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Developer roadmap

This path verifies your ability to work with AWS services such as serverless, containers and APIs in code. Build your base with the developer certification (DVA), then extend to the DevOps professional (DOP), which also covers deployment and automation.

A developer-track certification checks whether you can work with AWS through code. DVA asks about what application code touches directly — SDK calls, execution role permissions, serverless and deployment — while DOP asks how that code rides a pipeline and settles into operation. If you reverse the order, the deployment strategy questions in DOP leave a blank where “what is being deployed” should be. CLF fills in the service vocabulary that both exams take for granted.

Certifications: 3
Curriculum length: 35 weeks · 175 days
Total exam fees: $550

Developer certification exams at a glance

Exam	Questions · Time	Passing score	Exam fee	Recommended level
CLF-C02	65 questions · 90 min	700 / 1000	$100	Foundational · No prior knowledge required
DVA-C02	65 questions · 130 min	720 / 1000	$150	Intermediate · 1-2 years of relevant hands-on experience recommended
DOP-C02	75 questions · 180 min	750 / 1000	$300	Advanced · 2+ years of hands-on experience recommended

How to study for the Developer certifications

DVA asks how code calls serverless services such as Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB and SQS, and how it handles failure. If you experience SDK behavior (retries, pagination, permission errors) first-hand, the questions get easier.
Deployment services (CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline) and deployment strategies (rolling, blue/green, canary) appear in both DVA and DOP. If you sort them out properly during DVA, you will have less to study again for DOP.
IAM roles and the order of policy evaluation come up in the developer exam too. Always keep in mind “who is calling this API, and with what permissions.”

Frequently asked questions

Which AWS certification do you recommend first for a backend developer?: DVA (Developer – Associate). Its scope — serverless, databases, deployment — touches development work directly, so you can put what you study straight into practice.
Why DOP after DVA?: DOP covers the stage where the applications developers build are deployed and operated automatically. The deployment services and IAM you learned in DVA carry straight over, making it the most natural professional-level step for a developer.
Do I need to be good at coding to pass?: There are no questions where you write code. Instead, the exam asks whether you understand what happens when code calls AWS services (permissions, retries, limits), so running a few simple examples yourself helps.
How long does it take to finish the Developer roadmap?: In the order CLF-C02 → DVA-C02 → DOP-C02, that comes to 35 weeks (175 days in total) of the CertNote curriculum. We based this on reading one day's lesson per day; if you have hands-on experience, you can move quickly through the weeks you already know. The exam fees add up to $550 in total.

The notes for every certification are free in every week. Prepare in order to fit your target role. Exam fees are based on the official AWS exam guides; exchange rates and taxes at the time of payment are extra.

Developer certification exams at a glance

Exam	Questions · Time	Passing score	Exam fee	Recommended level
CLF-C02	65 questions · 90 min	700 / 1000	$100	Foundational · No prior knowledge required
DVA-C02	65 questions · 130 min	720 / 1000	$150	Intermediate · 1-2 years of relevant hands-on experience recommended
DOP-C02	75 questions · 180 min	750 / 1000	$300	Advanced · 2+ years of hands-on experience recommended

How to study for the Developer certifications

DVA asks how code calls serverless services such as Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB and SQS, and how it handles failure. If you experience SDK behavior (retries, pagination, permission errors) first-hand, the questions get easier.

Deployment services (CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline) and deployment strategies (rolling, blue/green, canary) appear in both DVA and DOP. If you sort them out properly during DVA, you will have less to study again for DOP.

IAM roles and the order of policy evaluation come up in the developer exam too. Always keep in mind “who is calling this API, and with what permissions.”

Frequently asked questions

Which AWS certification do you recommend first for a backend developer?

DVA (Developer – Associate). Its scope — serverless, databases, deployment — touches development work directly, so you can put what you study straight into practice.

Why DOP after DVA?

DOP covers the stage where the applications developers build are deployed and operated automatically. The deployment services and IAM you learned in DVA carry straight over, making it the most natural professional-level step for a developer.

Do I need to be good at coding to pass?

There are no questions where you write code. Instead, the exam asks whether you understand what happens when code calls AWS services (permissions, retries, limits), so running a few simple examples yourself helps.

How long does it take to finish the Developer roadmap?

In the order CLF-C02 → DVA-C02 → DOP-C02, that comes to 35 weeks (175 days in total) of the CertNote curriculum. We based this on reading one day's lesson per day; if you have hands-on experience, you can move quickly through the weeks you already know. The exam fees add up to $550 in total.