First of all, time goes by way too quickly. It has been a year since I posted and over a year since I've posted anything certification updates.
Late in 2010, I achieved my RHCE. In the following two years, I passed two additional Red Hat "Expertise" exams. This renewed my RHCE and placed me within one exam of reaching the "Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist" certification.
Then two things happened. Red Hat discontinued the Datacenter Specialist certification and diversified their "Red Hat Certified Architect" certification with additional tracks. Around the same time, my daily focus at work was moving 100% towards OS X and Apple products. Anecdotally, four years ago, I felt spending the time to reach an "RHCA Cloud" certification was silly. The concept and actual use of the cloud buzzword was quite different back then. We're reaching the point where technologies are allowing cloud deployments that take the full advantage of the cloud, and not treat it as simply someone else's infrastructure.
Fast forward a few years, and I'm back focusing more on Linux and working for a cloud infrastructure provider. I recently passed the EX407 exam which is Red Hat's expertise exam for Ansible Automation. The exam was straight forward. Between a basic understanding of Ansible and Red Hat's DO407 class, I was able to pass the exam. The exam was unique in that with automation in general, you are working on larger concepts instead of simple tasks.
The Ansible docs and the ansible-doc command helped greatly with learning all the different things that were possible with modules within Ansible. While I really enjoyed the DO407 class, this book was also a great help.
Passing this exam puts me within two exams of reaching the "Red Hat Certified Architect - Cloud" certification. After nearly a five-year break, I'm getting back into Red Hat's classes and exams to sharpen my skills and to expand to the next levels.