CompTIA Cloud+

Anybody sat this paper or studied for it?

Just of the depth in context and if it would be beneficial.

Thanks

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Hello there,

I sat for and passed the Cloud+ exam about two weeks ago. I was between terms for school and wanted to occupy my time with something besides work and figured why not - my entire infrastructure is in a hosted environment and I don't have time for a VMware cert. So I picked up the Stammer/Wilson book as its the only real study guide that is/was available. I have a set study method that has served me well in the past, so I typically know what im getting into timewise and this was no different. I went through the book and took notes as if I was in a lecture hall and a professor was reading from slides, taking each of the end of chapter tests along the way. I then go back through the book and highlight my notes, retaking the end of chapter tests and then move on to the questions on the CD for my final few days of study.

The book itself wasn't terrible. With this method of study, I've found I can isolate technical terms that may not be consistent throughout the book and the mistakes were less than five but nothing that should derail your study. The exam was harder than I expected, although I'm not great at taking tests and generally have a more difficult time sitting for them. The Cloud+ felt like it was missing something though. I get that there are only so many ways you can cover PaaS, IaaS and SaaS, but it felt like CompTIA threw in questions that weren't really related to the subject material. I've sat for a fair number of CompTIA exams and they really borrowed/supplemented from the other exams. Grilling me on port assignments is valid, but really CompTIA? You couldn't have found a better use of a question than what port SMTP uses in a cloud environment?

All in all I'm glad I sat for the exam. The book does an ok job at preparing you, but I would focus on the topics the book covers in more detail. For example, if the book mentions something offhand like a resource pools and dedicates only a short paragraph in one chapter to them, chances are you're going to get grilled on them. It felt like the exam was focusing on that one step beyond that wasn't expressly stated in the book and left you to select the best answer. On a scale of difficulty with the CASP being a 10 and the Project+ being a 4, I would rank this one at a 7. Keep in mind, I'm not a brilliant man by any means, so if you've got it going on, you shouldn't have any problems.

Protip - subnetting. Its not covered expressly in the book, but you may get it on the exam.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can shoot me a PM.

adam220891

Is this certification 'worthwhile'? Is there anything really to be learned and is it recognized? Not sure I can get my employer to pay for it, but it seems like a decent stepping stone towards understanding our SAN, private cloud, and VMWare environment.

fuz1on

It's worth it for $99 bucks and you don't even have to leave your room. *edit* I decided to take all 3.

"CompTIA is proud to offer you the opportunity to take the CompTIA Project+, Cloud+ or Server+ exams at home with online proctoring."

https://proctoru.com/portal/comptia

adam220891 wrote: »

Is this certification 'worthwhile'? Is there anything really to be learned and is it recognized? Not sure I can get my employer to pay for it, but it seems like a decent stepping stone towards understanding our SAN, private cloud, and VMWare environment.

owieczka_ma

Thanks a lot @fuz1on for this link. Price for the exam is quite interesting comparing of course to the price from PearsonVUE. Has anyone actually tried this already?

fuz1on

Trying Cloud+ tomorrow!

BTW, you can get a 7-day free trial for the Cloud+ McGraw-Hill study guide for Kindle app compatible devices (on Amazon). This is turning out to be the deal of the century...or at least of 2014. 2014 was a great year for freebies - to tell you the truth.

owieczka_ma

Thanks for this update. Can you also provide small input about link between: ProctorU & CompTIA? I haven't found any details about this partnership yet.
Can you also provide any information about formal process after passing this exam?

Thanks.

fuz1on

owieczka_ma wrote: »

Thanks for this update. Can you also provide small input about link between: ProctorU & CompTIA? I haven't found any details about this partnership yet.
Can you also provide any information about formal process after passing this exam?

Thanks.

*edit* I made a new post about the exam on ProctorU - I'll elaborate here though. I had a tough time even logging in due to no documented procedure. When I finally did, it took 30+ mins to eventually get started due to technical issues (ie. no offical link to exam location and copy/pasting URI with space; incorrect login/pass 3x). The worst part though was that since the official test taking process had started - I couldn't do anything in my own room...even going to the bathroom. I think I might have been one of the first to take it since my proctor never saw a CompTIA exam until mine. All in all, it's a PASS so I'm going to recommend this for anyone that's interested. Hopefully, it can be a great 3 for 1 deal for others like it should be for me!

It's a charter online exam program until 2/16. I signed up on ProctorU first and then CompTIA sends you exam/voucher codes for you to use on the Pearson Vue site. You just register like if you were going to a physical location and that's it.

owieczka_ma

fuz1on wrote: »

It's a charter online exam program until 2/16. I signed up on ProctorU first and then CompTIA sends you exam/voucher codes for you to use on the Pearson Vue site. You just register like if you were going to a physical location and that's it.

That's what I was looking for! Thanks a lot.
You are correct - process for CompTIA exam(s) with ProctorU is quite "horrible". There is no clear procedure described in FAQ (I was counting on that). And additionally - the promo code they sent me doesn't work in my country (Poland). I am waiting for any feedback from ProctorU explaining this problem. It may be related to the thing this offer is really limited to US only (my suspicion).

Anyway - thanks a lot for this update and - once more - congrats on your pass.

ThePawofRizzo

adam220891 wrote: »

Is this certification 'worthwhile'? Is there anything really to be learned and is it recognized? Not sure I can get my employer to pay for it, but it seems like a decent stepping stone towards understanding our SAN, private cloud, and VMWare environment.

I took Cloud+ about a year ago. It's worth it (especially for $99!) as a introduction to Cloud and Virtualization terminology and theory, particularly if you're new to IT or trying to move from desktop or client support into more of a server/network support role. I think any of the CompTIA coursework is worthwhile to familiarize yourself with areas of IT in which you may not work regularly, so you at least have a baseline with which to communicate with other IT staff in other areas.