It’s finally over gang! As you can see above, I was successful in passing the 401 exam and achieving that nice looking blue badge. I’ll admit that I wasn’t a fan of the color changes to the badges but I have come around and really like that blue.
Thoughts on the Exam
Overall, I thought it was a tough exam. I think the toughest part of the exam was trying to answer questions on technologies that I do not actively use or have experience in but I understand why you might be tested on those. This certification exam tests your knowledge on all things F5 and while during the 300-level exams, you are tested on configurations for a given module but here, you need to know everything so you can education or influence your customer on the right solution. It only makes sense so once your understand that, you’ll be fine. The exam itself is tough and can make you question yourself as an engineer but like anything, it will be worth it once you pass.
I won’t say what is on the actual exam but the blueprint does a good job of pointing all that information out so that’s a good place to start.
The lack of practice exams is a killer!
So You Want To Take That 401?
Here is a visual of what you will need to achieve to be able to sit for the 401:
It’s a long journey but you will learn so much if you put the time into it. Overall, you will take 6 exams to become eligible for the 401 exam which results in 4 certifications so it is not like you are taking all 6 exams with nothing to show for it. The one great thing about the process is that each higher level exam will renew the one below it. For example, a 300-level exam will refresh the 201 and a 400-level will renew every certification that is required for it.
What Did I Use to Study?
With the lack of practice exams for 401 and not really knowing how the questions might be asked, I created my own study guide comprised of a combination of F5 resources and Youtube videos. I placed the word document in a repository on my Github but also copied it into a ReadMe file on that repository as well. You can find it below:
https://github.com/CoolPoole/f5-401-examWhere Do I Go From Here?
I think I’m done taking F5 exams for the rest of the year, so I think I’ll plan to learn some things that I’ve been putting off. I like to play around on TryHackMe and I really want to learn some Node.js and Javascript as well as play around in Azure. I also want to build out some labs in Azure and AWS so really I will just continue to learn.
I really hope these posts will help someone but at least, I can look back and just exhale on what I’ve accomplished in 2021. Take care and keep learning new things!