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This article provides information on leveraging AWS Services like AWS Educate and AWS Emerging Talent Community (ETC) resources to obtain AWS Certification exam vouchers, Digital Badge, and promotional credits.
What is AWS Educate?
AWS Educate is Amazon Web Services’ free, self-paced learning platform designed to help individuals - especially students - build foundational cloud computing skills. It offers access to courses, labs, and career pathways in areas such as cloud architecture, machine learning, and cybersecurity.
What is the Emerging Talent Community (ETC)?
The Emerging Talent Community (ETC) is a component of AWS Educate for learners aged 18 and older. It enables students to earn points through educational activities and redeem them for AWS Certification exam vouchers, Digital Badge, and promotional credits.
Note: The ETC no longer offers the discounted AWS Certification Exam vouchers but they may in the future & hence the below steps may be applicable in the future. AWS reserves the right to modify or cancel reward offerings at any time. Rewards available in the ETC (including vouchers) are limited and subject to change.
Step 1: Sign Up for AWS Educate and AWS Skill Builder
Visit AWS Educate and create an account. Use the same email to sign up at AWS Skill Builder.
Step 2: Join the Emerging Talent Community (ETC)
To qualify for the ETC, you must be 18 or older and have successfully earned a qualifying badge from an AWS training program such as AWS Educate, AWS re/Start, or AWS Academy (List of current ETC qualifying badges).
Note: If your qualifying badge is not from AWS Educate, it may take up to 72 hours for the "Emerging Talent Community" to appear in your navigation bar.
If you still experience issues after 72 hours, please contact
AWS support team for assistance. You can also join directly from your AWS Educate dashboard.
Step 3: Earn Points
Within ETC, complete tasks such as quizzes, surveys, reading articles and video lessons to earn points. These points are used to unlock the benefits.
Step 4: Prepare for the Exam
Complete the official exam preparation course and readiness assessment on AWS Skill Builder. A minimum score of 70% on the readiness assessment is required to be eligible for a voucher. Complete at least one AWS Skill Builder certification practice exam or official practice question set with a score of 70% or higher for the AWS certification you are seeking.
Important: Please make sure that your AWS Skill Builder email address matches your AWS Educate email address prior to requesting this reward. The voucher will be distributed to the email address associated with your AWS Educate account. Ensure you have access to your AWS Educate email address as the voucher cannot be reissued or replaced once sent.
Step 5: Redeem Your Voucher
Once eligible, navigate to the Rewards tab in ETC and request your certification voucher or a reward item. Please check out the other rewards in the ETC, including social media-ready digital backgrounds and the ETC digital membership badge.
Foundational Level Certifications
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
- AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Additional Discounts
- 50% Discount Vouchers: After passing any AWS certification exam, you will receive a 50% discount code for your next exam.
- Institutional Vouchers: UTD faculty or staff can explore bulk voucher options for classrooms or research groups via AWS Certification’s bulk voucher page. Please contact your faculty or department head to take the lead in managing bulk voucher programs.
- Entire list of available AWS Certifications can be found here: AWS Certification Levels
Note: Rewards are valid while supplies last and are non-refundable. Rewards availability may vary. This article does not guarantee up-to-date information on discounts. OIT is not responsible for changes to AWS ETC prizes.