You are here for AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03). Cloud Practitioner is done. This month is design: secure, resilient, high-performing, and cheap enough to keep. Labs are in the IP Lab Portal. Homework still goes to MyIP Portal.
What you’ll walk away with
Secure architecturesIAM, encryption, and network boundaries. The controls the exam asks about, and the ones that show up in a real account.
Resilient architecturesMulti-AZ, backups, failover. What you do when one piece dies and the workload has to stay up.
High-performing architecturesThe right compute, storage, and database for the traffic you have, not the traffic you wish you had.
Cost-optimized architecturesRight-size, pick a pricing model, cut waste. Do not cut the requirement to make the bill look pretty.
Labs you click throughBuild the design in the IP Lab Portal, prove it, tear it down. Same account as month 1.
Practice examsSAA questions are scenarios. A mock tells you whether you can pick a design, not whether you memorized a definition.
Who is it for?
Engineers
Builders
Cloud architects
DevOps
Cloud engineers
Software engineers
Developers80% of who it’s for
20% of who it’s for
Your instructor
Amazon Web Services
Principal Solutions Architect, April 2026 to present
Manager, Solutions Architecture, June 2020 to April 2026
Senior Solutions Architect, January 2016 to June 2020
Developer Support Engineer, December 2013 to December 2015
AARP
Senior Systems Engineer, 2006 to 2013
MGM MIRAGE
Systems Engineer, 2005 to 2006
Marriott International
Active Directory consultant, 2004 to 2005
Alliance Consulting
Network Administrator, Hyderabad, 2002 to 2004
Education
Bachelor of Science, Mathematics, Acharya Nagarjuna University
Postgraduate diploma, Management Information Systems, Osmania University
Ground rules
No question is too dumbIf you are wondering it, three other people in the room are too. Ask.
Interrupt me wheneverThis is a workshop, not a webinar. Stop me the moment something does not click.
Do the labsReading is not the same as clicking. Use the IP Lab Portal. Submit homework in MyIP Portal.
How to move through the material
01One domain at a timeSecure, resilient, high-performing, cost-optimized. Chandra sets the pace. You take notes.
02Labs in the IP Lab PortalWhen we hit a lab, the talking stops. Open the IP Lab Portal, launch it, do the work.
03Mocks, then the examThe mocks are scenario questions. If you cannot explain the design, you are not ready.