A Complete Guide for those who want to take this exam
Docker is an enterprise-ready container platform that enables organizations to seamlessly build, share, and run any application, anywhere. Almost every company is containerizing its applications for faster production workloads so that they can deploy anytime and sometimes several times a day. The Docker offers Docker Certified Associate (DCA) exam to validate the skillset with real-world questions designed by experienced Docker practitioners. I recently took the DCA exam and this article is all about what is this exam, tips to pass the exam, and a lot more.
- Why should you take this exam
- Any Prerequisites
- About the exam
- Where to register
- How to train
- Useful Tips and Tricks
- Before the exam
- During the exam
- After the exam
- Other Certifications To Consider
- Conclusion
Why should you take this exam
As I said before, all the applications that we are building nowadays are meant for cloud infrastructure and we are containerizing apps for faster deployments into production so that we can deploy anytime, anywhere. This is one of the most sought after skills that companies need right now. Almost every company is either converting their legacy applications into cloud-native apps or building new apps which are cloud-native. So, this is the right time for anyone to take this exam not only to prove their expertise in this field but also to strengthen your Docker skills.
In addition, you can get exclusive access to the Docker Certified professional network on LinkedIn and invites to certified-only events, online verification of certification, pdf certificate, and logo as well.
Any Prerequisites
You don?t need any prerequisite exams before you take this exam. Docker recommends 6 to 12 months of Docker experience. A good understanding of Linux kernel, namespaces, and control groups is recommended. If you want to take this exam, I would suggest you go through Linux essentials first.
About the exam
This is a multiple-choice exam. This exam has 55 questions and should be completed in 90 minutes. It is designed to validate the skill set of someone who has 6?12 months of experience. The exam cost you $195 and there is no free retake for this exam. You have to complete it successfully in a single take. You get the exam results instantly with the breakdown like below and you will receive an email with the same result with the Docker Certified Associate logo and link for the LinkedIn group exclusive for the people who took this exam.
Now the exam format is completely different than before. You will have questions in the DOMC (Discrete Option Multiple Choice) format.
Result Screen
Where to register
Examity proctors this exam and you need to go their website here to register for the exam. Once you register and schedule the exam, you can reschedule the exam at any time. I even rescheduled one hour before the exam once. You can log in anytime to check the system requirements check, reschedule an exam, start the exam, etc. You can?t start the exam until 15 min of the scheduled time. You receive a confirmation email as well.
Exam Dashboard
How to train
There are a number of online platforms where you can take training for this exam, for example, Linux Academy, Udemy, etc. But You need to do a lot of practice for this exam even though it is not a performance-based exam. There is so much information about the Docker that you can?t memorize the whole information. I would recommend you installing a Docker for Desktop on your laptop and practice as much as you can from these Docs here. I put tother 250 questions for this exam take a look before the exam. I would also suggest this GitHub link to go through each section based on the study guide here.
250 Practice Questions for the DCA Exam
Sample questions get you ready for the Docker Certified Associate exam
medium.com
Useful Tips and Tricks
- Once you decide you want to take this exam, the first thing you need to do is practice. Download the study guide form here and try to practice each section. You can install Docker on any operating systems Mac OS, Windows, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu.
- Once you install Docker based on your operating system you start with Image creation and management and practice each section from the study guide.
- Docker recommends 6 to 12 months of real-time experience But, I personally feel that if you install Docker on your machine and practice enough with all the sections of the study guide. That experience is more than enough to take this exam.
- Make a list of all important points from all the sections as you practice such as the list I posted above (250 questions). These lists come handy before you take the exam or you can just go through that list.
- You have absolutely 90 minutes to complete 55 questions which make around 1 and a half minutes for every question. If you are stuck or don?t know the answer for any question just skip it and come back later. You can flag questions so that you can come back later easily in the exam. Time is not a problem with this exam.
- Mostly we install the community edition on our machine. But Docker offers a free trial of enterprise edition for 30 days. I would recommend using this trial since the exam equally focuses on the EE topics (UCP, DTR, and DCT, etc.) as well.
- If you are a reader, you can read books as well on Docker. I would recommend starting with this book: Docker Deep Dive book by Nigel Poulton. Don?t just read one book. Every book gives you a different perspective. I would recommend you read as many books as possible.
- If you are stuck or don?t find an answer in the Docker docs. Search the web and read as many blogs as possible until you understand that topic.
- Once you are familiar enough with the topics and schedule an exam and prepare for the exam. If you don?t feel comfortable taking the exam feel free to reschedule it. Remember there is no free retake for this exam. You have only one attempt.
- Now, this exam contains some Kubernetes questions as well. I would encourage you to understand how Kube and Docker works together.
- Test your knowledge with this Github link before the exam.
Before the exam
If you want to reschedule the exam, you can do it anytime before the exam because I even rescheduled an hour before the exam once. Practice one more time all the questions in the above link before the exam. Make sure You go through all the docs based on the exam study guide so that you can remember things well in the exam.
During the exam
You can start the exam within 15 minutes of your scheduled time. Once you start the exam you have to wait until proctor connects with you. The proctor sends you the GoToMeeting link where you can connect with him via video call. Once the greeting is over the proctor wants you to show you the complete room to make sure you will have a clear desk area, nobody in the room, etc and explain all the rules of the exam. Sometimes they might check the internet speed as well. The minimum should be 4Mbps as fas as I remember. Sometimes they might send you a zoom link as well to proctor the exam. Once the proctor is satisfied with all the setup, he/she verifies the government ID and takes you to some agreements page. Once done all the above steps you can start the exam. Your counter begins as soon as he/she starts the exam. You can ask the proctor during the exam if you have any issues.
After the exam
You get the exam results immediately for this exam like the screen that I have shown above. If you pass the exam you would get the congratulation email like below. You also get the Docker associate badge and link to the Linkedin group exclusive to the people who successfully completed the exam along with it. Accredible is the one that maintains the credentials of this Docker exam for you. You can actually share this on several platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
Docker Email
Other Certifications To Consider
You might consider writing these certifications. If interested follow these links.
- How To Pass the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Exam
- How To Pass the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Exam
- How To Pass the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam
- How to Pass The AWS Cloud Practioner (CLF-C01) Exam
- How to Pass the AWS Certified Developer ? Associate Exam
- How To Pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect ? Associate Exam
- How To Pass AWS Certified SysOps Administrator ? Associate
- How To Pass HashiCorp Terraform Associate Certification
- How to Pass The GCP Associate Cloud Engineer Exam
Conclusion
Practice. Practice. Practice. You need to practice a lot for this exam. Even though this is not a performance-based exam the more you practice, the easier for you to remember in the exam. This exam definitely enhances your Docker skills and provide validation for your expertise.
Obviously the next exam that you would consider is CKAD. If you are interested in it follow these links.
- How To Pass the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Exam
- Practice Enough With These 150 Questions for the CKAD Exam
- Github link for the practice questions
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