AWS Certified Developer Associate
275 practice questions
Last reviewed: April 2026
Personal notes and resource links for your study journey
Filter by Certification
The AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02) validates the ability to develop, deploy, and debug cloud-native applications on AWS. It targets working software engineers who write code against AWS services daily — Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, S3, SQS/SNS, EventBridge, ECS, and the AWS SDKs. The exam emphasizes practical developer concerns: SDK usage, IAM roles for applications, deployment with CodePipeline/CodeBuild/CodeDeploy and SAM/CDK, observability, and cost-aware patterns. DVA-C02 launched in February 2023, refreshing DVA-C01 to reflect modern serverless practices, container deployment options, and updated CI/CD tooling. The exam is conceptual (no labs) but written to favor candidates who have actually shipped AWS code.
The largest domain at 32%. Lambda runtimes and limits, API Gateway integrations, DynamoDB data modeling, S3 SDK patterns, SQS/SNS/EventBridge messaging, and Step Functions. Tests practical code-level fluency.
IAM for applications (execution roles, instance profiles, STS, Cognito user/identity pools), KMS, Secrets Manager vs. Parameter Store. Common stumbling block: the boundary between Cognito user pools (authentication) and identity pools (authorization).
SAM, CDK, CloudFormation, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy deployment strategies (canary, linear, all-at-once), and Lambda versions/aliases. Often missed: which deployment strategy belongs in which CodeDeploy compute platform.
CloudWatch Logs Insights, X-Ray tracing, Lambda cold-start mitigation, DynamoDB read/write capacity tuning, and caching patterns. Smallest domain (18%) but high signal for working developers.
Services you'll encounter on the exam and why each one matters.
Serverless compute that runs functions in response to events, with managed scaling, integrated tracing, and per-millisecond billing.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 (Development with AWS Services) treats Lambda as the default compute primitive — expect questions on handlers, layers, environment variables, concurrency, and event-source mapping.
Managed REST, HTTP, and WebSocket API front door with throttling, caching, request/response transformation, and Lambda/HTTP/SQS integrations.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 + Domain 2 (Security) test API Gateway authorizers, usage plans + API keys, and IAM/Cognito-backed auth flows as the canonical exposure layer for Lambda backends.
Fully managed key-value and document NoSQL database with single-digit-millisecond latency, on-demand capacity, GSIs, and DynamoDB Streams.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 scenarios test partition-key design, query vs. scan, conditional writes, transactions, and Streams + Lambda triggers — DVA's most heavily tested data store.
Object storage used for application assets, uploads, static hosting, and event sources (S3 → Lambda / SQS / EventBridge notifications).
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 covers presigned URLs, multipart uploads, and event notifications; Domain 2 tests bucket policies, encryption (SSE-S3/SSE-KMS), and public-access blocks.
Managed message queue with standard and FIFO modes, visibility timeouts, long polling, dead-letter queues, and native Lambda event-source mapping.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 + Domain 4 (Troubleshooting) test visibility-timeout tuning, DLQ patterns, FIFO message groups, and at-least-once vs. exactly-once delivery semantics.
Pub/sub messaging with fan-out to SQS, Lambda, HTTP endpoints, email, and SMS, plus message filtering and FIFO topics.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 tests SNS → SQS fan-out patterns and message-attribute filtering as the standard decoupling primitive for event-driven backends.
Serverless workflow orchestrator using Amazon States Language to coordinate Lambda, ECS, DynamoDB, SQS, and other services with retries and error handling.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 distinguishes Step Functions (durable orchestration) from raw Lambda chaining — distractor questions hinge on retry/back-off, parallel, and Map state semantics.
Real-time data-streaming service with shard-based capacity, replayable retention, and Lambda / KCL consumers for clickstream and event ingest.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 contrasts Kinesis (ordered, replayable streams) with SQS (queues) and SNS (pub/sub) — choosing the right primitive per workload is a recurring DVA pattern.
CloudFormation-based IaC shorthand for serverless apps, with a local CLI for build, package, deploy, and Lambda emulation against API Gateway events.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 (Deployment) names SAM as the AWS-native IaC + CLI workflow for shipping serverless apps; expect template syntax + `sam deploy` lifecycle questions.
IaC framework that synthesizes CloudFormation from TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, or Go application code using high-level Constructs.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 contrasts CDK (code-first) with SAM/CloudFormation (template-first); questions test when to reach for L2/L3 constructs vs. raw templates.
Managed CI/CD orchestrator that chains source, build, test, deploy, and approval stages across CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, Lambda, and third-party actions.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 expects CodePipeline as the deployment-orchestration spine — questions on stage transitions, manual approvals, and artifact handoffs are common.
Managed build service driven by `buildspec.yml`, producing artifacts for CodePipeline / CodeDeploy and integrating with CodeCommit, GitHub, and ECR.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 tests buildspec phases (install / pre_build / build / post_build), environment variables, and caching — DVA's named CI service.
Managed deployment service supporting in-place and blue/green deployments to EC2, ECS, and Lambda, with traffic-shifting hooks and automatic rollback.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 + Domain 4 test Lambda deployment preferences (canary, linear, all-at-once) and the hook lifecycle (BeforeAllowTraffic / AfterAllowTraffic).
Container orchestration (ECS) on serverless compute (Fargate) — task definitions, services, target tracking auto scaling, and IAM task roles.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 + Domain 3 test ECS task definitions, container/task IAM roles, and the contrast between EC2 launch type and Fargate launch type.
Managed in-memory cache fronting databases and APIs with Redis OSS / Valkey or Memcached engines, used for session storage and read-through caches.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 4 (Troubleshooting and Optimization) tests cache-aside, write-through, and lazy-loading patterns plus TTL tuning — the canonical answer to "reduce DynamoDB / RDS latency."
Managed user identity with User Pools (sign-up / sign-in, MFA, OAuth) and Identity Pools (temporary AWS credentials via STS for federated identities).
Why it's on the exam: Domain 2 (Security) tests Cognito tokens (ID / access / refresh), JWT validation in API Gateway authorizers, and User Pool vs. Identity Pool selection.
Account-wide identity service: users, roles, policies, STS-issued temporary credentials, and resource-based policies for every AWS API call.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 2 (Security) is largely IAM — execution roles for Lambda/ECS, AssumeRole flows, least-privilege policy authoring, and identity-vs.-resource policy interaction.
Managed storage and automatic rotation of database credentials, API keys, and OAuth tokens, with IAM-controlled access and KMS encryption at rest.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 2 distinguishes Secrets Manager (rotation, structured secrets) from SSM Parameter Store (config, optional SecureString) — a recurring DVA distractor pair.
Metrics, logs (CloudWatch Logs), alarms, dashboards, and Embedded Metric Format support — the default observability surface for every AWS service.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 4 (Troubleshooting and Optimization) tests structured logging from Lambda, metric filters, alarms, and CloudWatch Logs Insights queries.
Distributed tracing across Lambda, API Gateway, ECS, and SDK-instrumented services, producing service maps and segment/subsegment timing.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 4 expects X-Ray for end-to-end latency diagnosis across Lambda / API Gateway / DynamoDB chains — "where is the slow call" is the canonical scenario.
$100k–$145k–$210k USD annual
Range covers US-based mid-to-senior software engineering roles where AWS proficiency is required. FAANG and unicorn senior engineers regularly exceed $300k TC. Entry roles and non-coastal markets trend lower. DVA-C02 alone rarely moves an offer; it complements demonstrated AWS-shipped code.
Source: levels.fyi 2025–2026 cloud software engineer roles, U.S. BLS OEWS May 2024 (15-1252 software developers). Figures are approximate; actual compensation depends on role, region, and experience.
DVA-C02 is the standard AWS credential for backend and full-stack engineers working on AWS-centric stacks. Recruiters use it as a fast filter alongside SAA-C03 — together they form the most common "two cert" combination on cloud-engineer resumes. It pairs naturally with the CloudOps Engineer Associate (SOA-C03) to complete the AWS associate trifecta and is a useful prerequisite-by-convention for the DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02). The cert does NOT by itself qualify candidates for staff or principal engineering titles, nor for specialty roles in security, networking, or ML — those expect SAP-C02, specialty certs, or domain-specific shipped work.
There are no formal prerequisites. AWS recommends at least one year of hands-on experience developing applications on AWS, including comfort with at least one programming language (typically Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or Go) and the corresponding AWS SDK.
Most candidates approach DVA-C02 either after CLF-C02 (for AWS context) or after SAA-C03 (for architectural breadth). SAA-C03 first is the most common path because the architectural foundation makes DVA-C02 feel narrower and faster. Candidates from a strong general software-engineering background with limited AWS exposure should plan extra time on IAM nuances, the deployment toolchain (SAM/CDK/CodeDeploy), and DynamoDB single-table design.
DVA-C02 is rated Associate and sits at moderate difficulty — broadly comparable to SAA-C03 but narrower in scope and more code-flavored. Plan 60–90 hours over 6–10 weeks for candidates with some AWS development experience; 100–140 hours for engineers new to AWS. The exam is 65 scored questions in 130 minutes — multiple-choice and multiple-response, no hands-on labs.
Common stumbling blocks include CodeDeploy deployment strategies and how they differ across EC2, Lambda, and ECS targets; Lambda concurrency and provisioned-concurrency math; DynamoDB partition-key design and GSI behavior; and the precise boundary between Cognito user pools and identity pools. Practicing with the AWS CLI and SDK on a small personal project is the highest-ROI preparation activity.
Current version. Modernized coverage of serverless, container deployment, CDK, and observability. Removed deprecated services and tightened IAM-for-applications focus.
Retired in early 2023. Heavier on EC2-era patterns; lighter on serverless and CDK.
DVA-C02 (AWS Certified Developer Associate) is a a moderately difficult exam expecting practical hands-on experience plus solid understanding of best practices Associate-level exam. Most candidates need 80–150 hours of study spread over 6–12 weeks for associate-level exams. Most candidates who score consistently above the passing threshold on practice exams pass on their first attempt.
Most candidates need 80–150 hours of study spread over 6–12 weeks for associate-level exams. Time-to-pass varies widely by prior experience. Engineers with hands-on production experience in the underlying technology typically need less; candidates new to the platform should plan toward the upper end of that range.
DVA-C02 is a recognized credential in the AWS ecosystem and signals validated knowledge to employers, recruiters, and clients. Whether it is worth the time and fee for you depends on your role and goals — it tends to pay off most for cloud engineers, architects, and consultants who work with AWS day-to-day or want to move into roles that do.
The passing score for DVA-C02 is 720 / 1000. The exam contains 65 questions and lasts 2 hr 10 min.
The DVA-C02 exam fee is $150 USD. Fees are set by AWS and may vary by region; always confirm the current price on the official AWS certification page before booking.
AWS certifications are valid for 3 years. Recertify by passing the current version of the same exam, or by passing a higher-level exam in the same path before expiration.
Yes. You can take the exam online (proctored via the provider's secure browser, available 24/7 in most regions) or at an in-person Pearson VUE test center during business hours. Both formats use the same questions, time limit, and passing score.
CertLabPro provides 15 study modes across the practice question bank for DVA-C02. The exam-simulation mode mirrors the real exam: 65 questions in 2 hr 10 min, with the same passing threshold of 720 / 1000. Browse mode lets you read every Q&A statically.