Specialist title granted too easy?

[Gert-Jan van der Pijl]

Hi all, 

I am wondering how others feel about the specialist title setup in the new certifictation structure. Apparently users receive the title Atlassian Certified Agile DevOps Specialist after obtaining four certifications. However, when taking a closer look at these certs I don't think a specialist title really covers it (mostly essentials and board configuration exams).

I guess my points is that although four certs is significant, it are with all respect not very difficult certifications compared to e.g. ACP-420 plus I miss a significant chunk of DevOps methodology included. If I would be a customer whom wants to be advised on DevOps and how Atlassian tooling can facilitate this, would the holder of that title be capable to do that? 

So although I think the new direction is great,  I think a practitioner title or something like that would be more suitable for now. 

have a nice day. 

Gert-Jan

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_]

Although I'm currently aiming to get these 4 ACA certifications to get the designation and I'm still missing 3 at the moment, based on the one Associate exam I took, I can say it was relatively easy compared to ACPs.

Even though it's just a designation title, I agree that it might be worth considering some different naming of that designation. If not now, at least at some point in the future.

[Nayeemuddin Khan]

I do agree with you.

[Jimmy Seddon]

Hey @Gert-Jan van der Pijl!

It wasn't long ago that everyone was complaining to Atlassian that the certifications and the expert designation were too difficult to achieve.  I think they are trying to give people goals to work towards.  Are the titles being given away to easily?  Maybe for the veterans who already had the Expert designation from the past.

But if you look at it from the fact that certifications have been completely re-worked.  People who are just starting to take the associate certifications now have a title to work towards as a part of earning those certifications.

I also have it on good authority from speaking with members of the certification team that they aren't done with titles, these were just the first few to roll out.

I'm sure there may be more challenging ones to ear in the future (especially with great feedback like this).

[Gert-Jan van der Pijl]

Hi Jimmy, 

I definitely agree with you that Atlassians should have a goal to work towards to but I am just not sure if such titles are helpful on the long run for scalability/dillution. Which means imo that ideally we should be able to scale up the cert stack in the future by putting a layer in between and that everyone thereafter still can put everything in perspective. 

Just not sure if this is the right way but let's see where they come up with indeed.

Thanks,  

Gert-Jan