Atlassian related personal growth goals for 2020

[Cristiano Mariano]

Hi guys! How are you doing?

After some time absent, in January 1st I have set a goal of being more envolved in Atlassian related things outside work.

Being more specific [SMART :-)] my goals are:

- To become a Community Leader again;

- To become an Atlassian Certified Master.

It is going very well so far. In these first 3 days I have:

- Won 3 new badges (Rising Star, Level 4 and 10 Accepted Answers);

- Passed ACP-500 (Atlassian Certified System Administrator).

Next steps are:

- To try to keep this level of engagement in the community until the end of the year (and the years ahead);

- To pass the 4th exam: ACP-300 (have passed ACP-100/ACP-200/ACP-500).

Here is my feedback for both programs:

- Atlassian Community is wonderful. It connects people from everywhere in the world (e.g. I am from Brazil) and helps not only people that is asking questions but also people that is answering them. I see it as an excelent way to keep myself up to date with product's new features and also products that I do not use in my company.

- Atlassian Certification is wonderfull too! Some people say that certifications are not worth it, but I see a lot of value in them. Even after more than 10 years being an admin of Atlassian tools, while preparing for them I see lots of things to improve in my company"s environment that I would only study once I already had an issue.

In my opinion, you guys are on the right track!

Cheers!

[Deepanshu Natani]

Impressive!

Any suggestions on how to prepare for ACP 300?

[Cristiano Mariano]

Thank you very much @Deepanshu Natani 

I have read the Exam Topics and felt that my main weakness is the Reporting section.

I will read the official documentation pdf (from cover to cover) focusing on that and take the exam.

Good luck for us :-)

[Deepanshu Natani]

Good luck @Cristiano Mariano :-)

[Jimmy Seddon]

Congrats @Cristiano Mariano!

I look forward to see more of you int he future!

-Jimmy

[Cristiano Mariano]

Thank you very much @Jimmy Seddon 

[Kat Warner]

A great way to (re)engage with the Atlassian Community is to work towards the epic Awesome Author badge. 

Ready for a challenge? To earn this advanced badge, you will need to:

• Qualify to write articles if you haven’t yet (all users Level 3 and above now qualify)
• Write 10 (or more) total community articles
• Get at least 50 likes on the articles you write

Note that this badge is not retroactive but is also not time limited; this applies to articles written from now on.

This is no easy task but it sure is rewarding.

[AyBee]

Congratulations on your badges and Certification!  Best of luck to you on your Atlassian Certified Master journey!  And thanks for the feedback on Certification! Cheers!

[Cristiano Mariano]

Hi @Kat Warner ! How are you doing?

Definitely an awesome way to engage! I have filled the form. I hope I am approved.

Thank you very much!

[Cristiano Mariano]

Thank you very much @AyBee !

[Kat Warner]

You don't need to be in the Atlassian Author group to earn the Awesome Author badge. 🙂

I look forward to getting to know you through your articles and other posts.

[Cristiano Mariano]

I was in doubt, but reading some comments in another post I understood that the Create Article feature is not enabled as soon as you earn the level 4 badge. The community managers have to process it, right?

[Kat Warner]

@Bridget - do you have any fairy dust for a past Community Leader?

[Monique vdB]

@Cristiano Mariano  fairy dust sprinkled! I've given you the appropriate permissions so you should be all set. 

[Cristiano Mariano]

Outstanding! Thank you very much @Kat Warner , @Bridget and @Monique vdB !!!

[Erica Moss]

@Cristiano Mariano This is a terrific list — welcome back! 🎉

[Cristiano Mariano]

Thank you very much @Community Manager !

[Cristiano Mariano]

First 20 days and it keeps going well:

- Won Level 5 badge;

- Became an Atlassian Certified Master.

Couldn't think of a better start for 2020!

[Kat Warner]

Great work @Cristiano Mariano though I suggest "earned Level 5 badge" rather than "won" as it was your effort, not luck .that got you there. 

[Cristiano Mariano]

Really good point of view @Kat Warner :-)

[Vinod Ramadoss]

Awesome @Cristiano Mariano 

Am planning to take acp-300 and targetting to complete by Q1 2020.

One quick question, The materials that you are using to prepare for the certification,  are they available somewhere or you receive only after registering for the certification. 

[Kat Warner]

The ACP-300 prep course is available here. There are a lot more preparation hints here and there is a 10-week study plan I put together for my team and shared on the community here.

[Vinod Ramadoss]

Thank you @Kat Warner , appreciate your assistance here.

[Vinod Ramadoss]

Hi @Kat Warner , the step-1 in the 10 week plan for ACP-300 that you shared, is to  Enrol in 'Agile Development with Jira Software', which means registering for the exam, post which we receive materials/references ,is that correct ?

And few on-demand courses are expensive, I found one priced at 400$, which puts the total certifications cost close to 1000$ (on-demand courses + certification cost), kindly let know if my understanding is right.

[Kat Warner]

Hello @Vinod Ramadoss - yes, the guide I made back in October is heavily relies on courses that most people have to purchase from Atlassian. None of these courses require you to register for the exam though.

Check out the Agile Team Member learning path for links to free skill builders and the offical ACP-300 for more tips.

The prep course cost has also reduced to $50 USD (was $150).

[Inayat Nahvi]

@Cristiano Mariano , I just came across your post while searching on Atlassian Certified Master.  I have three certificates and need one more to become a master, hopefully by early 2021.  Among ACP-200, ACP-300, and ACP-500, how would you rank them in order of difficulty?  Thanks.

[Cristiano Mariano]

Hi @Inayat Nahvi ! How are you doing?

Sorry for being a little obvious here, but it will depend on the type of experience you have with each of the tools. For me, I would put them in the same order you put (ACP-200, ACP-300 and ACP-500).

But keep in mind that in order to answer some of ACP-200 and ACP-300 questions, you will have to have experience using the tools and not only administering them (Confluence macros and Jira Software Reports, for example). If you have more experience installing and upgrading them (instead of using), maybe ACP-500 is the one to go.

Hope this helps! Good luck with your tests.

Cristiano