Atlassian Certification Program. Is it worth it?

[Tayyab Bashir]

Hi,

This question is regarding Atlassian Certification Programs and whether one should go for it or not? 
I am a 2+ year JIRA Administrator, and I was looking into ACP-100 JIRA Administrator

Is this a certification I should start with? 
How would this help me in the career path? 

What are the Certifications a beginner should start with? 

I would also love hear opinion of people who got various certifications and their experience about it.

[Carlos Garcia Navarro]

Hi Tayyab,

I had 2 years of experience as a JIRA administrator.  I started using JIRA in a startup where some of the scenarios described in the exam happened (e.g., too many JIRA administrators, no good criteria to decide when to create a new project, many custom fields, etc.).  I learned from reading the Atlassian documentation, asking other admins, looking for answers online and trying new things.  Many people would come to me asking me for help, so I thought I was an "expert" and I sign up for the exam. I failed! I was closed, but I failed. I took it personal and decided to prepare harder for the exam.  I took the Certification prep course, read books, joined the Atlassian Community and dove into the Atlassian documentation.  After a month or so I re-took the exam and passed it.  The Certification Program is completely worth it, because it helped me become knowledgeable about JIRA and helped me understand best practices. It really pushes you to learn.  I'm very happy and proud of being an Atlassian Certified JIRA Administrator, but I feel that the most important reward was to learn how to use JIRA.  Now it's easier for me to suggest a better approach to configure JIRA based on requirements and to identify potential issues before they may occur.

[henri guillot]

not enough exam- books practice samples for exam preparation. LAcks of exam-prep. i pas the exam and failed, JQL questions are tricky.  

[Carlos Garcia Navarro]

Hi Henri,

I'm sorry you didn't pass the exam. I agree with you, it can be tricky.  I recommend the book 'Practical JIRA Administration: Using JIRA Effectively: Beyond the Documentation' by Matthew B Doar. It helped me pass my exam in my second try, and more importantly, I learned a lot!  I encourage you to keep trying. Don't give up! ;-)

Carlos

[henri guillot]

Thank's . i'll buy the book and will try to repass the exam.  

[Alan Steve Curits]

thanks for the post.

[Deleted user]

Hello Carlos,

Can you provide the year you passed your exam. I'm asking because the book you recommend has been released in 2012 and updated for Jira 5.0 while we're at 8+. Also, does the book content is applcable for the cloud version.

Thanks in advance

Jacques

[Carlos Garcia Navarro]

Hi Jacques,

I passed the exam in 2017. The version of the book that I have was updated for Jira 7 (I've checked some popular merchants and I can see that this same version is available.)  @Matt Doar may be working on an updated version for Jira 8 though! ;-)

Carlos

[siva]

@Carlos Garcia Navarro 

im trying to take a certification ,

which would you recommend.

1.ACP-600 Project Administration in Jira Server or

2.ACP-100 Jira Administrator.

[Carlos Garcia Navarro]

Hi @siva ,

Contratulations on your decision to pursue a certification from Atlassian. They're all challenging and in the process of preparing and taking the exam you'll learn a lot! The question is, what is your role when you use Jira: 1) do you administer Jira for a number of teams (e.g. creating projects, workflows, associating schemes to projects,and the like)? 2) Or do you work with a specific team or teams managing their projects (maybe creating components, adding people to roles, managing boards and project content)? If you answer 1), then ACP-100 may be a good fit. If 2), ACP-600 would be more appropriate. I assume that you've read this page, but just in case, this contains the details about Atlassian certifications: https://www.atlassian.com/university/certification

Let me know if you have more specific questions, and Good Luck!

Carlos

[Wouter van den Berg]

It's funny how they manage to ask a simple question during exams in the worst possible way. Not to see whether you know the answer but to fool as many students as possible. 

[Pablo da Silva _ACP-JA_]

Hi,

        I`ve recently took the ACP-100. I have +4 years using Jira as an admin (also with Confluence and Crowd integration). Before taking the exam i bought the Jira Administration Certification Prep, a mini course that introduces you to the style of questions that you can expect to be asked on the exam, topics, labs and case studies to practice with.  This alone was very useful to focus on certain topics that i didnt handle or the impact of several configuration scenarios regarding performance, for example.  It is not an easy exam, the questions usually describes a real life  like company, a requeriment and the answers are complex to analize and choose sometimes. But no mater the result, you`ll learn a lot by taking it.

[Vishnukumar Vasudevan]

Well said @Pablo da Silva _ACP-JA_. BTW congratulations for clearing  ACP-100.

[siva]

@Vishnukumar Vasudevan 

im trying to take a certification , which would you recommend.

1.ACP-600 Project Administration in Jira Server

or 

2.ACP-100 Jira Administrator.

[mahavishnu]

Hello @Vishnukumar Vasudevan

How about salary expectations on ACP 100 certified professionals in market espicially in bangalore . ? 

[Vishnukumar Vasudevan]

That depends on your performance in the interview, total experience and current package

[Vishnukumar Vasudevan]

Of course, it is :) if you wanted to continue your career in this domain. 

The best advantage of having Atalssian certification is, you don't need to convince your interview board on your product knowledge. Just say "I am Atalssian Certified" :) that shows how good you are.

[miikhy]

Hi Tayyab,

I'm in the process of getting Agile + Service Desk after passing ACP 100 a few weeks ago.

I'm an Expert with 5+ years of experience, 2 of them as a Partner consultant and I have to be honest and tell you it's very challenging but it's definitely worth it! That's, in my opinion, a great asset, especially now as it's not yet widely found!

The ACP-100 might be the first to look at as it's the more "generic" I'd say, that's definitely the choice I've made!

If you're not confident enough yet, you might start with Agile or Service Desk ones which are more focused on specific aspects if you master them it might be "easier".

As per the carreer path, it's not a must have (at least not now) for sure but it's giving me some recognition already and especially ACP100 which is known to be challenging. Our dear Rachel Wright even mentioned it at this year's summit! If your boss or recruiter knows about Atlassian, they should definitely pay attention to your score.

Giving details on content is not allowed but it's globally a scenario oriented multiple choices questionnary which will give you real-like situations and ask you to find the best solutions. Some questions are really tricky!

Let us know if you try it, and if you succeed!

Cheers

[Boris Berenberg - Atlas Authority]

This is being discussed at: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-discussions/Are-you-an-Atlassian-Certified-Professional/td-p/641875