My Journey to Becoming an Elastic Certified Engineer

I’ve been working with Elasticsearch for a few years now, and it’s become an indispensable tool in my tech stack. When I discovered the Elastic Certified Engineer exam, I knew it was the perfect way to validate my skills and demonstrate my expertise. In this article, I’ll share my experience preparing for and passing the exam.

Study Materials

The Elastic Certified Engineer exam is hands-on and performance-based. It’s not your typical multiple-choice affair. As described on the exam description page, you have to complete a series of timed, real-world tasks on Elasticsearch clusters in a proctored environment. I will get back to that topic later. The tasks tests you in different areas, such as cluster management, data processing, data querying, and so on. Here’s what I used to prepare:

• A Cloud Guru’s Elastic Certified Engineer Exam Preparation Course: I can fully recommend this preparation course. It covers topics 1:1 as they are listed in the elastic exam page. The course contains multiple labs per each topic with sample tasks. I really appreciated option to run my elastic cluster playground(s) without need to use elastic cloud clusters on my own, or running elastic clusters locally. At the same time, you get ssh access to the underlying virtual machines where you can play around with the filesystem and elasticsearch.yml configuration file.
• Udemy’s Elastic Certified Engineers Exam v8.1: I did this course to do a cross-check with the a cloud guru’s one. I found the topics to be same as a cloud guru’s, so this course could be used as a substitute for above. I did not found significant added value of doing both courses. While this course is probably less expensive than a cloud guru’s, I found the quality of the speaker better to be in the a cloud guru’s, as the topics are covered more concisely and audio quality is better. Also, you get no playground environment with Udemy course.
• Elasticsearch Guide: Courses above are not sufficient if you are entirely new to the Elasticsearch. They expect you to have basic knowledge of concepts and some working experience already. I found elastic documentation to be superb and one of the best docs for a piece of software I did read in general. If you are new to Elasticsearch, start reading docs and complement with playing around in elastic cluster. However, even if you are already experienced Elasticsearch engineer, I still recommend to visit documentation of every topic required to know for the exam. There are myriad of examples for each topic, often complemented with underlying context and implementation in the engine. The documentation is also only helping source you can have while doing the exam, so it is very good idea to get good feel for it and know how to navigate documentation fast and know where to find relevant documentation for given problem.

Exam Process

The process of registration for the exam and undergoing exam is well described at FAQ page. What is worth to reiterate is that there is no option to do the exam from a testing center, so I had to go with option to do it from my home on my own machine. I will now describe and summarize my exam experience, which is very subjective and might not apply to every exam attempt.

Startup Issues and Obstacles

The exam is proctored with a set time limit. I connected via Zoom app where I got instructed by proctor how to behave during the exam. I had to show my room to the proctor and had microphone and camera always on during whole exam.

Unfortunately, my internet connection dropped in the middle of instructions and I had to tether internet by USB from my phone. I reconnected and got informed that phone can not be on the table while doing exam, so I had to reconnect again and tether internet from phone by Wi-Fi.

Later I got informed that it is not possible to use external screen while being on laptop, unless laptop lid is closed. I did not had external keyword close by, so had to do the exam on my 14 inch screen laptop.

Virtual Environment Surprises

The exam is taken on a virtual environment that I controlled via zoom app. Given I was on 14 inch screen, it was not ideal to be in a zoom window, where virtual machine window is, in which virtual machine’s browser is opened. My working area size was limited to a point where I noticed it.

Secondly, in my case I could feel the latency of my actions as they had to pass through multiple proxy applications. I got used to the delay as the time passed by, however it was also making the exam experience little bit more stressful.

Lastly, in my case some windows laptop shortcuts I got very used to do in Dev Tools console were not working, mainly Shift + Fn + ArrowRight to select the whole text right to the cursor caret. In the browser of virtual environment, the caret just went to the end of line, without selecting the text. There were also more subtle differences which I no longer remember. I got not used to these changes through the whole exam.

Despite the issues mentioned above, the environment was good enough for me to attend the exam efficiently. I am however sure that my experience would be less stressful if I’d attempt the exam in the testing center with reduced amount of proxy applications.

Exam Tasks

There were 10 exam tasks. One task was usually composed of multiple exam topics together. In majority tasks I was not directly asked to apply specific exam topics, but I had to choose to apply knowledge from appropriate exam topics.

I was expecting to get tasks that covers 100 % of the exam topics, but that was not case for me. My questions were more heavily focused around querying the cluster, while certain potential exam topics were uncovered.

Also, I did not had to setup manually anything in elasticsearch.yml file or setup remote cluster. Remote cluster and file system repos were already set up ready for me to use it in cross cluster replication or snapshotting.

Overall, tasks I got matched the materials I studied to prepare for the exam and I was not surprised except one question that I could not find solution for. It was 2nd question for me and I recommend to skip questions you are unsure with and come back to them later to not waste precious time.

The Sweet Taste of Victory

Passing the Elastic Certified Engineer exam was incredibly rewarding. Here’s why it was worth it:

• Validation: The certification confirms your ability to design, deploy, and manage Elasticsearch solutions confidently.
• Career Boost: It sets you apart in the job market and demonstrates your commitment to your craft.
• Community: You join a network of skilled Elasticsearch professionals.

Is It For You?

This exam is not for the faint of heart. If you have solid experience with Elasticsearch, a drive to learn, and you’re ready to be challenged, absolutely go for it!

Tips and Takeaways

• Set realistic expectations: Don’t underestimate the time and effort required.
• Find a study buddy: Having someone to bounce ideas off and troubleshoot with can be a big help.
• Embrace the challenge: Enjoy the learning journey and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with passing!

I hope my experience inspires you if you’re considering getting Elastic Certified. Remember, with focus and practice, you can achieve this valuable certification.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like me to elaborate on specific aspects of the preparation or exam process!

We are ACTUM Digital and this piece was written by Milan Gatyás, Cloud Architect & Team Lead at ACTUM. Feel free to get in touch.