Magento Developer Certification Program
Last year, Magento created a certification exam that validates real-world job skills and gives hiring managers a tool for identifying qualified individuals. This past week, one of our senior developers, Justin Morrow, took the exam (and of course passed with flying colors – congrats, Justin!). I had a lot of questions for him and thought it would be a good idea to share Justin’s thoughts and perspective on studying for and taking the Magento Certification exam.
Tell us about your experience developing with the magento platform?
My experience with the platform has been very rewarding actually. I’ve been working with Magento for over 3 years now and after getting over the substantial learning curve, I’ve grown to really enjoy the rigidity of the system. The Magento architecture is somewhat unique but is overall very usable, scalable and extendable. I also found that just by learning how to develop for Magento, I increased my overall confidence around XML, Object Oriented Patterns (such as the factory class pattern that Magento uses), and the MVC architecture. That confidence has proven very useful in developmental endeavors outside of Magento as well.
What are some of the most exciting Magento projects have you worked on?
That’s a hard question! I’ve got over 40 implementations under my belt, 15+ of which use the Magento Enterprise platform. My most on-going and rewarding Magento project would surely be kobo.com. This application has been in active development for over 7 months now, often releasing new functionality on a weekly basis. Some of the complexities of the project include a “Single Sign On” functionality, in which Magento users share an account with the kobobooks.com application (a proprietary .net site), custom RMA module that allows the acceptance of physical products purchased via the Magento storefront and brick and mortar shops alike as well as an entirely custom integration that allows users to purchase and register an extended warranty on their newly acquired e-reader device, which is a custom Android OS.
How did you prepare for the test?
Well the first thing I did was leverage my pre-existing experience with the platform. After that, I proceeded to watch the “Fundamentals of Magento Development” video series offered from magentocommerce.com. I found the videos to be very informative actually. I walked through each example and lesson with persistence, often pausing the video to do my own exploration within the system, unearthing classes and functionality that I’ve yet to utilize. Although the video series had a running time of less than 40 hours, I found myself spending close to 65-70 hours to complete the training.
How difficult was the exam?
The exam was quite difficult actually! The level of detail they require you to know about each class and each method inside of those classes was overwhelming to say the least. I really think that my overall understanding of the way the platform operates (procedurally) helped me pass the test.
I notice their are two types of certification, Magento Certified and Magento Certified Plus. What are the main differences between the two?
The Plus exam includes 15 additional exam questions that pertain solely to the enterprise edition of the Magento Commerce platform. At Lyons Consulting Group our goal is to be the best at what we do and to provide the best service to our customers. So having all of our developers take the Plus exam allows us to serve both community and enterprise level clients to the fullest.
What benefits do you receive for being certified?
First and foremost is the personal relief that I’ve passed! I also received many congratulations from my peers and fellow engineers here at Lyons Consulting Group. They are now required to address me as “Your MAGE-esty”.
Would you recommend this exam for other magento developers?
Absolutely! Standards are always important and the certification will ensure that you stand out amongst your peers.
What can the Magento community expect to see from Lyonscg in regards to certification?
We already have 3-4 more engineers prepping for the test and our confidence is very high. We whole-heartedly expect to have more Magento Certified Plus Developers on our team than all of our competitors.
For more information on the magento + lyonscg solution, visit our magento enterprise partner page.
**Magento Developer Certification is a mid-advanced level certification geared toward professional developers that have real-world experience with Magento implementations. The exams provide a way for qualified, experienced Magento developers to demonstrate and validate their skills. Developers who pass one of the exams can use the valued Magento Certified Developer credential in marketing their services.
