topic Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS in NetApp Learning Services Discussions

How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

Jerry2 — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:12:12 GMT

Hi all,

my question is how the efficient preparation for the Netapp exam should look like. To be honest, I have no practical experience with storage devices. Neverthless, I have done some Netapp labs, which I find cool.

So, what is better? Just read the 3000+ pages of documentation? Doing some labs? The thing is that the questions starts with the hypothetical claim - what would you do if you experienced this and that issue? I have no clue about this possibilities and how to solve them. Even the Netapp virtual course is not much helpful, since it doesnt prepare for the exam itself.

Then, I would say, it is fair to create a prerequisite certification or course or whatever, which should be interstage between no experience and full NCDA knowledge.

Then, I can read hundreds of text, but I do not know what is important what not. Simply, I can not measure my improvement, which is higly frustrating.

Maybe it would be wiser to have 3 levels of NCDA, lets say Bronze level, Silver level and Golden level of knowledge within one NCDA certificate.

Cheers!

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

SpindleNinja — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 20:50:59 GMT

There's a reference list of docs that we create/publish when writing the NetApp Cert. - https://www.netapp.com/pdf.html?item=/media/12176-ncp-reference-documentpdf.pdf

Which is better? labs or docs?
- depends, i personally learn hands on and ref docs when needed.

Re: prerequisite - for the NCDA we say it's someone with 6 months of ONTAP admin experience. but not required to take the test.

If you're interested in how we write these cert tests, here's some reading on it - https://spindleninja.org/2020/05/15/certifications-being-a-sme/

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

Jerry2 — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 17:09:57 GMT

Hi @SpindleNinja ,

thank you so much for sharing your own personal experience.

Your blog is very useful to gain an insight into Netapp philosophy.

I wish I had so deep technical overview!

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

SpindleNinja — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:12:58 GMT

Study4Exam is a "dumpsite", please don't use it. These don't teach you anything.

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

Jerry2 — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:21:44 GMT

Thanks for your point of view, @ameliabenjamin. Indeed, preparation for NCDA certification is very challenging and difficult. Moreover, without mentoring and individual help, it's extremely tough for the majority of people, especially those without prior experience. If I had known this earlier, I might have quit the job or even left the industry altogether.

I understand that many people feel forced to use old tests or other grey area materials to pass the exam, as mentioned. Looking back, I've realized that most certifications aren’t worth pursuing unless you already have many years of experience. The problem in the industry is that some companies require certifications to sell devices, get discounts, etc., and this creates a kind of conundrum.

My solution to break this cycle is to rethink how certifications are structured—specifically, to focus on testing practical knowledge through simulations of real-world scenarios, which is now more feasible than ever thanks to AI. This would be much better than the current approach, which often includes marketing-oriented questions without adequate context.

I remember once posting a quick question here that I had encountered on the exam, and people told me that without more information (which wasn’t provided in the exam question), you couldn’t choose the correct answer—this drove me crazy at the time.

To wrap up, I’ve personally lost trust in most certifications because they don’t truly test your real-world knowledge. Instead, they often focus on marketing content combined with a bit of luck and memorized facts. To be honest, as I may have mentioned in my post three years ago, NetApp certifications are really for highly trained and experienced engineers who are primarily focused on storage areas.

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

Drew_C — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:36:56 GMT

I just deleted that post and banned the user. Reviving a nearly 3 year old topic just to post a link to a dumpsite seems... spammy.

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

vinitlakhotiya17 — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 06:07:14 GMT

thanks for sharing this information.

Re: How to prepare for NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP 162 TIPs and TRICKS

vinitlakhotiya17 — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 06:07:36 GMT

thanks for sharing