How I became a Red Hat Certified Architect in 3 weeks

That seems incredible and honestly I didn't believe it my self. I didn't believe that I could do it; and before self-challenging myself, I didn't even believe that I could become an RHCA.

But, let's talk about this great journey, how it started and how it ended. Well, you know it ended, but maybe you need to know what's next ?

How it started ?

It is not a secret that I am seasoned guy in OpenShift. I have been working at Red Hat for 13 years. And even by working in one the best workplace and coolest company in the industry for years does not prevent you from being caught by the imposter syndrome.

I have been involved in the development of kubernetes and some other products in the OpenShift ecosystem. I have also worked as a consultant and architect just after the release of OpenShift 3.0 and I even did not had time to train my self to this new product.

The business train was moving so fast, that I found my self almost unknowledgeable on OpenShift 4.x after I have started a new role in Red Hat Engineering team. I caught up things slowly but after a while, I wanted to assess my competencies and to reinsure myself.

Then, AI came with all its amazing new stuff and OpenShift was proposing a new product that you may heard of: OpenShift AI. Gaining interest about everything touching to LLM, ML, AI and so on, I wanted to give it a try, but I wanted to do that seriously. So, my great friend Meissa Sakho , who is also RHCA, bootstrapped me on our internal learning platform named ROLE and also he gave me the basics about OpenShift AI.... this is were my crazy journey started, an early friday of July while I was on PTO.

The Challenge I Set for Myself

The initial spark with OpenShift AI

It all began when I started exploring OpenShift AI, a product that was completely new to me. With a blank slate and a curious mind, I threw myself into the training and labs during the evenings of the last week of July. The labs were incredibly well-designed, and having access to a powerful and reliable learning environment with just a few clicks was a game changer. By the time I felt comfortable with the product, I decided to book my first Red Hat exam since 2016, which I took on August 1st.

Passing that exam was an amazing feeling. Despite being new to OpenShift AI, I found that many aspects were already familiar. The integration of OpenShift AI with the broader OpenShift platform felt natural to me, as it followed the same mindset I had grown accustomed to over the years. Even some of the less perfectly integrated projects, like Jupyter Notebook, were familiar territory. I had been tinkering with machine learning algorithms in my spare time, trying to understand how they worked, so seeing these tools within the OpenShift environment felt like a continuation of my personal projects.

The seamless SSO integration with OpenShift was another highlight—it made the entire experience smooth and comfortable. This deep dive into OpenShift AI was more than just learning a new product; it was a catalyst that motivated me to explore even more new things and boosted my confidence in my ability to achieve my goals.

This was the spark that ignited my journey, setting me on the path to becoming a Red Hat Certified Architect in just three weeks.

Embracing Failure: My Journey with OpenShift Virtualization

After my success with OpenShift AI, I turned my attention to another powerful tool: OpenShift Virtualization. This is a massive tool, brilliantly designed and seamlessly integrated with the OpenShift platform, making it an essential part of the ecosystem. I was excited to dive in, but I quickly realized that this would be a more challenging endeavor.

As I prepared for the exam, I invested a lot of time in understanding the intricacies of OpenShift Virtualization. Despite my efforts, I encountered my first major setback: I failed the exam. It was much longer and more demanding than I had anticipated, pushing me beyond my limits.

However, this failure brought me to a crucial realization—the importance of not fearing failure but instead embracing it. This brings me to my second piece of advice for anyone on a similar journey: fail fast and learn from it.

Failing the exam was tough, but I didn't let it discourage me. Instead, I rebooked the exam for later that same week. Armed with the lessons I learned from my initial attempt, I focused on the areas where I struggled, refined my understanding, and approached the material with a renewed determination.

By the time I retook the exam, I was better prepared, more confident, and ready to succeed—and I did. Passing the exam on my second attempt was not just a victory in itself but a testament to the power of perseverance and the value of learning from failure.

That was also the moment that I started to communicate on social media and I was preparing something on my mind, but I couldn't tell about my self goal because of the shame or discouragement that I could feel if I had to stop the challenge.

Gaining Momentum: My Certification Spree

After my success with OpenShift Virtualization, I felt a surge of momentum and decided to capitalize on it. My certification spree had truly begun. To give myself a bit of a breather while still maintaining my momentum, I aimed for a couple of certifications that I considered easier and within my grasp.

The day before my second attempt at the OpenShift Virtualization exam, I went ahead and booked two additional certifications: the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Containers and the Certified OpenShift Administrator. These were areas I felt comfortable with, so I didn't dedicate as much time to preparation. For the Containers certification, I passed on the first try without much difficulty. The OpenShift Administrator exam, however, was a bit more challenging—I passed, but just barely, achieving the minimal required score. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but a pass is a pass, and it allowed me to keep moving forward without losing my momentum.

As I racked up these certifications, I started to share my journey more publicly on LinkedIn. My posts began receiving more engagement, and I could see that people were starting to take notice. However, I kept one thing to myself: my ultimate goal of becoming a Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA). It was a goal I was determined to achieve, but I wanted to reach it quietly, letting my actions speak louder than words.

One Step Away: Overcoming Certification Fatigue

With only one certification left to meet the "additional certifications needed" for my RHCA, I set my sights on the Red Hat Certified OpenShift Application Developer exam. By this point, I was feeling confident, but I underestimated the toll that exam fatigue had taken on me. It was a late Friday afternoon when I took the exam, and to make matters worse, I encountered connection issues that only added to the stress. The first attempt was, quite frankly, a disaster.

Realizing that I needed to regroup, I decided to dedicate more time over the weekend to thoroughly prepare. I reviewed the material, practiced key areas, and ensured my environment was stable. By Tuesday morning, I was ready to try again. This time, the exam went smoothly, and I passed successfully almost reaching the maximum score.

I was thrilled—I had now completed all the "extra" required certifications. But despite this achievement, I still hadn't tackled the foundational ones, which are the core of the RHCA certification. My excitement was tempered by the realization that the toughest challenges were still ahead.

At that time, my secret goal was still a secret, but a few friends were in the circle of confidence which gave me a boost to the final step.

The Final Push: Conquering RHCSA and RHCE

The last two certifications on my journey to becoming an RHCA were the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) and Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) on RHEL 9. My last certification in this series was on RHEL 6 back in 2016—three generations ago. While I was still a daily Linux user, including RHEL to some extent, this generational gap added a new layer of complexity to the challenge.

With a mix of excitement and apprehension, I began preparing. I didn't dedicate as much time to preparation as I probably should have, given my experience, but I felt confident enough to give it a shot. I scheduled the RHCSA exam for an early Friday morning, hoping to start the weekend on a high note. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I failed miserably, scoring just 35% (though I'll spare you the exact number).

Despite this setback, I wasn't ready to give up. Over the weekend, I went back to the basics, reviewing what had gone wrong and shoring up my weak areas. By Monday morning, I was ready to retake the exam, and this time, I passed.

By this point, failure had become almost routine—a bit unsettling, but it also pushed me to focus more on what needed to be done. I kept quiet about this latest "success" and turned my attention to the RHCE exam. Like before, I didn’t prepare extensively beyond fixing the mistakes that led to my RHCSA failure. Even though the RHCSA and RHCE share similar concepts, the approach to achieving them is entirely different.

Once again, I faced failure on my first attempt, only to succeed on the second try, which I scheduled for early Thursday morning. This second pass on the RHCE exam was particularly satisfying, as it not only marked the end of a grueling certification spree but also unlocked my RHCA badge.

And, of course, there was the icing on the cake: gaining access to the free swag shop, which had been a quirky yet ultimate motivation driving me to complete this journey.

This experience taught me that failure is a part of the process—sometimes an unavoidable one—but it’s how you respond to those setbacks that truly defines your success.

Key Takeaways or the TL;DR section

That was an amazing journey to a dream that I was thinking out of reach and I wanted to share some part of it with you. Of course there is no ultimate secret on how to reach RHCA in 3 weeks but here a few take away that I can share based on this experience.

Embrace Failure as Part of the Process: For me, DevOps, MLOps, or software engineering in general, is the science of "Fail Fast". This journey reinforced the importance of not being discouraged by failure. Each setback, whether it is an exam or a challenge in our career, is an opportunity to learn and grow. Failing doesn’t make us weaker—it strengthens our resolve and sharpens our skills.

Prepare Just Enough: While preparation is crucial, don’t overestimate the need for perfection. We are not where we are by accident; our journey, experiences, and the challenges we’ve overcome have already equipped you with a solid foundation. One has to trust in the work done for these long years and the nights and days spent to build expertise drop by drop. The skills and knowledge gained over time, even from unrelated problems, contribute to readiness ( every kubernetes engineer wants to add the word probe here, I know that).

Celebrate and Share Your Successes: Sharing our successes, no matter how small, and celebrating milestones are vital for maintaining motivation and morale. Success isn’t just about achieving the end goal; it’s about enjoying the journey along the way. Sharing achievements with others not only boosted my own confidence but also inspired those around me.

Adapt and Persevere: Sometimes things won’t go as planned—whether it’s a failed exam or an unexpected challenge at work. What matters most is how we respond. Adapt our strategy, put in the necessary work to overcome the obstacle, and keep moving forward. Perseverance is key to turning failures into stepping stones toward success.

Stay Quiet About Big Goals: Sometimes, keeping biggest goals secret can be powerful. It allows to focus on the work rather than external pressures. By staying quiet about my RHCA ambition until it was achieved, I was able to concentrate fully on what needed to be done without added distractions.

These takeaways are not just lessons from a certification journey—they’re applicable to any professional challenge. Remember, success is as much about persistence and mindset as it is about skill.

And one more thing: Do Things Early; I haven't told that explicitly but, whenever it was possible, I booked my exams at very early moments of the day, sometimes starting at 6AM, and connecting 20 minutes before, as the exam platform allows it. Proctors (people monitoring the exams) are usually in a later timezone, so it is great to benefit from that Open Shift. Another 2cts joke.

I hope you enjoyed reading that blog post and feel free to share it or use any LLM to summarise it if is too long.

A few kudos to friends and supporters : Meissa Sakho, Jawed Khelil, Jerome Sheed, Anis Tiouajni, Jihed Mselmi, Mourad Ouachani, Ishita Sequeira

And last but not the least, I want to thank my wife: With your support this would not have been possible. ??