Rubrik : RCSA Exam Guidance

Background

It's been a while since I'm involved with Rubrik. I was fortunate enough to be part of the CDM 4.0 beta test, helping Rubrik Engineers to polish Nutanix AHV support. This is a great opportunity to be an early adopter, you have the ability to help driving the product into the right direction. One of the achievements I had in mind was to pass the certification. Probably not as easy as it had thought ....

Go Get the Certificate ! ... well not like that

Rubrik University is quite new (established late 2019, more info here), there are currently two certifications : the Rubrik Certified System Administrator (RCSA) and the Rubrik Certified Implementation Engineer (RCIE). The last one is more for partners to maintain a level of certification with Rubrik. The one I had in mind, the RCSA, is more for anyone who wants to be recognised for their knowledge on the product.

The good thing is, the certification is free. But, don't expect to get it by just jumping into it. I had that feeling initially. I was (too) confident, using Rubrik every day for a couple or years now : my bad ! The certification is using the well known Docebo platform, it is not proctored, so you can do it open book if you want. I must admit that when I tried for the first time I tried to get some assistance from Google and.... I scored 30%. Yes, you read it correctly.

I have the feeling that the questions have been designed in that flavor. Knowing that potentially, any student can try the certification for free with an open book, it must be hard. Ok, it really is !

Really focus on the task

Next strategy, engage with the Rubrik training to unleash all the potential of getting the badge ! So I really - really - recommend you to attend the 4-days class 'Introduction to Rubrik CDM'. Rubrik strongly recommend to attend the class and I cannot agree more. The 4 days are intense but full of labs and useful tips. Of course, this is not free, however, the certification is.

So, what's the issue ? The exam is based on CDM versions between 5.0 and 5.2, we are using 5.3 for a couple of month and we already got used the changes, so, some questions/answers are ambiguous.

Get this done once for all!

So, the exam is composed of 70 questions, multiple or single choice. You have 1h15 this is more than enough. You really have to read the questions correctly, slowly, reading any negation/affirmation to be sure you got it ! You need to score at least 75% to pass. Honorable score is between 76 and 79%. 

Ideally, try it just after the training while everything is fresh, it helps a lot. You have 3 attempts and you need to wait a week before each. I did it couple of month ago for the first time and the second attempt just after the training was the good one ;) Oh and you are not getting any Acclaim badge SHAME ;) 

I hope this will provide some guidance or stress relief to anyone who is aiming at getting it.

This was the type of return of experience I was looking at in my early stage of thinking at this exam. Good luck to anyone.

Last comment : Rubrik is in the process of changing his training platform and exam rules (and potentially the acclaim badge as well....).