What Being FinOps Certified Entails

In essence, FinOps is to cloud financial management what DevOps is to software development. It represents a cultural shift where teams collectively manage their cloud expenditures, ensuring that everyone takes accountability for their cloud usage, while being guided by a central group of best practices. Diverse teams from Engineering, Finance, Product, and more collaborate to facilitate rapid product delivery, all while enhancing financial oversight and predictability.

According to the FinOps Foundation, “The [FinOps] certification is tailored for individuals aiming to join a FinOps team or assist in cloud financial management. It’s particularly beneficial for those consulting, training, or supporting FinOps teams. By achieving this certification, you will gain insights into FinOps, its areas of practice, and how these can improve business value from cloud expenditures. Organizations transitioning to a cloud-first strategy or those migrating to public cloud services will find this certification invaluable.”

Exam Overview

As detailed on the FinOps Foundation's website:

• A passing score is 75%, and the certification is valid for 24 months.
• The exam lasts 1 hour and consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. It is not proctored, and you have two attempts if you do not pass initially.
• Upon passing, you will receive a certificate via email, complete with a unique code.
• The non-proctored nature of the exam allows for open-internet access, enabling the use of online resources to answer questions. However, once you submit an answer, you cannot return to previous questions.

Where to Purchase the Exam

You can acquire the exam from either the FinOps Foundation or the Linux Foundation. I opted for the Linux Foundation, as I found a discount code that reduced the price from $300 to $195.

Strategies for Successfully Passing the Exam

Utilizing the "Cloud FinOps" book by O'Reilly is highly recommended. I read half of it about six months prior and managed to pass the exam in two attempts, dedicating approximately an hour and a half to study. I kept the e-book open in a browser to search for keywords relevant to the exam questions. Some questions were answered verbatim from the O'Reilly book. Focus on chapters 1 and 4 for targeted preparation.

Additionally, I had the FinOps documentation open in another tab to find answers related to exam questions. However, be cautious of the subpar search functionality on the FinOps documentation page, which can complicate effective searching.

Effective Google Dorking for Exam Preparation

Instead of relying solely on the FinOps documentation search, try using Google Dorking. This method allows you to search the FinOps website directly from the Google search bar, as shown in the image below.

In my first attempt, I scored 63 out of 100 — not too shabby for six months of limited knowledge. On my second try, I achieved an impressive 88 out of 100, despite the exam not revealing which questions I answered incorrectly. However, it does provide feedback on the areas where I excelled or struggled.

Interestingly, about 70% of the questions on my second attempt were identical to those from the first. I relied more heavily on the FinOps documentation during this round, focusing on:

• Principles
• Personas (frequently referenced)
• Phases
• Capabilities