?
It's a great starting point both as a personal benchmark for your own knowledge, and a means to show employers that you're deeply interested in serverless technology. For Hiring Managers, take it as a good sign that there's a baseline level of knowledge, and that the candidate has been interested enough in the topic to pursue it.
Digital Badges have been around for nearly a year, with the first ones being released in February 2022. More people are taking them up, but it's still slow going, and with a limited range of topics. I believe the Serverless Digital Badge is the first one that will see more consistent adoption.
