Posts on dw's website

I've Passed AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) in Four Months While Working Full-Time

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 17:03:06 +0800

Why I Took This Cert

In my current role, I deal with a lot of AWS and architecture design problems. When I work on improvements or migrations for legacy systems, I need to show a few design options, compare them, and choose the best practice. Our company is also moving more of our infrastructure to managed services, so this cert could be helpful for my work.

More importantly, the company fully sponsored the exam fee (USD 150) and study materials (including the Udemy course and practice exams listed below!). My only job was to focus on studying and taking the exam. Given that, there was no reason not to take it.

My Background

I graduated from National Taiwan University, but not from a CS degree. I switched into software engineering over five years ago, and for the past four years I have mostly worked as a Platform Engineer. In the org chart, I sit in the Infrastructure Team and maintain internal shared services. I do not often build AWS infrastructure directly, and more often use it as a user.

Use this to judge how relevant my experience might be for you, because I believe how hard the exam feels is also related to your background.

Exam Preparation

Here’s the timeline: I started preparing around Oct 2025 and took the exam in Jan 2026, so it’s about four months. After finishing the course in the first two and a half months, I spent the remaining time reviewing and doing practice exams.

Course Material

I used a broadly recommended Udemy course: Stephane Maarek’s “Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate 2025”. My senior colleagues also recommended the same course, and I also wanted a video course to get a first pass through the scope in a lighter way and during meals. I finished the course, and I also strongly recommend it. The labs are helpful for understanding the step-by-step setup of AWS services, and the explanations are concise and easy to follow. I rarely needed extra reading, and it covers a large portion of the exam content, sufficient to pass the exam. The course is also kept up to date with new AWS services and feature changes. As I write this, the course title has already been updated from 2025 to 2026 lol.

For study details, I usually watched at ~1.5x to 1.75x speed. After finishing the course, I used Notion to organize notes by service categories, because reading text notes is far faster than re-watching videos, and I can add additional notes and clarifications as I go.

Practice Exams

You cannot study in a vacuum, so practice exams are necessary.

I bought the companion exam set, also by Stephane Maarek: “Prepare for your SAA-C03 exam. 390 high-quality practice test questions written from scratch with detailed explanations!”. My approach was to use timed mode as if it were the real exam: no notes and no looking things up. Sometimes I did not use a full two-hour block and worked in shorter sessions, but I made sure not to check anything in between. I usually finished a set in about 1.5 hours, then reviewed the explanations, fixed my answers, and updated my notes if I found gaps. If I still did not get it after reading the explanations, I asked Gemini 3 Pro. It helped a lot. Thanks Google, and thanks to my company for covering the subscription.

Compared to the main course, I do not strongly recommend this practice set for these reasons:

First, some questions are too tricky and still feel ambiguous even after the answer, and sometimes even Gemini gets them wrong. My accuracy was around 70%-80%, barely passing. It helps review, but many questions are long and take time to parse.
Second, some content is outdated, including older terms (for example, Kinesis Data Analytics is now Managed Service for Apache Flink) and older mechanisms (Launch Configuration, Origin Access Identity, etc.).
Third, there is repetition. The main course already includes some practice questions, and those same questions show up again here, which reduces the value of a mock exam. Within a single set, there are also paraphrased duplicates, which I did not like.

So what is the alternative? Many people recommend Tutorial Dojos: “AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C03 Practice Exams 2026”. It is about USD 15 and includes 9 practice exams. Coverage seems broader. As for what it feels like, I will leave it to future test takers.

In addition, AWS Skill Builder has an official set, “Official Practice Question Set: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate,” with 20 free questions. I strongly recommend trying it before the exam to get a quick look for the official style and difficulty.

If You Feel That You Need More Preparation Time

You can cancel or reschedule for free at least 24 hours before the exam. I originally booked for November, but a month was not enough, so I postponed to January for more time.

ESL+30

If you are not a native English speaker and take the exam in English, you can apply for “ESL+30” (English as a Second Language + 30 minutes), which extends the exam by 30 minutes. You can still submit early, so there is no downside. Just apply.

If you forget to apply before booking, it will not apply to an already scheduled exam. The solution is to cancel for free and rebook.

(I ended up canceling once and rescheduling once.)

Exam Day

There were not many test centers to choose from. The ones I could reach were all in Taipei. There are none in Xizhi or Keelung, which is not friendly for people on the north Taiwan coast. Time slots were also limited and many centers only offered weekday slots, so I took a day off, and went in the afternoon after sleeping in.

I asked Perplexity for a checklist, and it boiled down to one required item and one recommended item, which I found very practical and share here:

Required: Two forms of ID. One must have English, so use a credit card with an English name printed on it, or a passport. For simplicity, I brought my passport.
Recommended: A jacket. The air conditioning is strong. Even in winter, it can feel cold inside.

The official reminder says to arrive 15 minutes early, but I arrived 30 minutes early just in case. It took only 1~2 minutes to check in. Surprisingly, the staff asked if I wanted to start immediately because there was an open seat: and I realized it is first-come, first-served. I decided to started right away after restroom.

Entering the Exam Room

After check in, staff check that you are carrying nothing, including a watch. Only you can enter; the only thing you can rely on is the on-screen clock. Just focus and take the exam.

I expected a large computer lab with many people, but the testing center uses tiny individual rooms, about the size of a study cubicle, with a computer, chair, and scratch paper. The equipment is basic: the mouse tracking sometimes was not great at times (no mouse pad), and the chair is not great. If you are used to good equipment at home (like me), it can feel a bit uncomfortable. You will read some rules, and you can change the theme of the exam interface. I chose white text on black for better readability. There are also strange themes like blue text on white, which feels like a Windows error screen and is hard on the eyes. The entire exam is recorded; there is a camera above you. You can raise your hand to use the restroom, but the exam is not long, so I finished in one go. Including review, I was done in about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Results

At 9 PM that night, I received a Credly email with my badge, which meant I officially passed. That was only 4 hours after finishing the exam. The next morning, I received the score report: 823, slightly above the bar. The report does not provide much beyond the score. It does not tell you how many were correct or incorrect, and the non-integer score suggests different weights per question.

Thoughts

The real exam was easier than Stephane’s practice tests, though it did include some content not covered in his course (I cannot provide examples due to NDA). The biggest learning takeaway for me was how much AI helped. In the past, when I did not understand something, I would search and read documentation for a long time. Now I can just ask Gemini 3 Pro and get a clear explanation in one shot. If I want deeper understanding, follow-up questions usually give good answers. I then summarize these into my Notion notes.

It also makes me wonder: if I had these AI models as a student, the learning environment might have been totally different. People who want to learn could be more self-driven and rely less on teachers, cram schools, or the class “geniuses.” But then I might not have had as many opportunities to tutor or solve problems for others in college.

As for preparation, even though I use many of these concepts at work, there are still many AWS services I rarely touch, such as Data Pipeline, Streaming, Analytics, and the ECS family. I spent a lot of time filling those gaps. During preparation, I did not study every day, but I still spent ~10 hours a week after work, and several full weekend days for studying. Therefore, before I plan to take another certification, I probably take a break first to reclaim some after-work time.

In short, I strongly recommend the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) certification. Preparing for it helped me learn many best practices and common anti-patterns. I believe this will help me propose better designs at work and avoid choices that add technical debt.

Thank you to all readers who have made it this far. I hope this article can be helpful to you. Cheers!

(The original post is written in Traditional Chinese.)

Raycast - The All-In-One Mac Productivity Solution

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 23:59:45 +0800

Raycast is a rising star among productivity tools for MacOS. It features an intuitive launcher similar to Spotlight, allowing us to save a lot of time with various hotkeys and extensions. I highly recommend Raycast as a must-have productivity tool. Its convenient extensions can accelerate our workflow, save time, and enhance productivity. Another advantage is Raycast’s simple and elegant interface, which improves our overall mood!

TL;DR

Download and give it a try. You will only regret not starting to use Raycast earlier:

https://www.raycast.com/

Reasons to Love Raycast

Faster than Spotlight
Sleek and attractive interface
Abundance of convenient built-in commands
Extensive community extensions
Support for custom hotkeys and aliases
Convenient menu bar utility
Snippets to remember commonly used text snippets (such as addresses, email templates, etc.)
Clipboard history to search for previously copied items

All of the above features are available in the free version! Upgrading to the Pro version enables quick access to AI, allowing Raycast to become even more powerful.

Why is Raycast a Game Changer for Productivity Tools?

In the past, various YouTube videos introduced productivity tools for Mac, including window management, app management, clipboard management, quick calculators, and more. There were also launchers like Alfred that replaced Spotlight. While Raycast may seem like another Alfred alternative at first glance, it has even greater ambitions: to be an all-in-one tool. Raycast aims to be the ultimate launcher, enabling us to perform various workflows essential to our daily life and work. Despite being relatively new (2020 Public Beta), Raycast already offers numerous features and constantly evolves. Every time I open Raycast, I see notifications about new functionalities. They also have a Slack community for users to provide feedback.

Who Created Raycast?

Raycast is developed by a company of the same name. The CEO is Thomas Paul Mann, and the CTO is Petr Nikolaev. Both have engineering backgrounds at Facebook / Meta in the UK. You can find their LinkedIn pages by searching on Google. Their career page also lists the complete employee roster, currently expanding to 21 members and still recruiting. It is a fully remote company, primarily operating in the European time zone. You can find more information on their Career page.

Now, without further ado, let’s start with the basic functionalities.

Replacing Spotlight as a Quick Launcher

Spotlight is the feature we activate by pressing Cmd + Space:

Before using Raycast, I primarily used Spotlight in two scenarios:

Searching for files
Opening specific apps

However, Spotlight exhibits noticeable latency in these tasks. After typing a search query, it takes around 0.X seconds to display results. In contrast, Raycast almost instantly shows search results. It also allows setting favorite items for quick access:

By entering Cmd + a number, you can directly choose the corresponding command, making it incredibly convenient.

Accessing System Settings

Sometimes, it’s time-consuming to find specific system settings. Raycast allows directly searching and opening corresponding settings. For example, if I want to adjust display-related settings, I can search for “Display”:

System Commands

If I have external hard drives, I can eject them all with the command Eject All Disks.
I can empty the trash with the command Empty Trash.
I can quickly lock the screen using the command Lock Screen.

Many more convenient system commands are available!

Using Hotkeys

Raycast supports setting hotkeys for all commands. For example, I set Opt + Space to open the app search menu, allowing quick access to commonly used functions without hotkeys. One such function is copying the current tab:

In a recent interview with Raycast’s CEO, hotkeys were also demonstrated for opening specific apps. For example, using Opt + N to open an app and Opt + A to open Arc browser. You can watch the video for more details:

https://youtu.be/xRnMXJcH9Pg?si=3Ru-eJURenxLjyey&t=108 (at 108 seconds in the video)

(However, I personally find accessing Raycast’s app search menu is already fast enough.)

Creating Aliases for Commands (Aliases)

This is a feature I frequently use. The first use case is creating abbreviations for app names, for example:

tg for Telegram
dc for Discord
no for Notion
nt for Notes (Apple Notes)
java for IntelliJ (apologies, I can never remember this name!)

Of course, aliases can be created not only for opening apps but also for other commands and extensions. For example:

spp to toggle play/pause in Spotify. This is especially useful when I want to play/stop Spotify while something else (e.g., a YouTube video) was paused. I can simply open Raycast and type spp to play/pause Spotify, instead of using the media keys that would resume whatever was last played (e.g., a YouTube video).
Similarly, svv and svd can individually adjust the volume of the Spotify app.
The command j followed by a query searches for Jira tickets.
The command g followed by a query performs a Google search.

The command ud searches the Urban Dictionary, which is a fun and authentic dictionary that often includes humorous content.
The command code lets me search projects using VSCode, one of the commands I frequently use for work.

Quick Access to Video Conferences

In addition to the original Spotlight features, Raycast provides numerous useful commands.

For example, after syncing my calendar, if I have a meeting coming up, it shows up at the bottom of the Raycast window. If there is a conference link associated with the meeting, I can press Enter/Return to join the conference call with a single keystroke! I use this feature almost every time for company meetings. (The drawback is that it’s just too convenient, and I often end up being the first one to join the meeting XD)

Versatile Calculator

For currency exchange rates, time zones, or simple calculations, you can directly type into Raycast and get results.

For example, I often collaborate with colleagues in the Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) zone and need to know the corresponding time there. Raycast’s calculator can help with that:

Or, if I find a product I like on JD.com (京東), I can quickly convert the price to New Taiwan Dollars (TWD):

After completing a calculation, I can directly paste the result into the current application by pressing Enter, or I can copy it by pressing Cmd + Enter.

Raycast provides an API that allows its extensions to have menu bar functionality, making it one of my favorite features. Here is a glimpse of my Raycast-related menu bar settings:

For example, after syncing my calendar, it shows my upcoming appointment and time.

I also set up notifications for GitHub pull requests and notifications. For GitHub notifications, it alerts me whenever there are pull requests for me to review or when someone reviews my pull requests. I prefer to review notifications in batches, so I can see all the GitHub notifications at once and avoid constant interruptions. Another menu bar item displays the number of open pull requests so I can always know which code changes are still in progress and haven’t been merged into the main branch.

Additionally, I’m a heavy Spotify user, and my computer nearly always has music playing. Sometimes, when I play Spotify’s recommended playlists, having this menu bar display allows me to see what song is currently playing.

Here’s a pro tip: you can rearrange items in the menu bar by pressing Cmd + dragging the item. This way, you don’t have to worry about having too many items in the menu bar. You can move unwanted items to the left or use the Hidden Bar menu bar manager to hide unnecessary items.

Quick Links (Quicklink)

In short, Quick Links are fast ways to open web links, similar to browser bookmarks. For example, using a Quick Link, I can quickly open the Gmail page:

Advanced usage allows adding parameters to customize the link. For example, here’s a Quick Link for opening Jira issues:

Next, I set a simple alias j for this command, so I can quickly open a specific issue’s web page using a command like this:

This feature seems similar to the functionality provided by Jira extensions, but I can directly open web pages without first searching for the issue using Raycast. For commonly used workflows, eliminating a step can make a big difference.

Snippets

Snippets allow us to quickly generate commonly used text snippets within Raycast. For example, I often use snippets for commands I can never remember, such as:

My frequently used snippets include mailing addresses, email templates, and invoicing information. They can be customized with keywords, so when I type a specific keyword, Raycast automatically replaces it with the snippet content. For example, I set ;;env to my electronic invoice carrier, so I don’t have to type it manually every time.

For more detailed usage, check out the official introduction:

https://www.raycast.com/extensions/snippets

And their official demo:

By the way, their Quick Tip series is worth watching. I follow Raycast’s YouTube channel, and every video provides useful tips and tricks for Raycast.

Clipboard History

Clipboard History is one of the emphasized features in many productivity tools, and Raycast naturally includes it. It allows us to search for previously copied items and paste them directly with Enter or Cmd + Enter. It even supports images and files in the history—truly convenient!

The official documentation covers this feature. Clipboard history is stored locally in an encrypted manner and excludes items copied from password managers:

https://www.raycast.com/extensions/clipboard-history

Uninstalling Unwanted Apps

Previously, I used AppCleaner to uninstall apps without built-in uninstallation features. Now, Raycast also integrates this functionality. By pressing Cmd + k on an app, a menu with various actions appears. One of them is “Uninstall Application,” and don’t worry, it won’t instantly remove the app. It shows a preview of the files to be deleted, allowing keyboard-based interactions throughout the process. It’s much more convenient compared to AppCleaner:

Abundant Extensions

As mentioned earlier, Raycast supports various extensions, which you can search for directly within Raycast through the “Store” or by searching online:

https://www.raycast.com/store

Here are some extensions I frequently use (some official, some third-party):

Spotify
Jira
GitHub
VSCode
Define (dictionary lookup)
Image Conversion: I used this extension to convert the screenshots for this article from PNG to JPEG to reduce file size.
Jira
Audio Device (switch audio output)

And there are many more extensions. I’m still exploring them myself, so if readers have any recommended extensions, feel free to share.

Is It Free?

Yes, even with all these amazing features, Raycast is free for personal use. According to their official FAQ, they aim to keep personal use free. Of course, they also offer a paid option. Currently, the Pro version costs $10 USD per month or $8 USD per month if billed annually. Pro unlocks AI-related features, which essentially integrate OpenAI’s API. Although you can use OpenAI directly on their website for free, Raycast AI allows you to customize commands and access them quickly through Raycast. This is much more convenient than opening a web page and typing long queries. If you want to learn how to make the most of Raycast’s AI features, there could be another article dedicated to that topic. In the meantime, let the official video explain:

Because I support Raycast, I personally use the paid version. I genuinely love this tool, and I’m also a heavy user, which is why I wrote this article to promote it. ~~Hopefully, Raycast will introduce a referral program like Notion, so I can earn some rewards! Hahaha.~~ (Raycast actually introduced a referral program on November 15, 2023!)

Finally, here’s some further reading.

I highly recommend their Quick Tip series, which teaches you how to make the most of Raycast:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNzQX4H1-dVTHCLKFjekFwswKDpcEN2rI

For more detailed feature descriptions, you can refer to the official documentation:

https://manual.raycast.com/

Referral Links

Referral links work on a first-come, first-served basis. If you found my article helpful, you are welcome to use my referral link to register (no need to subscribe to Pro) and receive a one-month trial of Raycast Pro. Experience the power of Quick AI and AI Commands firsthand:

Since upgrading to Pro, I have become a heavy user of Raycast AI. If I have the time, I will write another article sharing how Raycast Pro helps me in my daily life and work.

(The original post is written in Traditional Chinese, and translated with Raycast AI.)