A series of professional certifications landed at Sun* in the new year’s joy (Part 1)

PMI-ACP (PMI Agile Certified Practitioner)® 

PMI-ACP (PMI Agile Certified Practitioner) ® is a prestigious Agile project management certificate from PMI (Project Management Institute - American Institute of Project Management). This is the certificate with the fastest growth in quantity among the 8 PMI certificates. The highlight of the PMI-ACP® certification is knowledge built on standards to be flexibly applicable to all organizations, and all types of projects, in line with the direction of a Digital Creative Studio like Sun*. Owning PMI-ACP® is a testament to one’s ability to understand Agile, as well as his readiness to apply in any project of any field.

The PMI-ACP exam preparation course exclusively for Sunners has recently attracted 19 students, 9 of which registered for this certification exam. And the result is amazing with all these 9 Sunners successfully attaining the certificate this time. They are Van Luan (EUV1), Xuan Duc (EUV3), Ngoc My (EUV4), Thanh Ly (EUV2), Thanh Phong (EUV4), Tien Trung (EUV4), Duy Khanh (EUV2), Quynh Mai (EUV4) and Phuong Anh (EUV3)

Mr. Van Luan shared his feelings about the PMI-ACP exam preparation course:

My first impression is that it is "extremely intense" because at the beginning of the exam preparation course, it requires 2 days per week of online learning(from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm) plus at least 2 hours per day of self-study. The whole course will last for 2.5 months and 1 month to review. The students then will participate in the exam if qualified.

When I started studying, I felt even more "stressed" than I initially imagined because most of the online lessons lasted till 11 pm, some ended at 11:30 at night, Though dizzy and tired, everyone did not quit (laugh). Perhaps the reason is the dedication of the teacher Nhac Trung in each lesson. At the end of a hard working day, Mr. Trung still spends time to accompany and share knowledge with the whole class until late at night, which makes students including me try harder as we know that our attempt is 3 - 4 times less than Mr. Trung’s.

And of course, not failing the teacher’s expectation, my classmates in this course also have an "unbelievable" spirit with such excitement because the PMI-ACP certificate is the first step in spreading and practicing Agile in projects and in the organization. Importantly, after obtaining a certificate, people can practice as well as share their knowledge, accurately spreading it to others.

Like Mr. Luan, Mr. Thanh Phong (EUV4) also wants to thank “teacher” Trung for his dedication. To Mr. Phong, who has experience in managing many projects, this course has helped him systematize his knowledge more methodically, obtain important keywords for further research, and especially grasp new knowledge. Mr. Phong hopes that after the course, he can share this knowledge in a more accurate and methodical way. Regarding his experience taking the exam, Mr. Phong added:

When you learn, you should learn with high concentration and learn under the guidance of Mr. Trung. Then try 10 tests that Mr. Trung shares. If you are confident that you are able to complete 70% of the test, then go straight to the exam! Moreover, at the end of the course, Mr. Trung will also base on the results of the tests to advise whether you should take the exam or not. Knowledge may not be difficult, but in order to pass the exam and get a certificate, both I and my classmates have been working hard with determination. That is probably the secret! (laugh)

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

AWS Certification is a set of certificates issued by Amazon that evaluates the level of understanding of Cloud (cloud computing), specifically Amazon Web Services (AWS) as well as the effective application of those services. results in real problems. This certificate is divided into Cloud Practitioner, Architect, Developer, and Operations roles, plus Specialty. Regarding the difficulty level, there are 3 levels: Foundational, Asociate and Professional.

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam is intended for those who want to work as a solution architect and have a year or more experience in designing available, cost-effective, distributed systems, and Highly scalable distributed systems on AWS.

To achieve the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate certification, test-takers need to be able to:

Effectively describe knowledge of how to construct and deploy powerful and secure applications on AWS technologies

- Determine solutions based on architectural design principles according to customer requirements

- Provide implementation guidance based on best practices for the organization across the project lifecycle

Sunners can learn more about AWS certification at: https://viblo.asia/p/tim-hieu-he-thong-chung-chi-aws-63vKjbq6K2R

Đ.V. Hieu is one of Sunner who has received AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate at the end of 2020. Sharing with Sun * News, Hieu said:

After completing the exam preparation course, I have a basic knowledge of AWS. Besides, AWS is not only about introducing services but also a lot of general knowledge, such as decouple application, moniter, troubleshoot, ... ideas that can be deployed outside. With that knowledge, now I can deploy small services and applications, at the same time apply to the work of the project, participate in building infra for projects in the group, understand infra, service that the project is using, ... In general, getting a certificate is not only to certify my current ability, but also an opportunity for me to learn to improve my knowledge as well as use what I have learned to support colleagues, help work more effectively.

Regarding his experience in exam preparation, Hieu also shared: 

"Although the AWS certificate has many parts and many areas of knowledge, it should not be rampant. My experience is encapsulated in 2 bullet points. :

- View Stephane's course on Udemy here.

- Create an AWS free tier account to try the services

With your hard work and determination to achieve your goals, you will eventually get the certificate!"

In addition to the above two certifications, in recent times, many Sunners have attained (PSM I) Professional Scrum Master I and (ISTQB) International Software Testing Qualifications Board. With the spirit of continuous learning and sharing, the movement of learning and certification exams has taken place continuously in the past year. Professional certifications have been consistently successfully reaped as a sweet result of the learning movement at Sun *. The study and certification exam has helped Sunner improve his professional knowledge and skills while increasing work efficiency many times.

Hopefully the spirit of “go fast”, winning certificates will always be maintained and further developed so that Sun* will continue to receive the "rain" of certificates from the Sunners in this New Year!