Looking to get AWS Certified. Need advice on how to approach this

[rch]

EDIT - 10/20/2022 6:06AM

Yesterday was a productive evening. I am at 59/381. I am just glad I am able to stick to learning. I need to make sure my weekends are super productive.

EDIT - 10/19/2022 6:04AM

Watched a few more lectures. I am at 49/386. Long way to go. I will watch more during work today. I need a break for now.

EDIT - 10/18/2022 9:14PM

I made dinner, and I watched training videos while I ate. I spent an hour doing this. I finished a few lectures. 47/386 lectures done. Of course watching itself is not going to cut it, I will have to actually practice. I figured, I will spend time during the week watching lectures, and I will practice for a solid 4-5 hours during the weekend. We shall see how that goes.

I also decided to give up (for now) my writing hobby. I have a problem where I cannot do too many things at once. I will put my focus on AWS. I will make it my hobby. I will still play video games, but no more writing reviews etc.

I will post more tomorrow.

—Original message—
Hello everyone,

Quick background - I am 39 years old, married, no kids (yet!). Working full time in tech (systems engineer), I am not a developer, but I know enough to read code, debug applications etc.

I am looking to get certified as a AWS Solutions Architect Associate. To that end, I purchased the following course -

Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA)

My question is simply this -

Those will full time jobs, and a family, how are you able to focus on learning after work hours? I am simply too tired to sit in front of the computer after a full day at work. I am a PC gamer, and I don’t even play games on most weekdays, if that tells you anything. I am simply not able to focus. I don’t think there is anything physically wrong with me.

But those that study after work hours, what is your routine? Do you have an energy drink or something like that to get you going? Any advice is appreciated. I know this sounds like a silly question, but its rather important for me to figure out a way to study after work, and get this certification done.

Thank you!

[hbar1st]

not a silly question but a hard one.
I recall going to a seminar at work where the person being celebrated discussed how they used to go home every day and make time to learn something new (married w/ kids at the time). He was 100% sure that this was the reason he had reached the milestones he had at work (and the reason he was being celebrated at that moment). His one piece of advice was not to make excuses and make learning part of your job. That your day is not complete without it.

I can’t offer first-hand advice for this but perhaps if you just identify a way to convince yourself that the time you are spending after work is not ‘extra’ but ‘part-of’ the very work you do, then it might turn into a habit.

[rch]

This is good to know.

Its not that I didn’t know this, but I needed to hear someone say this. I think this is a profound statement -

His one piece of advice was not to make excuses and make learning part of your job. That your day is not complete without it.

I appreciate your insight.

[rch]

Posted an update! I will make it a point to post updates every night.

[hbar1st]

Hi there, glad to hear you are getting started. The discord channel has a 100daysofcode area for people to post updates everyday. You can try to join it (search up the link online for freecodecamp discord) and get support from others.

[rch]

This is good to know. I will check it out! Thanks for the information.