Prepare for cloud

[gwn]

I am a Jira, JSM, and Confluence administrator, as well as a system administrator on Data Center. We might be moving to the Cloud, and I want to prepare myself.

I will continue in the same role on Cloud, so what should I focus on learning and getting familiar with?

I’m also interested in certifications—where should I start? Do anyone have any tips for me?

[Valerie Knapp]

Hi @gwn , thanks for your post.

I would say generally, between Cloud and Data Center, they are the same tools of Confluence and Jira. If you have experience with them, it's not like going into the cloud, you will have no idea what is going on.

Do you currently have any certifications? 

When I first started doing certifications, I began with the Jira Project Administrator. However, this was in 2021, before the Associate certifications existed, so it also depends a bit on you.

Are you someone who has recently studied for a certification or exam (ITIL)? Are you happy / do you have time to study each day for a sustained period of time to prepare yourself?

If you are just starting out, I would say you could have a look at the Associate pathways. The exams are cheaper. The courses are newer and so they are better (in my opinion) structured and the practice exam questions are more closely aligned to the exam.

However, it also depends, for example, if your employer is willing to pay for the exam and some of your preparation time, you might want to go straight for an ACP, or the Certified Professional.

I would say the most different thing in the cloud is how the organization is managed, so this might be a good course to start with - https://community.atlassian.com/learning/landing/certification-detail/atlassian-cloud-organization-admin . I also thought the course was well structured and I didn't have to study for as long or as much to pass the exam. (I prepared for about a month after having used extensively the admin.atlassian.com site)

If you want to check out the Associate courses, they are here - https://community.atlassian.com/learning/certifications . 

Have a look, have a think and write us here if you have other questions.

Cheers and best of luck!

[Robert Hean]

Heya @gwn  - that is a great question! Some links below for you that you may find helpful as well.

For me it would depend on what you see yourself doing the most and your general role.

e.g. if you spend a LOT of time helping end users understand things, then the ACA's may make sense given they're geared towards general users, however, if you mainly see yourself in the admin role with configuration/etc then the ACP's can make more sense.

One of the biggest differences may be for the Org Admin, so that may be a good starting point so you understanding licensing, groups, access, etc.

Also keep in mind that while earning a certification is always a great option it can be costly plus you have to make time to sit and study for the exam... another possibility would be for you to focus on taking as many learning paths as you can just to ensure you understand how things work and THEN go back and get certified.

Definitely keep your questions coming!  I've found the general concepts and ideas are similar/identical between DC/Cloud, however, how they're implemented differs, and there are some differences we need to be aware of. You're not alone and there's tons of folks out there to help out.

Resources

1. Atlassian's certification page (each one has a learning path, which is available for free).
2. My youtube channel has a lot of courses on Cloud
   1. Jira Service Project Management Cert
   2. Org Admin Cert
   3. Confluence Admin (ongoing) Cert
   4. As well as many for ACA (check the link for playlists for the 910, 920, 905, 900, 915)
3. I've got a number of full-length courses that cover certifications and other Cloud topics