How to Prepare for HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate Certification (002)


The Hashicorp Terraform Associate certification is for Cloud Engineers specialising in operations, IT, or development who know the basic concepts and skills associated with open source HashiCorp Terraform.

People willing to get certified will be best prepared for this exam if they have professional experience using Terraform in production, but performing the exam objectives in a personal demo environment may also be sufficient.

The certified  individual understands which enterprise features exist and what can and cannot be done using the open source offering. T

his is the only and official Terraform certificate so this creates a difference between certified and non certified individuals.

Who should take this exam?

Hashicorp Certified Terraform Associate certification is a great starting point to verify your basic infrastructure automation skills if you  have any of the following:

  • Experience working in a production environment as a cloud engineer or similar role creating Infrastructure using terraform open source or enterprise version

  • Experience in AWS/Azure/GCP or any other major terraform provider(Good to have)

  • Experience or knowledge using terraform exam objectives even in personal/demo environments.

  • Prerequisites - Basic terminal skills & Basic understanding of on-premises and cloud architecture

What you'll learn

Preparing for and attaining this certification will showcase the following:

  • Understanding of infrastructure as code (IaC) concepts & Terraform's purpose (vs other IaC tools like cloudformation)

  • Proficiency in Terraform basics, Using terraform CLI outside core workflow, Terraform modules and navigating in terraform workflow

  • Ability to Implement and maintain  terraform state files

  • Ability to read, maintain, write, modify and debug Terraform configurations

  • Understanding the use cases and differences between Terraform Cloud and Enterprise capabilities

Why to become a HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate ?

Terraform is one of the best and most popular IaC (Infrastructure as Code) tools available in the market. It has a declarative syntax and is easy to learn, understand, use and adapt.

Unlike its peers such as cloudformation (AWS), Azure ARM Templates, etc terraform is cloud-agnostic. Terraform comes handy in managing hybrid cloud or multiple provider infrastructures all at one place.

Now since the usage of cloud is booming in the industry and devops practices are followed by an increasing number of organisations. This has led to an increase in the need for automating the processes to maximum possible limits.

These market trends in the tech industry make the case for use of terraform. Terraform automates creation of your cloud infrastructure along with many other providers that it has including github, docker, bitbucket, postgres DB, etc.

Having this certificate makes you stand out in the crowd as a professional by giving a proof of your knowledge and ability in using one of the best and trending IaC tools available in the market. 

How to prepare for the HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate exam?

After knowing why you should get certified in terraform and knowing how beneficial it will be for your career and professional credibility, let us also look into the exam preparation part of the exam.

To be honest the exam difficulty when I appeared for the exam was very easy, I completed the exam about 30 minutes earlier and scored more than 90%.

This exam requires you to have an all around knowledge on terraform but not in complete depth. You can take up the below mentioned courses, one for learning and one for practice tests.

Even if you have experience with terraform you need to still go through the courses as it will help you learn things from an exam perspective and will give an idea about the questions likely to come in the exam. 

For the exam only one learning course and one practice test course are enough which are mentioned below:

Udemy | HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate 2023 

This course has 10 sections, more than 100 videos and 12+ hrs content, labs that you need to do by yourself to get proper hold of concepts, it might appear a lot to go through all this stuff at first view.

It covers all important aspects of terraform right from what is IaC, terraform setup, creating your first aws resource through terraform to complex subjects like terraform backend, managing state files, using multiple providers and using terraform workspaces.

In the end you will get some really helpful tips for the exam from the instructor zeal vora including registering, preparing your room for remote exam and passing the exam. 

Udemy | HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate Practice Exam 2023

This course has six exam sets with MCQs and one set with “fill in the blanks” type of questions which are based on the real exam pattern and it is a great way to see if you are ready for the exam.

These question sets are designed by Bryan Krausen which tests you effectively to make you understand your preparedness for the exam.

It also helps you identify your weak spots so you can revisit those topics. If you pass the practice exams with 90%+ score then there are high chances you will pass the exam for sure!

I will recommend you to take these practice exams when you are less than 10 days away from giving your Terraform Associate exam and after completing your learning course. 

Official Sample Questions by Hashicorp and other helpful links

Hashicorp has provided a few sample questions which you must go through before taking the exam. These will help you better understand the scenarios that might appear in the exam. It has all questions types that might appear in the exam, which are:

  1. 1

    True or False

  2. 2

    Multiple Choice [Only 1 correct answer]

  3. 3

    Multiple Answer [>1 correct answers]

  4. 4

    Text Match [Fill in the blanks]

Tips on how to study for the Terraform Associate exam

  • Set a deadline 

    Depending on your level of preparation for the exam you can schedule your exam max up to 3 months later (in case you are yet to start). 

    Schedule your exam, pay your fees and promise yourself to not reschedule it! Deadline forces you to commit yourself strongly!

  • Plan milestones to meet the deadline

    You can divide your course studies/ exam preparation into milestones for a month or a week each. Keep track of your progress after every milestone.

    First complete all your learning and then in the last 1 or 2 weeks you can solve the practice exam sets and revisit the weak topics again. 

  • Don’t just get certified, get the proficiency as well

     If you are Terraform certified and you are mentioning it in your resume then you should expect the interviewer to ask you the questions based on the terraform and IaC concepts as well. 

    You should be prepared with the answers to these questions because you get an edge over non-certified candidates if you answer correctly but if you are not able to answer the interviewer’s questions correctly your credibility is lost and your chances of selection are reduced.

  • Lookout for discounts/reimbursements

    If you are a working professional check with your HR or concerned Talent development authorities about certification policies for employees. Many companies provide training/ coupons/ reimbursements (partial or full) to their employees.

Final words

This is the only official terraform certification out there and truly worth it to get certified as well.

This exam will definitely boost your terraform skills to a whole new level if you are a working professional and bring in a lot of confidence to code in terraform you are just starting with terraform. 

Show the world your terraform skills and become a credible IaC developer. Just learn, practice and get certified!

Wishing you the very best of luck for your certification journey!

About the author

Youssef

Youssef is a Senior Cloud Consultant & Founder of ITCertificate.org

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