Mirantis Training and the OpenStack Foundation Certification

Since the Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA) exam announcement by the OpenStack foundation, we have received many inquiries about how OpenStack Training and Certification by Mirantis intersects with the OpenStack Foundation’s COA exam. In this blog, we’ll answer the most crucial questions that we think matter most to existing and prospective students.

Was Mirantis involved with the development OpenStack Foundation certification exam, and if so, how did Mirantis contribute?
Yes, Mirantis was part of both the Item Writing and the Job Task Analysis committees that were formed by the OpenStack foundation to develop the Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA).

As an Item Writing committee member, Mirantis’ contributions included (but are not limited to) the creation and approval of exam items, participation in beta testing, and refinement of the exam to meet psychometric requirements.

For the Job Task Analysis committee, Mirantis utilized its training and certification expertise to ensure that the new certification clearly defines the skills and capabilities of a Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA)

What are the differences between COA, MCA100 and MCA200?
Comparing the MCA100 and COA is like comparing apple and oranges in terms of what is being tested. MCA100 is testing your knowledge of how to operate an OpenStack environment while COA and MCA200 are testing your ability to actually do it.

Therefore, it only makes sense to compare COA and MCA200.

The COA exam is a hands-on exam that requires candidate to perform various operations on an existing Openstack Project. The COA exam has candidates start with an environment that includes provisioned project, networks, and vm.

On the other hand, the MCA200 exam takes a start-from-scratch approach. Students begin with a nearly empty environment, and must go through the initial configuration of users, tenants, quotas, images, networks etc. We strongly believe this approach represents what OpenStack Certified individuals need to do be able to do in real life situations.

	Foundation Certification	Mirantis Certification
Maturity	Since Q2’2016	Since Q4’2013
Professionals certified	N/A	3,000+
Vendor agnostic	Yes	Yes	Yes
Development	OpenStack community contributors	Mirantis product development and training curriculum team
Certification Support	N/A	Dedicated Mirantis training team
Exams available	COA	Associate Level MCA100	Professional Level MCA200
Format	Online, hands-on	Online, written test	Classroom & online, hands-on

If I am already certified with Mirantis, do I need to also get certified by the OpenStack Foundation?
If you are already certified with MCA200, we don’t believe you need another OpenStack certification unless it's requested by your employer. Since 2013, the MCA200 exam has set the benchmark for proving a candidate has working, hands-on knowledge of OpenStack and over 3,000 professionals have already gotten certified for OpenStack by Mirantis. In addition, we have created a platform for those looking for OpenStack professionals to verify Mirantis' industry-recognized certificates.

Will Mirantis training help prepare me for the OpenStack Foundation’s Certification? In preparation for the Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA) certification, which of Mirantis’ courses is most suitable?
Yes, our industry recognized OpenStack Bootcamp courses provide a detailed coverage of all of the steps needed to deploy and operate OpenStack. In our experience, besides training, practical and real-world experience is the best preparation for any certification exam. To learn more about Mirantis bootcamps and certification exams for OpenStack, visit training.mirantis.com. We hope to see you in one of our classrooms soon.