DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the following section is purely my own.
So I just passed the VCAP-CMA Design exam and overall – I have a mix feelings about it.
For one – this is a pure contrast with the deploy / administration exams track which focuses heavily on real-world/hands-on familiarity of the solutions.
The multiple choice style question ‘ala VCP’ felt like a chore considering some of the questions are based on having to memorize specific items of the solution.
The saving grace are the questions that will test how you would be tackling different scenario. This kind of questions felt more “designey” compared to the ‘memorize’ kind of questions.
How did I prepare
It’s my second take. The first one (VCAP6-CMA Design) I didn’t review enough and just read the Architecture PDF. After the 1st take, I only got 280 points which is not bad considering the effort I did.
This gave me the foundation on what to review and try out in my homelab before attempting for my second take.
The official blueprint – I feel like is scarce in content to cover what the exam will be throwing at you. Just look at it – it’s basically a PDF with outline of all the topics and a practice questions 🙁
I hope they improve this in the next iteration.
What’s Next
I actually don’t know. After this exam, I just completed VCIX for the three tracks: DV, NV, and CMA. I guess the logical choice will be to go for the D (VCDX!) — but we’ll see 🙂
