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3 takeaways from the CompTIA Cloud+ certification exam
The author of The Official CompTIA Cloud+ Instructor Guide and Student Guide shares his most interesting takeaways from the recent version of the CompTIA Cloud+ certification.
CompTIA rotates its certification objectives about every three years to maintain relevance. The latest update rolls out in fall 2024 with the CV0-004 exam. As the author of the previous and latest versions of The Official CompTIA Cloud+ Instructor Guide and Student Guide, I have a unique perspective on the topics and concepts covered in the new exam.
The CompTIA Cloud+ certification exam covers many good topics, essential concepts and practical utilities, including AI, machine learning, containers, virtualization and vulnerability management. The following three takeaways are among the most relevant and timely:
- Data sovereignty. Explains essential data ownership, sovereignty and privacy concepts.
- Code deployment. Covers the importance of code for managing deployment and configuration.
- DevOps fundamentals. Discusses source control, CI/CD, integration and tools.
Let's explore these topics more below.
Data sovereignty
One of the topics I've seen more in the field is data sovereignty. The latest Cloud+ requirements pay close attention to this concept in Objective 4.2 Compare and contrast aspects of compliance and regulation. It specifically calls out data ownership, locality, classification and retention, in addition to sovereignty. Common industry standards are also highlighted. Doing so ensures exam candidates delve into this critical area for international business.
The data sovereignty topic continues to grow in importance because political or geographical boundaries do not necessarily constrain resources and data. From local regulations to national legislation, cloud administrators must take care to ensure user privacy and data storage meet requirements.
Code deployment
In Objective 2.4 Given a scenario, use code to deploy and configure cloud resources, CompTIA emphasizes the importance of scripting, version control and repeatability to infrastructure-as-code and configuration-as-code processes. These processes have become more vital to organizations over time in managing cloud-based scaling, rapid deployment and feature customization.
YAML and JSON files are most common when working with cloud deployments and resources. It's important to understand how to format these documents and handle drift detection and versioning issues.
DevOps fundamentals
CompTIA has acknowledged the integration of DevOps and cloud management. The combination of these two concepts likely isn't a surprise to anyone. They were even part of the previous exam's objectives. However, DevOps fundamentals is now an entire exam domain, containing the following four topic areas:
- Source control.
- CI/CD.
- System integration.
- Essential DevOps tools.
Mastering this exam domain requires reading about and experience with concepts like code management, automation workflows and event-driven architectures. It also means researching and working with specific tools, including GitHub, Kubernetes, Ansible and Docker.
The importance of DevOps concepts cannot be overstated. While the ideas encapsulate more than just cloud administration, it's nice to see CompTIA integrating it directly into Cloud+ CV0-004.
To begin preparing for the exam, I encourage you to consider the official courseware. It covers every topic from the objectives and fleshes out subjects that require particular attention. Consider adding Cloud+ to your certification record, and keep yourself competitive in today's busy cloud market.
Damon Garn owns Cogspinner Coaction and provides freelance IT writing and editing services. He has written multiple CompTIA study guides, including the Linux+, Cloud Essentials+ and Server+ guides, and contributes extensively to TechTarget Editorial, The New Stack and CompTIA Blogs.
