How to Clear the Terraform Associate Certification in 2 Weeks 🚀

Terraform is an essential skill in modern DevOps, and getting certified can boost your confidence and career prospects. In this blog, I’ll share how I prepared for the Terraform Associate certification in just 2 weeks, including my go-to resources, strategies, and tips to ace the exam.

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How I Discovered the Certification

It all started while exploring some of the GitHub repositories of startups I admire. I stumbled upon Zerodha’s GitHub repository. As you can see in the image below, they were using HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language)—a language I hadn’t heard of before.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I dove deep into HCL and Terraform. That’s when I realized how powerful and widely adopted Terraform is in the DevOps world, leading me to pursue the certification.

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Why I Chose to Get Certified

Terraform is a game-changer for automating infrastructure. By writing scripts, you can eliminate human error and achieve consistent deployments across environments.

Example:
Imagine provisioning an EC2 instance manually. A typo in the region or AMI ID could lead to issues. With Terraform, you define your infrastructure as code, making it repeatable and error-free.

Getting certified solidified my understanding of Terraform and made me more confident in my infrastructure automation skills.

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Terraform Exam Structure

The Terraform Associate Exam is designed to validate your foundational knowledge of Terraform and its use cases. Here's a quick overview:

• Format: Multiple choice and multiple response questions

• Duration: 60 minutes

• Passing Score: 70%

• Cost: $70 USD

• Certification Validity: 2 years

Exam Domains and Weightage:

1. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Basics: 25%

2. Terraform Core Concepts: 35%

3. Working with Terraform Modules: 20%

4. Managing Resources and State: 15%

5. Terraform CLI and Cloud Services: 5%

For up-to-date details, you can visit the official HashiCorp certification page.

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My 2-Week Strategy to Clear the Exam

Week 1: Understanding Concepts

1. Watch Andrew Brown’s Free Terraform Course
   Start with this amazing course by Andrew Brown, available on YouTube (watch here).

   

   • Focus on understanding Terraform basics, state management, and modules.

   • Take notes and highlight key points for revision.

2. Hands-On Practice with Terraform
   Hands-on experience is critical. I followed this detailed video by Rahul Wagh (watch here).

   

   Set up a basic Terraform project to manage AWS resources like EC2 instances or S3 buckets.

   • Play around with variables, outputs, and state files.

Week 2: Practice and Perfection

1. Take Practice Tests
   I cannot stress enough how important practice tests are. This Udemy course was my go-to resource (get it here).

   

   • The test series mimics real exam questions and helps identify weak areas.

   • Aim to score at least 85% consistently before taking the actual exam.

2. Revise and Clarify Doubts

   • Revisit your notes and focus on sections you found challenging.

   • Use Terraform’s official documentation for in-depth explanations.

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Here’s What Your Certification Will Look Like

Once you pass, your Terraform certification badge will look something like this:
Check my badge here.

This badge is a great way to showcase your skills on LinkedIn, Twitter, and your resume.

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Let’s Connect!

If you found this guide helpful, feel free to tag me on Twitter @Mayanks_TW and share your experience. Also, don’t forget to share this blog post with others who are preparing for the exam!

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Good luck, and happy studying! You’ve got this! 💪