Nigeria’s Joshua Agboola, a 13-year-old programmer, has emerged the youngest Certified Amazon Web Services (AWS) Developer Associate in the African continent.
According to an agency report, Agboola achieved the feat after a grueling two-hour examination to subject his skills and knowledge in deploying, troubleshooting, and development on the AWS cloud platform under intense scrutiny.
The teenager was inspired to achieve the laudable feat arising from his outstanding performance in his AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner examination earlier in the year, he told reporters in an interview in Lagos at the weekend.
He said that as a result, he was encouraged by his father to take his pursuit of a cloud career further by sitting for the next level certification.
Agboola said that though he had developed an interest in DevOps, the popular progression was to go for the Solutions Architect Associate certification, and this was what he did.
“I was initially preparing for the Solutions Architect Associate certification which is the next certification most people take in their AWS cloud journey, but had a change of mind for a tougher developer associate certification due to encouragement from an older friend programmer.
“The light bulb went up in my head, and I began studying the next day.
“The possibility of clinching the title of the youngest Developer Associate in the world, which is an equivalent of a world record in the cloud space, also became a strong motivation for me,’’ he was quoted as saying.
Speaking on the level of work done to achieve the feat, he stated, “I prepared for the test by studying for about two to five hours daily for about six weeks.”
His achievement in the cloud space had gotten noticed, he said, adding “A tech. company in Lagos has already offered to provide me with further technical mentorship”.
He dedicated his achievement to young people who wish to build a career in technology while encouraging the young ones to go for their dreams.
According to Amazon, getting certified as an AWS Developer Associate showcases knowledge and understanding of core AWS services, and proficiency in developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications.
“Preparing for and attaining this certification gives certified individuals more confidence and credibility,” it added.
Earlier, Agboola had taken and passed the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification becoming the youngest in Africa to do so.
He also sat for the AWS Solutions Architect Associate examination July 17 and passed, another first for Africa.
