Certifications
Start with the honest answer: there is no cloud-migration certification. Not at AWS, not at Microsoft, not at Google. Migration is examined as a set of domains inside the architect certifications, which means the badge you want depends on which cloud you're moving to — and the material you need is on this course either way. This page is the map from what you've learned here to what those exams actually test.
There’s no badge that just says “good at moving things to the cloud”. Instead, the big cloud companies each have an “architect” badge, and moving things is one of the chapters inside it. So you don’t pick a migration exam — you pick a cloud, and migration is part of the test.
This course is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official product of Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. Certification names and exam codes belong to their owners. Exam catalogues change often — AWS retired three specialty exams in 2024 and is retiring two more across 2026 — so always confirm on the vendor's own certification page before you pay for anything. Nothing on this site reproduces real exam questions.
Why there isn't a migration exam
☺ Like you’re 10: Because moving to the cloud isn’t one skill — it’s a bit of every skill, so it’s spread across the other tests.
Migration cuts across networking, identity, storage, databases, cost and security. A vendor could examine it separately, but the result would overlap almost entirely with the architect track — so instead, each vendor folds it in:
| Vendor | Migration-specific exam? | Where migration is actually tested |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | None, at any level. | Solutions Architect — Associate and Professional. The Professional weights migration and modernization planning heavily. |
| Microsoft Azure | None. | AZ-305 (Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions) explicitly covers recommending solutions for migrating workloads to IaaS and PaaS. Paired with AZ-104 it forms the Solutions Architect Expert credential. |
| Google Cloud | None. | Professional Cloud Architect — the role description names workload migration approaches alongside solution design and optimisation. |
Note the pattern: the migration content sits in the architect exams, not the administrator ones. If you sit an administrator exam expecting the 7 R's, you'll be disappointed — that's a design-level topic everywhere.
Migration is a design discipline, so it's certified as one. That's also why this course spends its time on judgement — which R, which wave, what breaks at cutover — rather than on console clicks. Judgement is exactly what the architect exams test, and exactly what a console walkthrough can't teach.
Which one should you take?
☺ Like you’re 10: Pick the cloud you’re actually moving to. That decides the badge.
- You're migrating to AWS. Solutions Architect Associate first. Take the Professional only once you've run real waves — its scenarios assume you've made these trade-offs under pressure.
- You're migrating to Azure. AZ-305 is the closest thing to a migration exam that exists. Note the credential requires an active AZ-104 as well, so plan for two exams even though you can sit AZ-305 first.
- You're migrating to Google Cloud. Professional Cloud Architect.
- You advise across clouds. One architect certification plus a real migration you can talk through beats three certifications and no scars. Interviewers ask what went wrong at cutover; only one of those prepares you.
How this course maps onto those exams
☺ Like you’re 10: Which pages cover which chapter of the test.
| Exam topic | Read these |
|---|---|
| Migration strategy & the 7 R's | The 7 R's, What & Why We Move |
| Assessment, discovery & planning | The Migration Journey, Wave Planning |
| Landing zones & target architecture | Architecture Patterns |
| Data migration & replication | Data Migration |
| Modernization & refactoring | Modernization |
| Cost management & TCO | Cost, Security & Resilience |
| Security, compliance & residency | Cost, Security & Resilience, Best Practices |
| Cutover, rollback & validation | Best Practices, Anti-Patterns, the Checklist |
| Cloud-specific services | AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, the Tools Landscape |
A study order that works
☺ Like you’re 10: Learn the ideas, then the one cloud, then test yourself.
- Work the Foundations in order — the vendor-neutral half is what the scenario questions are really about.
- Then read one cloud track end to end. Doing all three at once is how the service names blur together.
- Run the flashcards and the glossary until the vocabulary is automatic.
- Sit the Exam Simulator under real conditions — timer on, no notes.
- Re-read the pages behind every miss, then book the vendor exam.
Two questions. First: which vendor exam covers migration for the cloud you're actually moving to? Second: why is migration examined at architect level rather than administrator level? If the second one is fuzzy, re-read the first table — it's the single most useful thing on this page.
Check your answers
- Which exam: AWS → Solutions Architect (Associate, then Professional). Azure → AZ-305, plus an active AZ-104 for the full credential. Google Cloud → Professional Cloud Architect. None of the three has a migration-only exam.
- Why architect level: because migration is a design discipline. Choosing an R, sequencing waves, deciding what moves with the data and what gets left behind — these are trade-off decisions, which is what architect exams test. Administrator exams test operating what already exists.