I’ve taken quite a few professional exams over the years. Currently I’m studying for the AWS Developer Associate Exam. This time I’ve used both Pluralsight and Udemy to study for it. So, is Udemy or Pluralsight the best for this AWS exam?

Udemy vs Pluralsight

Udemy and Pluralsight are both providers of online training videos and content including training material for professional IT qualifications such as AWS, CISCO and Microsoft. They operate on different business models

Pluralsight is a subscription service focussed around software development. Once subscribed you get access to all the training material in at the tier you subscribe at. Even at the lower tier there is plenty and that includes AWS certification. Stop paying and all the content goes away

Udemy is a online training provider that includes but is not limited to material on software development. With Udemy you buy the specific course that you want. Once bought, the exam is yours for life. Udemy has constant sales and offers so try to get one of those offers – even if it means spinning up a new account with a different email.

Pluralsight for AWS Developer Associate Exam

Pluralsight organises its courses into paths and there is a path for AWS Developer Associate. The path compromises of 6 courses

• AWS Developer: The Big Picture
• AWS Developer: Getting Started
• AWS Developer: Designing and Developing
• AWS Developer: Deployment and Security
• AWS Developer: Serverless Architecture and Monitoring
• Demystifying the AWS Certicate Associate Exam

There is over 15 hours of content to get through so plenty there and its well presented. I liked it.

Udemy for AWS Developer Associate Exam

Udemy offers one course for the exam rather than Pluralsights one course – but it’s a monster. It weighs in at an intimating 32 hours of content and has 458 individual videos ranging from 1 minute to 15 minutes. Importantly, it’s also got a free practice exam at the end.

It’s present by an affable French chap who charming signs off just about every video by saying ‘I hope you enjoyed this lecture. I see you in the next course’. After 32 hours you feel like you really know him -possibly a bit too well. Again I liked the course.

Udemy or Pluralsight. The Verdict

Both courses are good and I benefitted from taking them both – but for me Udemy was better. Reasons ….

• You just get more content with Udemy. It’s almost twice as much content and AWS Developer Associate is a big big exam so you need as much content as you can get
• Udemy is updated more frequently. The lastest updates are 2022 (i.e. this year as of writing). The Pluralsight courses were one or two years old, which doesn’t seem much, however AWS are constantly added and enhancing their services so being super current with your chosen training content is super important.
• You get a free practice exam with Udemy. Pluralsight does have a summary exam, Demystifying the AWS Certicate Associate Exam, but disappointing it doesn’t have practice questions. It’s more of general advice – which is less helpful
• Generally, I don’t think the Pluralsight training path would be enough by itself to pass the AWS Developer Associate Exam, whereas I think you might have a reasonable chance of passing if you just watch,studied and remembered the Udemy course.

That said, if you already have a Pluralsight account, having access to certification training material is a real bonus and there is no real not to watch it. Also, there is heaps of other AWS training material on so you can fill in the gaps like that. That does rather rely on you being able to identify the gaps in your AWS knowledge yourself, which is easy said then done.

I did also watch the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner path which was also good but this time included 2 practice exams. This makes a big difference so I’d be more confident taking the exam just on the Pluralsight training. I didn’t take that exam though so that’s speculation

But I Still Love Pluralsight

I’m not going to be giving up my Pluralsight account up in the near future. I’ve paid my own money for a subscription before and I would do so again if I couldn’t get my current employer to pay for it. It’s just that for AWS certifications, if I only used one then I would use Udemy.

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