32 AWS Knowledge Digital Badges & most are FREE
I am a big fan of the AWS Skillbuilder digital Badges as a way to learn for free and show off the learning on your profile.
Note : these are NOT AWS Certifications but the learning journeys align with some of the Certification domains and in most cases earning the badge is FREE. I hear a lot of people complain about cost of AWS Certifications, especially if you are in a country where currency is weaker than USD - these are good ways to learn / show off AWS knowledge WITHOUT spending $$$.
Each badge has a learning journey associated with it and the assessment is fairly straightforward if you follow the training. If you have domain specific expertise - you can sometimes skip the training, just do the assessment alone (and still get the badge) but I always recommend the training. You will learn something new.
The assessment is a Quiz which is NOT proctored but please do not try to cheat - its a good mental exercise to take them. You can pause and continue the assessment as well. If you fail, you typically wait 24 hours and then can try them any number of times. There is no limit and all you need is an email id (builder id) to get started.
I have collected a good number of these over the last 5+ years (and I even got a full 100% off voucher when I took the Architecting badge as an early adopter). Some of those have now been removed but I just noticed there are now 32 knowledge badges listed including a few new one's around AI, PostgreSQL and Amazon Connect.
I haven't validated every single one if its free but most of what I checked did not require a subscription.
I found the best way to see what Badges are available is NOT via AWS Skillbuilder (the search there sucks as there is no simple filter for badges). Best to go via Credly and find the AWS Knowledge "collection" and then scroll through it. When you find a badge that interests you - click through and it will show the "Earning Criteria" - Clicking that link brings you straight into the AWS Skillbuilder
Start here : Credly Collection Link
Example click on the Well Architected Badge and you can enroll via the "Earning Criteria" link to Successfully pass the Well-Architected assessment.
