AWS Certified Developer – Associate

DVA-C02 · ● Active · Associate · Amazon Web Services

Certification Identity: AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) is an associate-level credential validating hands-on ability to develop, deploy, and debug applications on AWS. Launched February 28, 2023, replacing DVA-C01 (retired March 27, 2023). Updated December 2024 with Amazon Q Developer and event-driven architecture content.

Exam facts

Vendor source — AWS Certified Developer Associate ↗

Official exam guide — DVA-C02 Exam Guide PDF ↗

Exam objectives — AWS Documentation ↗

About

AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) is an intermediate-level credential for software developers and engineers who build, test, deploy, and debug cloud-based applications using AWS services. It validates 1+ years of hands-on experience with AWS SDKs, APIs, CLI, deployment tools, and debugging practices. The exam emphasizes practical application development workflows, not infrastructure architecture; it complements the Solutions Architect Associate (infrastructure focus) and pairs naturally with DevOps Professional for full deployment mastery.

Domain context — Software Engineering / Cloud

Cloud application development — designing scalable, secure, performant services using managed AWS primitives (Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, API Gateway, Cognito, SQS/SNS, etc.) rather than infrastructure provisioning.

Read full deep dive — AWS Ecosystem →

Topics covered

4 content domains, 32% to 26% weightings (December 2024 update):

• Development with AWS Services (32%) — AWS SDKs, CLI, IDE plugins, Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, S3, Cognito, event-driven patterns
• Security (26%) — IAM policies for least-privilege code, KMS encryption, Secrets Manager, SSM Parameter Store, encryption in transit/rest, secure credential handling
• Deployment (24%) — CloudFormation, SAM, CDK, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, container deployment (ECS/EKS basics), IaC best practices
• Troubleshooting and Optimization (18%) — X-Ray tracing, CloudWatch Logs/Insights, debugging application errors, performance tuning, cost optimization patterns

Source: Official exam guide ↗

Common skills at Software Engineering · Associate

Shared skills for the Software Engineering domain at Associate level — not DVA-C02 specific.

• REST API design — HTTP methods, status codes, versioning, pagination, rate limiting
• JSON/XML serialization — data format parsing, schema validation, transformation
• OAuth 2.0 and authentication flows — token-based auth, third-party integrations, session management
• Asynchronous messaging patterns — event-driven architectures, publish-subscribe, message queues
• Infrastructure as Code fundamentals — declarative config, version control, CI/CD integration
• Basic CI/CD pipelines — automated build, test, deploy workflows, artifact management
• Container basics — Docker concepts, image layers, registry concepts (before Kubernetes)
• Application debugging and logging — structured logs, stack traces, debugging tools, observability
• Observability fundamentals — metrics, logs, traces (three pillars), alerting thresholds

Recommended courses at Software Engineering · Associate

Course-selection rule: Choose one main course (Maarek or Cantrill recommended) + one practice exam suite. Maarek is praised for clarity; Cantrill for comprehensiveness.

Practice exams

Books

Book note: Brandon Rich's DVA-C02 guide is the current version. Nick Alteen's DVA-C01 guide is older but still relevant for foundational concepts; use as supplementary only.

Typical job titles at Software Engineering · Associate

Cloud Developer · Backend Developer (AWS) · Serverless Engineer · Full-Stack Engineer (AWS) · DevOps Engineer (entry-level) · Application Developer (Cloud) · AWS Developer Engineer

(Job titles drawn from current job-board postings requiring DVA-C02 or equivalent.)

Salary

Salary context: DVA-C02 holders typically earn $15K–$25K premium over non-certified peers. Salaries vary significantly by metro area, company size (startup vs. enterprise), and years of experience. FAANG and remote-first companies (Stripe, Figma) offer 20–30% higher compensation than regional tech hubs.

Skills validated

Concrete technologies and practices this exam validates — distinct from shared domain skills above.

• AWS SDK usage (Python/Node.js/Java/Go) — making programmatic API calls, error handling, pagination
• Lambda function development — handler code, environment variables, layers, cold-start optimization, reserved concurrency
• API Gateway — REST API design, request/response mapping, CORS, authentication/authorization, stages, models, mocking
• DynamoDB — primary keys (PK/SK), GSI/LSI design, scan vs. query, consistent read models, capacity modes, TTL, streams
• S3 access patterns — object metadata, presigned URLs, ACLs vs. bucket policies, versioning, multipart upload, CORS, encryption
• IAM policy construction — least-privilege principles, resource-based policies, session policies, cross-account access
• Secrets Manager & Systems Manager Parameter Store — credential rotation, secret versioning, parameter types
• KMS encryption — envelope encryption, key policies, data key caching
• SNS / SQS — topic vs. queue semantics, message filtering, dead-letter queues (DLQ), FIFO guarantees
• EventBridge — event patterns, routing rules, targets, schema registry
• Step Functions — state machine workflows, error handling, retries, parallel states, map states
• CloudFormation / SAM / CDK — template syntax, change sets, parameters, outputs, SAM intrinsics, CDK constructs
• CodePipeline / CodeBuild / CodeDeploy — build artifacts, deployment strategies (canary, linear, all-at-once), integration
• X-Ray — service map, trace collection, sampling, annotations, metadata
• CloudWatch Logs / CloudWatch Insights — log streams, filters, metric filters, log group retention, query language
• ECS basics — task definitions, container registries, task placement strategies (entry-level context)
• Cognito — user pools vs. identity pools, JWT tokens, MFA, federated identity

Related certifications

• Stacks with: AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) ↗ — Development + Infrastructure perspectives
• Prerequisite for: AWS Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02) ↗ · AWS DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02) ↗
• Replaces: DVA-C01 (retired March 27, 2023) — use DVA-C02
• Equivalents at this level: Microsoft Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) ↗ · Google Cloud Professional Cloud Developer ↗
• Vendor overview: AWS Certification Ecosystem ↗

Sources

• AWS Certification. (2023–2026). AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) Exam Guide. https://d1.awsstatic.com/training-and-certification/docs-dev-associate/AWS-Certified-Developer-Associate_Exam-Guide.pdf
• AWS. (2026). AWS Certified Developer Associate Official Certification Portal. https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-developer-associate/
• AWS. (2026). AWS Skill Builder Exam Prep Plans. https://skillbuilder.aws/
• Rich, B. (2024). AWS Certified Developer Study Guide: Associate (DVA-C02) Exam. Sybex. ISBN 978-1394274802.
• Maarek, S. (2026). Ultimate AWS Certified Developer Associate 2026 DVA-C02. Udemy. https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-developer-associate-dva-c01/
• Cantrill, A. (2024). AWS Certified Developer Associate Course. Learn Cantrill. https://learn.cantrill.io/p/aws-certified-developer-associate
• Tutorials Dojo. (2024–2026). AWS Certified Developer Associate DVA-C02 Practice Exams. https://portal.tutorialsdojo.com/courses/aws-certified-developer-associate-practice-exams/
• Glassdoor. (2026). AWS Developer Salary Data. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/aws-developer-salary-SRCH_KO0,13.htm
• Levels.fyi. (2026). AWS Developer Compensation Data. https://www.levels.fyi/
• Built In. (2026). 2026 AWS Developer Salary in US. https://builtin.com/salaries/us/aws-developer
• PayScale. (2026). AWS Certified Developer – Associate Salary in South Africa. https://www.payscale.com/research/ZA/Certification=AWS_(Amazon_Web_Services)_Certified_Developer_-_Associate/Salary
• School of IT. (2026). Amazon Web Services (AWS) Salary in South Africa. https://www.schoolofit.co.za/amazon-web-services-aws-salary-in-south-africa/
• ExamTopics. (2024–2026). AWS Certified Developer Associate DVA-C02 Practice Questions. https://www.examtopics.com/exams/amazon/aws-certified-developer-associate-dva-c02/

Last verified: May 1, 2026

Parent ecosystem: AWS Ecosystem ↗

Parent domain: Software Engineering Domain ↗

Vendor overview: AWS ↗