AWS Certified Developer - Associate
Unlock your potential as a software developer with the AWS Certified Developer - Associate Exam Simulator! Prepare thoroughly with realistic practice exams designed to mirror the official exam.
Exam domains
The DVA-C02 questions are grouped into 4 domains divided into 13 tasks.
DVA-C02 example questions
One example question per domain from the DVA-C02 question bank, with the correct answer and its explanation. Sign in to the simulator to answer them with all answer options.
You are developing a real-time analytics application that processes a large stream of data from social media interactions. Your application must ingest this streaming data, process messages in an ordered sequence, and then store processed data into a data warehouse for querying. You've decided to use Amazon Kinesis Data Streams for data ingestion and AWS SDK in your application to interact with the Kinesis stream. Which approach using AWS SDK should you employ to ensure that your application processes the incoming streaming data in order and without loss even in a distributed application scenario?
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CORRECT ANSWERUse the Kinesis Client Library (KCL) with AWS SDK to process data records from a Kinesis Data Stream while taking advantage of the built-in checkpointing feature to maintain sequence and fault tolerance.
The Kinesis Client Library (KCL) is made for AWS SDK users to simplify processing of data from Amazon Kinesis Data Streams. It handles complexities like load balancing of streams, coordination of distributed services, and checkpointing processed records to ensure that messages are processed in order and without loss in case of failures.
A developer is building a mobile application that uses Amazon Cognito for user authentication. The application allows users to access certain AWS services directly from their devices. The developer wants to ensure that authenticated users have the necessary permissions to call AWS services directly while maintaining the principle of least privilege. Which of the following options should the developer use to define permissions for these users?
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CORRECT ANSWERCreate an IAM role with the necessary permissions and associate it with the Cognito Identity Pool to create a role-based access policy for authenticated users.
This approach is correct because Amazon Cognito integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to offer role-based access to AWS resources. By creating an IAM role and associating it with a Cognito Identity Pool, permissions can be granted to authenticated users based on the role.
A development team is preparing to deploy a containerized microservices-based application on AWS. To ensure a simplified scaling and serverless experience, the team has decided to use AWS Fargate for deploying their Docker containers. One of the microservices, which performs complex image processing tasks, requires substantially higher compute and memory resources than the other services. How should the developer specify the appropriate amount of CPU and memory resources for this service when creating a task definition in AWS Fargate?
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CORRECT ANSWERUse task size to specify the CPU and memory requirements for the image processing microservice within its task definition.
In AWS Fargate, the amount of CPU and memory resources for containers is defined in the task definition. The resources for each task are specified using task size parameters, which allows developers to allocate the required computational resources for the service.
A developer is troubleshooting a deployment failure in an AWS Step Functions state machine that orchestrates multiple AWS Lambda functions. The state machine execution fails, and the developer needs to determine the cause of this failure. When examining the output logs, the developer notices that one of the Lambda functions that is being called from a Task state fails intermittently. While the Lambda function execution logs in Amazon CloudWatch Logs do not show any error messages, the CloudWatch metrics for the function indicate sporadic spikes in throttling errors. What does this indicate as the most probable cause of the deployment failure?
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CORRECT ANSWERThe Lambda function may be exceeding its concurrency limits, causing it to be throttled and intermittently fail when the state machine tries to invoke it.
AWS Lambda has concurrency limits for the number of executions that can take place at the same time, and if these limits are reached, additional Lambda invocations will be throttled. This matches the symptom of sporadic spikes in throttling errors without explicit error messages in the execution logs.
Exam mode and practice mode
| Exam mode | Practice mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions count | 65 | 1 - 75 |
| Time limit | 130 minutes | Optional, 10 - 200 minutes |
| Exam scope | 4 domains with the official questions ratio | Selected domains with the official questions ratio |
| Correct answers | After exam submission | After exam submission or after each answer |
| Question types | Mix of single and multiple correct answers | Single, multiple or both |
| Question hints | Never | Optional |
| Question domain | Revealed after exam submission | Revealed after submission or during the exam |
| Scoring | 15 of 65 questions do not count towards the result | Official AWS method or mathematical mean |
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About the DVA-C02 exam
The AWS Certified Developer - Associate certification is challenging due to its comprehensive coverage of AWS services and its focus on the practical application of development principles within the AWS ecosystem. This certification tests your ability to design, develop, and deploy cloud-based applications on AWS, requiring a solid understanding of core AWS services and best practices for development and architecture.
The certification exam emphasizes an understanding of key AWS services such as EC2, S3, DynamoDB, Lambda, API Gateway, RDS, and others. You need to know how these services work, how to configure them, and how to integrate them into applications.
You have to be able to solve real-world problems, including designing scalable and resilient applications, troubleshooting issues, and optimizing performance and cost. Understanding deployment and monitoring practices is also essential, including familiarity with CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) pipelines using AWS services like CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodePipeline.
Security is another critical aspect. Candidates must know how to implement security best practices, including identity and access management, encryption, and securing data in transit and at rest. They should be able to use IAM roles and policies effectively to secure their applications.
The certification also requires knowledge of AWS's global infrastructure, including regions and availability zones, and how to design applications that take advantage of this infrastructure for high availability and fault tolerance.
Furthermore, the exam demands familiarity with microservices architecture and the ability to implement serverless applications using AWS Lambda and other related services. This involves understanding the benefits and challenges of microservices and how to manage them on AWS.
The AWS Certified Developer - Associate certification is far more challenging than the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner because it requires a comprehensive understanding of AWS services and the ability to apply best practices in security, architecture, and deployment. However, it is considered easier than the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate because it encompasses a shorter exam scope.
Technologies and concepts
Compute
Computing involves the use of computers to process data, execute tasks, and run applications. In the context of cloud computing, this translates to leveraging remote servers hosted on the internet to perform these functions rather than relying on local servers or personal computers. AWS supports this with Amazon EC2 for scalable virtual servers, AWS Lambda for serverless computing that executes code in response to events, Amazon ECS and EKS for managing containerized applications, and AWS Fargate for running containers without managing servers.
Cost management
Cost management involves monitoring, controlling, and optimizing spending on cloud resources. AWS supports this with AWS Cost Explorer for visualizing and analyzing cost and usage over time, AWS Budgets for setting and tracking custom cost and usage budgets, AWS Trusted Advisor for providing recommendations to optimize costs, and AWS Cost and Usage Report for detailed billing information. These services help organizations gain visibility into their spending, identify cost-saving opportunities, and ensure efficient use of resources to control and reduce cloud expenses
Database
Database services in cloud computing provide scalable and managed database solutions for various applications. AWS supports this with Amazon RDS for managed relational databases, Amazon DynamoDB for NoSQL databases, Amazon Aurora for high-performance relational databases compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL, Amazon Redshift for data warehousing, Amazon Neptune for graph databases, Amazon DocumentDB for MongoDB-compatible document databases, and Amazon Timestream for time series data. These services ensure high availability, scalability, and security, allowing organizations to focus on their applications without managing the underlying database infrastructure, and support diverse data management needs efficiently.
Management and governance
Management and governance in cloud computing involve overseeing and controlling cloud resources to ensure compliance, security, and operational efficiency. AWS supports this with AWS CloudTrail for logging and monitoring account activity, AWS Config for tracking and auditing resource configurations, AWS Systems Manager for operational data management and automation, AWS Organizations for centralized management of multiple AWS accounts, and AWS Control Tower for setting up and governing a secure, multi-account AWS environment. These services help organizations maintain visibility, enforce policies, and automate processes, ensuring effective management and governance of their AWS environment.
Networking, connectivity, and content delivery
Networking, connectivity, and content delivery in cloud involve connecting and securing resources across cloud and on-premises environments, and efficiently delivering content to users globally. AWS supports this with Amazon VPC for creating isolated cloud resources, AWS Direct Connect for dedicated network connections, Amazon Route 53 for scalable DNS and traffic management, AWS CloudFront for content delivery with low latency and high transfer speeds, and AWS Transit Gateway for connecting VPCs and on-premises networks. These services ensure high availability, security, and performance, enabling robust networking, reliable connectivity, and efficient content delivery.
Security
Security in cloud computing involves protecting data, applications, and infrastructure while ensuring regulatory compliance, supported by AWS services like IAM, KMS, Shield, WAF, GuardDuty, and CloudTrail, which collectively provide robust security measures for data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Storage
Storage in cloud computing involves secure, efficient data management and access, supported by AWS services like Amazon S3, EBS, EFS, Glacier, and Backup, providing durable, scalable, and flexible solutions for various use cases.
Analytics
Analytics involves analyzing data to uncover patterns and insights for decision-making. AWS enhances analytics with scalable tools like Amazon Redshift for data warehousing, Amazon Kinesis for real-time streaming, and AWS Glue for data integration, allowing efficient data processing and analysis.
Containers
Containers involve packaging software and its dependencies into a standardized unit for consistent, efficient deployment across various environments. AWS enhances containerization with services like Amazon ECS for scalable container orchestration, Amazon EKS for Kubernetes management, and AWS Fargate for serverless container deployment. These tools simplify container management, improve resource utilization, and enable seamless application scaling and deployment.
Developer tools
Developer tools provide the software needed to build, test, and deploy applications efficiently. AWS enhances development with services like AWS CodePipeline for continuous integration, AWS CodeBuild for testing, and AWS CodeDeploy for automated deployments, streamlining the development process. Management and governance involve overseeing IT resources for compliance and performance. AWS enhances this with services like AWS CloudFormation for infrastructure as code, AWS Config for compliance auditing, and AWS Control Tower for multi-account governance, ensuring control and optimization of resources.
Services on the exam
All 55 AWS services that can appear on the DVA-C02 exam.