I passed the HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate exam in 2022, got the badge, made a video on it, and now here’s the blog post.
Pre-Flight Check
Certifications aren’t everything. Sure, they look good to employers and may look good to other engineers, they aren’t the end-all-be-all sign of mastery. They’re a good way to pick up skills and showing that achievement, but YMMV. More on the value of certs here, but keep your motivations in mind and let’s get into the steps by step on getting your HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate in no time.
How to go from Beginner to Amateur
As you gear up to pass the HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate exam, it’s essential to approach your preparation with a strategic plan. Here’s a guide to streamline your learning process
Set a Deadline!
…and keep yourself accountable! 30 days is a good time frame to cover the material without feeling too much pressure, but also so much time that it’s hard to maintain focus.
Take a Course (wow!)
A guided path is the easiest way to make sure you’re getting the info you need. I took the one from the a cloud guru, but I’ve heard good things about the KodeKloud one as well. You can’t go wrong either way. Pick one and stick to it.
HANDS-ON PRACTICE
Both of the aforementioned courses offer hands-on labs for live practice. DO THESE, the best way to learn is by doing. Plus it’s nice to take a break from the videos every so often. If you don’t have access to hands on labs, the next point is even more important.
Do it Yourself!
Deploy something… anything you want! Try an EC2 sitting behind a load balancer. Get creative and fancy. The idea here is to not only practice, but give yourself flexibility to explore Terraform beyond the basics.
You may also want to try the features of Terraform cloud. Most clients and companies that use Terraform aren’t on the Terraform Cloud premium platform, but HashiCorp makes it part of the exam curriculum (whataya gonna do about it).
Some Tips for the Exam
Take a Practice Exam
Find a practice exam online. Take it and review it with a timer. Make your practice runs as close as you possibly can to taking the actual exam.
Use the Official Resources
Make sure to reference the official exam outline. Rehash any topics you feel shaky on with the official study guide from HashiCorp.
Prepare for Exam Day Shenanigans
If you haven’t taken any of these online certification exams before, mentally prepare yourself to use one of the worst pieces of software created to do it.
You’ll have to download a “secure” browser (read spyware) to take the exam that will record face, audio, etc. Combine that with a terrible UI and you have yourself a great recipe for instant stress.
Just remember when it’s exam time it’s important to stay calm. Make that a priority.
Here’s How I Did…
| Category | % | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Understand infrastructure as code (IaC) concepts | 100% |
| 2 | Understand Terraform’s purpose (vs other IaC) | 50% |
| 3 | Understand Terraform basics | 100% |
| 4 | Use the Terraform CLI (outside of core workflow) | 100% |
| 5 | Interact with Terraform modules | 66% |
| 6 | Navigate Terraform workflow | 75% |
| 7 | Implement and maintain state | 87% |
| 8 | Read, generate, and modify configuration | 100% |
| 9 | Understand Terraform Cloud and Enterprise capabilities | 33% |
| – | – | – |
| Reported Score (weights unknown) | 84% |
This was my results from a few years back, the criteria may have changed, but thought it may be fun for your viewing pleasure. Hope this helps.
Here’s the Github README.md version of this article, and here’s the video version:
Good luck, have fun!
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