If you're serious about becoming a cloud networking expert, the AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty certification is one of the most respected and challenging credentials out there.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the exam, share the best study resources, and offer real-world insights from my work as a Senior Consultant at an AWS Premier Partner — where I’ve designed and deployed complex, large-scale AWS network architectures for multiple enterprise customers.

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✅ Why This Certification?

This cert is perfect for:

• 🧠 Network Engineers working in hybrid or cloud-first environments
• ☁️ Cloud Architects designing scalable, secure connectivity
• 🔒 Security professionals focused on network governance

The exam dives deep into:

• VPC design
• Hybrid architectures (VPN, Direct Connect)
• Routing (BGP, Transit Gateway)
• DNS, Global Accelerator
• Network security and performance monitoring

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🛠️ My Journey as a AWS Premire partner employee and AWS Community builder

As a Senior Cloud Consultant at an AWS Premier Partner, I’ve been fortunate to work with large-scale enterprises across sectors like finance, healthcare, and retail. Designing and deploying multi-account, hybrid AWS networking solutions with Transit Gateways, Direct Connect, BGP failover, and PrivateLink was part of my day-to-day work.

But equally important was my role as an AWS Community Builder — a space that provided deep technical discussions, beta access to upcoming features, and mentorship opportunities from AWS heroes and solutions architects.

This blend of hands-on consulting and community collaboration gave me an edge while preparing for the AWS Networking Specialty exam. It helped me approach exam scenarios like I would in a client engagement — not just answering questions, but thinking in terms of design trade-offs, scalability, and security posture.

💡 Being part of the AWS community isn’t just about giving back — it’s about leveling up your thinking alongside global professionals.

This isn’t just a paper exam — it's a real-world readiness test.

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🧾 Exam Overview

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📚 Recommended Resources

1️⃣ Cloud Academy – Learning Path

Link: Cloud Academy Learning Path

• Structured modules with labs and quizzes
• Includes Cloud Playground for sandbox practice

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2️⃣Udemy – Zeal Vora’s Course

Link: AWS Advanced Networking Specialty on Udemy

• 18+ hours of deep dives
• Diagrams + exam simulations
• Real customer scenarios

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3️⃣ *Qwiklabs *

Link: Qwiklabs Networking Quests

• Labs on:
  • Transit Gateway
  • VPC Peering
  • Direct Connect
  • DNS Forwarding
• Real AWS console access (great for practical learning)

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4️⃣ AWS Skill Builder & Whitepapers

• Skill Builder Jam Sessions
• Whitepapers to read:
  • Hybrid Connectivity Whitepaper
  • AWS Transit Gateway Guide
  • Well-Architected Framework: Networking Lens

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🧪 My Study Plan (4-Week Sprint)

Week 1-2

• Watch full Udemy course
• Focus on VPC, Subnets, Security Groups, NACLs
• Draw diagrams after each topic

Week 3

• Dive into Direct Connect, VPNs, BGP
• Complete Qwiklabs quests
• Lab real-world scenarios I handled in my consulting role

Week 4

• Study Route 53, DNS resolution, Global Accelerator
• Practice failover and routing edge cases
• Review whitepapers + take practice tests

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🔥 Pro Tips for the Exam

• ✍️ Draw your architectures — don’t just read them
• ⚙️ Know your route tables, route propagation, and how AWS handles overlapping CIDRs
• 🧱 Security Group + NACL logic shows up in tricky ways
• ⚙️ AWS Cloudwan and TGW with public & private VIF need to consider
• ☁️ Study hybrid connectivity failover deeply (VPN/Direct Connect redundancy)

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🎯 Final Thoughts

This exam is tough — but extremely rewarding. It’s helped me become a better architect and has made my conversations with customers more impactful and design-driven.

If you're serious about AWS Networking, start building today.

Combine real-world labs, courses, and experience — and you’ll crush the exam.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned:

“You don’t just pass this exam by memorizing facts — you need to understand how AWS networking behaves under real pressure.”

That’s why I highly recommend blending structured learning with hands-on labs. This certification tests not just your knowledge — but your ability to design under constraints, troubleshoot complex topologies, and communicate architecture clearly.

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Got questions? Drop a comment! Happy to share more stories or help you plan your study path.