Hello Everyone

[Aaron Geister]

Looking for some advice, I been working in Atlassian as a Jira Service Desk admin, and also a Jira Admin. As our company evolves using Atlassian suite and bringing on new projects like HR and other new software projects and possibly a business management project what would be the best Jira Admin test to take I see there are many which makes me unsure which test to study for. 

[Deepanshu Natani]

Hi @Aaron Geister ,

There are 4 types of certification which may suit your needs. I will explain each one for you:

1. ACP-100 Jira Administrator: Useful if you are responsible to manage, customize, and configure Jira, optimize Jira for the development or business team in your organisation.
2. ACP-400 Jira Service Desk Administration: Useful if you manage, customize, and configure Jira Service Desk, set up and optimize Jira Service Desk for any service management team in your organisation.
3. ACP-500 Atlassian System Administrator: Useful if you manage installation and back-end configuration, monitor diagnostics, troubleshoot system performance, and partner with Application Administrators to keep Atlassian products secure, up-to-date and performing optimally for all their teams. 
4. ACP-600 Project Administration in Jira Server: Useful if you are responsible to configure projects and boards, customize workflows and manage project permissions in your organization's Jira Server or Data Center instance. 

From my viewpoint, you should start with ACP-100 and then if required, go for other certifications.

Hope this clears your doubt. Have a nice weekend! :-)

[Aaron Geister]

@Deepanshu Natani  Thank you that does clear things up much. 

[Deepanshu Natani]

@Aaron Geister if you still have any questions, I would be happy to clarify.

Just elaborate on your question .

[Trevan Householder]

I would rank them in this order, based on the description of your role:

1. ACP-400

2. ACP-600

3. ACP-100

As for ACP-500 - System Administrator, this relates only to the server version so if you are on cloud this won't be useful.  Also, based on your description it seems unlikely that this would be a helpful exam for you unless your intention is to become a low-level system administrator (from my viewpoint).

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

That is some awesome advice @Trevan Householder ! 😎👏 Thanks for your knowledge share!

[carolyn french]

Hi @Aaron Geister Welcome to Community!

@Deepanshu Natani has provided a nice answer. I'd like to give a little more nuance.

Jira Admin, ACP-100 is a very difficult exam (recommended 2-3 years of experience already). Depending on how long you have been a Jira admin for, and how many areas you touch, you may want to reconsider it as your starting point.

In my opinion, Project Admin in Jira ACP-600 can be a better starting point because it is the only certification that includes a course as well (recommends 6 months of experience). The course will go over the material in the exam. You can solidify your knowledge of a subset of the ACP-100 exam, and give yourself a stepping stone. The knowledge here will be very important to bringing on new projects like HR, software, business, etc.

Of course, it's up to you and your level of experience, and time you have to study. 

Best of luck from one certified Atlassian admin to soon-to-be-another!

Carolyn

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Aaron Geister : perfect answers by Deepanshu and Carolyn!! 😎🤘

Wish you all the best with your Certs! Not easy but highly rewarding!

Other items I would recommend beyond ACP would be a good course on Stakeholder Engagement and something to do with delivering successful Change Management... books are handy:

The Effective Change Manager's Handbook - is the bible and my go to book as a PM regularly involved with change. But it's a monster. Hope you like reading.

Who Moved My Cheese - amazing! You've probably heard of it. Such a great read!

I've also been informed that the following are good but i have not read them myself: The Little Black Book of Change and Brave New Work

For Stakeholder Engagement I didn't read up on books. Just did 13yr+ of bashing my head against walls in the corporate world working it out. Perfect experience 🤯✨👍

My experience is that HR and Business Mgmt. are the most troublesome when it comes to Project Mgmt best practices and you will find very few Atlassian Champions to help you with the change. So final advice: Hang In There - You're Gonna Do Great! 🏆🤓

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

And of course... come to the Community Events to mingle with other like-minded individuals, share war stories and brainstorm on your challenges!!

http://aug.atlassian.com

[Aaron Geister]

Thanks everyone for your advice. It is very much appreciated. I started out my IT career as a networking specialist and have found my passion to become a Jira administrator and hopefully one day master the Atlassian suite which seem to be a big task but I will get there one day. I really love this software and community. Big thanks to everyone.