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.
