Becoming an ACE in 2023
Happy Wednesday, Jira Guys and Gals! So, last week...yeah. I was going to write a review on the "App Usage for Jira" app I featured during the 100th episode of Morning Coffee. But, to be frank, there isn't enough meat on that bone to justify a review. In the Jira Labs version of the app, only one feature is working: Custom Field Analysis. And I only found that out after struggling for hours to bring my Jira DC auto-install ansible script up to working status after neglecting it for a few months. After that plan fell through, I lacked time, energy, and motivation...yeah, last week sucked. But I'm back this week!
So, what are we talking about this week? With Team '23 coming up, the topic of Certifications has come up internally at work among my team. Two of our team currently hold Atlassian Certification, but others are considering getting it. Our manager is okay with certification but believes the path to it is far more important than the paper itself. Which, on the whole, I can't disagree with. What I learned while studying for the Atlassian Certs has been invaluable in both my career and this blog.
That being said, I looked at my Certification status and noticed a few things. Firstly, my Jira Admin for DC Certification expires in a few months. That's not great, but I should be able to bring it up with a skills badge, so not the end of the world.
However, three of my five certifications are expiring along with the end of the Server Products - my Agile Development in Jira Software, my Confluence Administrator, and my SysAdmin Certification. With those will go my Atlassian Certified Expert Standing. So, let's talk about that, explain what an ACE is, what you need to become one, and my plan to maintain my ACE standing.
What even is an Atlassian Certified Expert?
An Atlassian Certified Expert is Atlassian's top Standing for Certified Individuals. This Standing was initially called "Atlassian Certified Master" but was changed in the Atlassian University team's recent rebranding effort. Previous to the rebranding, the way you got this Standing was by holding four (or more) active Certificates at the same time. To be clear, that's easy enough to say, but getting four Atlassian Certs is no small feat.
However, with the introduction of Atlassian Cloud-specific Certs, the Univesity has recently opened up several pathways to earning this Standing. So let's look into that.
How do you become a Certified Expert?
So, on the whole, you still need four Certifications. The only difference now is what combination of the four now matters. Looking at the documents, you can go all Cloud, All On-Premise, or a Hybrid of the two.
The requirements when using All Cloud Certifications are not available at this time, as it still depends on a new Certification coming out soon (the ACP-AOA or the Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certification). That being said, you need to start with these three Certifications:
- ACP-AOA Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certification(Coming Soon)
- ACP-JCA Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Cloud
- ACP-MJCP Atlassian Certified in Managing Jira Projects for Cloud
Additionally, you are also required to hold one of the following:
- ACP-MJSP Atlassian Certified Jira Service Project Manager for Cloud
- APB-CSA Confluence Space Administration Pro Skills Badge
If you were an Atlassian Certified Confluence Admin, it should be noted that you got the APB-CSA Skills Badge automatically as a "We're sorry we are taking away one of your Certs." Otherwise, it's available to earn now as a Skill Badge. Given the difference in cost between a Skills Badge exam and a Certification exam, getting the APB-CSA would be my recommended approach to getting your Expert standing.
Likewise, given Atlassian's heavy emphasis on Cloud products, I recommend that anyone who hasn't started their Certification journey give this pathway the most attention. This path should be the most sustainable long-term with the fewest changes. Atlassian will continue to prefer Cloud over all their other products, so I see them doing everything possible to promote Cloud Certifications long-term.
If you already have some existing Certs like me, you should check out the other two paths to Expert Standing, which Atlassian calls "Path A" and "Path B." The core of these Certification paths is the Jira Administrator Certification. Therefore, your pathway to Expert Standing depends heavily on whether you have just one or both of the Jira Admin Cloud and Jira Admin DC Certifications, the determinator of whether you are on Path A or B.
Let's Look at Path A. First, you need One of the following:
- ACP-JA Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Data Center and Server
- ACP-JCA Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Cloud
On top of that, you also need One of these four:
- ACP-MJCP Atlassian Certified in Managing Jira Projects for Cloud
- ACP-MJDP Atlassian Certified in Managing Jira Projects for Data Center
- AC-JPA Atlassian Certified Jira Project Administrator for Data Center and Server**
- ACP-JSW Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software*
And to round out your Four, you need two of these:
- ACP-AOA Atlassian Certified Organization Administrator (Coming early 2023.)
- EITHER: ACP-JSD Atlassian Certified Jira Service Desk Administrator* OR ACP-MJSP Atlassian Certified Jira Service Project Manager for Cloud
- EITHER: ACP-CA Atlassian Certified Confluence Administrator for Data Center and Server* OR APB-CSA Confluence Space Administration Pro Skills Badge
- ACP-SA Atlassian Certified System Administrator*
I marked some of this in Bold as this is currently how I hold my Expert standing. As I've effectively gotten a replacement for my ACP-CA (in the form of the APB-CSA) and my ACP-JSW (as the ACP-MJDP), that leaves the only trouble spot in my Standing being my ACP-SA, which has no replacement or equivalent. Because no one runs their own Jira system anymore, right? </sarcasm>
So I could maintain my Standing on this path with either the ACP-AOA or the ACP-MJSP.
But let's look at the requirements for Path B. As I said above, the critical difference here is whether you have one or both of your Jira Admin Certificates.
Given that, the first requirement of Path B is having both of these:
- ACP-JA Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Data Center and Server
- ACP-JCA Atlassian Certified Jira Administrator for Cloud
Then you must hold one of these:
- ACP-MJCP Atlassian Certified in Managing Jira Projects for Cloud
- ACP-MJDP Atlassian Certified in Managing Jira Projects for Data Center
- AC-JPA Atlassian Certified Jira Project Administrator for Data Center and Server
- ACP-JSW Atlassian Certified in Agile Development with Jira Software*
And hold one of these, too:
- ACP-AOA Atlassian Certified Organization Administrator (Coming early 2023)
- EITHER: ACP-CA Atlassian Certified Confluence Administrator for Data Center and Server* OR APB-CSA Confluence Space Administration Pro Skills Badge
- EITHER: ACP-JSD Atlassian Certified Jira Service Desk Administrator* OR ACP-MJSP Atlassian Certified Jira Service Project Manager for Cloud
- ACP-SA Atlassian Certified System Administrator*
Again, I highlighted my certificates here to understand what I'd need to do for this Path. Like Path A, I could achieve this path with just one additional Cert: the ACP-JCA. This setup means if I pass either the ACP-AOA, the ACP-MJSP, or the ACP-JCA, my Standing will survive past the end of the Server Product line.
So, what's your plan?
If you've spent enough of your time, money, and effort to get Atlassian Certified Expert Standing, you too would be loath to be told you had to do even more to keep it. That is one reason when developing a strategy for keeping my Standing, I want to emphasize what will get me the most for my time. I don't want to take Certification Exams to keep up with changing requirements constantly - I'm looking for what will likely be change-proof.
That said, I cannot stress this enough: Atlassian clearly states that Cloud is the future. To quote Thanos in Infinity wars, "Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same." So, when I take exams, I want to choose Cloud over DC. Will it help me right now? Likely not. Will it allow me to be competitive long-term? Definitely.
Given that, my ultimate goal will be to get where I can hold my Standing with Cloud-Only path. Granted, that will be three more exams, but it's the most stable long-term, in my opinion. For the short term, I can maintain my Standing with the ACP-JCA past February 2024, giving me some breathing room to get the ACP-MJCP and ACP-AOA. I might throw in the ACP-MJSP for good measure to ensure I'm good should they ever get rid of the only Skills badge requirement on this list.
A Secret Path!?
Of course, I can still think of one more approach, which I'd be dangerously close to achieving with my current plan.
That, Jira Guys and Gals, is the "Gotta Take them all!" approach. That is to say, to get every Certification Atlassian offers. My friend, fellow Atlassian Abyss member, and former colleague Neil Taylor took this path, and he currently holds ten current Certificates to his name.
To be clear, I fully promote and endorse Atlassian Certifications, but even I'm not that crazy...yet. But it is a good plan if you care about long-term sustainability.
What do you think?
Are you an Atlassian Certified Expert? Are you thinking about becoming one? Is it even worth it? Let me know what you think! Be sure to comment with your thoughts!
The best part of my day is reading your comments on the various platforms. You can find my social media links on LinkTree. So be sure to like, Comment, and follow on social media to push the algorithms!
But until next time, my name is Rodney, asking, "Have you updated your Jira issues today?"
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Rodney Nissen - ReleaseTEAM
About this author
Sr. Atlassian Engineer
The Jira Guy, LLC
Atlanta, GA
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