MongoDB certification - is it worth it?

What will this article cover?

I'm tech-lead for a company where data is essential to everything we do. This article will focus on why you should consider attending a free MongoDB University course, why I did, and why you should think about getting your MongoDB certification in 2022/2023.

Note: this article won't prepare for the MongoDB certification exam, but this MongoDB practice exam will.

I’ve read a plethora of articles about MongoDB and watched all sessions at MongoDB World 2022 as soon as they became available, so I feel like 'I know Mongo'. The day you say to yourself:

I know this

is the day you stop learning.

So, I started questioning myself, and my knowledge, and I wondered how I could 10x my MongoDB skills. Would it be possible? After a quick search, I noticed some folks talking about MongoDB University, so I decided to give it a try.

About MongoDB

Just skip this section if you already know the pros and cons of MongoDB well. Jump to "What is MongoDB University?" below.

When to use Mongo DB (e.g. vs SQL Server)

I started using MongoDB in its early days, in 2010. The release version was 1.4 and as a former Microsoft SQL Server developer, I was shocked by its revolutionary approach for database design. For example, the ability to store objects was so powerful that I proposed it to my team as an alternative solution to Microsoft SQL Server. A few months later, we deployed our database in production successfully and MongoDB become my preferred database for many new projects. I haven’t abandoned Microsoft SQL Server, but I continued using it to solve different database problems where MongoDB (at the time) wasn’t able to help.

Why Use MongoDB?

MongoDB was built for building internet and business apps with a core need to evolve quickly and scale elegantly (hence the love it has among the startup community, and Fortune 500 companies alike). That being said, companies and development teams of all sizes use MongoDB for a wide variety of reasons.

After 15 years on the market, MongoDB has built a loyal and vocal following among the developer community. It is now a 'top 5' database used across all levels of expertise according to the The 2022 Stack Overflow Developer Survey.

The reasons behind its incredible success, range from the ability of evolve the schema quickly, to database performance and its powerful query language.

Is MongoDB still open source?

In short, yes. The answer is a little more complicated though.

The Community Edition of MongoDB can be downloaded for free and used as you wish. You will not have to pay for the license, but nor are you permitted to make changes to the source code.

The Enterprise Edition of MongoDB comes in a few different flavours. MongoDB Enterprise has 33,000 paying customers as of Q1 2022.

• MongoDB as a service a.k.a Atlas
• MongoDB on-premises
• Mobile & Edge
• Various tools, integrations and plug-ins

It's the powerful managed service version of MongoDB called “Atlas” that helps companies configure and scale databases easier, and I love using “Atlas Search” for solving our complex search problems.

Atlas has been so much of a hit, that it now represents 58% of their $1bn annual revenue.

What is MongoDB University?

MongoDB University is a collection of on-demand courses available to anyone, for free! The first course I attended was “MongoDB Basic”. It was very basic — even so I realized that I didn’t know much about the new features available as part of the CLI. Just a few minutes invested, and I’ve already learned something new. Interesting!

Then I started attending the other courses and I found each of them genuinely inspiring. The Index and Performance course was such an amazing journey, the new way MongoDB builds the index was a kind of mystery for me and I hadn't appreciated their most recent developments in this area. This 2-min covered query section helped me to understand how to improve index usage.

MongoDB University was so comprehensive and motivating that I finished all of the 16 courses in a few weeks.

What are the MongoDB exams like?

At the end of each course, I had to prove my knowledge with a final test. Most of these tests were approachable because I took them just after the course, so the topic was pretty fresh in my mind.

Then, I thought I was prepared enough to pay the $150 fee and do the final exam to get the MongoDB Associate certification!

Fortunately, the “pre-exam test” can give you a good idea about how the exam looks before you pay the fee and do the exam. When I had finally completed the pre-exam test (45 mins or so), I received some instant feedback from the system:

‍test failed

How was this possible?!

How to not fail on the pre-exam test

On reflection, I was able to learn some lessons:

• The questions require focused reading, thorough checking and understanding.
• The answers were tricky too and need to be properly analyzed.
• With so many questions and topics, it might have been better to pause and relax from time to time rather than completing the pre-exam in one run. Focus-levels decrease with lots of context-switching between different topics.
• I needed to read more about some topics and spend time practically experimenting with these new features to fix these concepts in my mind. E.g. “Sharding”

Apart from Sharding, all the points mentioned were about “how I managed the exam” rather than “leak of knowledge”. So I started experimenting with Sharding to improve my skills and booked the exam.

Is the certification exam easy or hard?

My exam took place in September 2022. The week before the exam, I revised using the resources available across the MongoDB website to make sure I didn’t forget any details.

It is conducted by a live 'Proctor' (like an invigilator) who checks that the exam is correctly made, and they also help you configure your computer properly (webcam, screen-sharing, etc.).

The proctor tells you when everything is ready and the exam can begin.

As it started I noticed the questions were harder than the ones I found in the free pre-exam test, but I remembered the lessons I learned: don’t rush! After 30 minutes I decided to pause for a few minutes to relax.

I completed the exam in about 60 minutes.

A few days later I received the answer: passed. And I’m now a MongoDB Certified Developer 🎉

Is getting the MongoDB associate certification worth it?

It's not expensive (and your company might pay for it as part of their L&D program) and it ultimately differentiates you from others for job roles which require MongoDB expertise. One redditor stated that they got their most recent job solely because of this certification.

On a more personal level: The certification exam was an amazing journey that helped me revisit old concepts and learn new features. I would highly recommend it for all MongoDB developers. Challenge yourself to break the daily routine - you may have much more to learn than your realised!

Tips for new developers with the certification exam

1. Attend MongoDB University It’s useful for beginners and for expert developers too. My skills were already good — even so I found all the courses very useful; don’t underrate it.
2. Write and run some experiments at the end of each course. I was already familiar with many topics like indexes and performance, but I decided to write some experiments anyway. It took me extra time, but I found it very useful. Many concepts can be understood better when you write some code…can’t they? :-)
3. Take your time during the exam to read the questions and problem statements thoroughly and make sure you understand them fully. As with many exams, some questions require deeper analysis than you might think at first glance.
4. Review MongoDB documentation: I found MongoDB University pretty useful as starting point to get certified as a MongoDB Developer. However, subsequently reviewing the MongoDB documentation will provide more insights and bolster exam readiness.
5. Work for a company that takes your learning seriously. Last but not least, many thanks to the company where I work as tech-lead: GenieAI. It’s easier for one to improve when they are part of a team that promotes learning.

TL;DR

MongoDB University is an amazing resource for beginners and a good opportunity to improve the knowledge for experts. You can do all the courses for free, but the certification exam will cost you $150. Don't underestimate the difficulty.

Completing MongoDB University and earning your MongoDB developer certification may take some time, so it's important to start your journey with the right motivation and I hope this article has inspired you.

‍