Despite being an old interview, Marco’s sharing about his journey with Magento Developer Certification is still priceless. If you do have interests in taking this Certification, you can learn a lot from him.
Marco is a Magento Developer Plus Certified Engineer and has over 12 years of PHP development experience. Marco has also been involved in large-scale Magento implementations for Warner Music International, Kurt Geiger and the French fashion brand, Kookai.
So Marco, after gaining all that Magento experience why did you want to become a Magento Certified Developer?
I wanted to give myself some sort of added value to my competence on the subject. I’ve always seen certifications as a personal achievement. This is my second professional certification and I’m looking forward to getting more. I don’t think you should get certified because you want better opportunities in the market, you should get certified simply to set a milestone in your professional development.
What benefits does it give you?
It makes me proud. It gives value to the dedication I’ve put into working with the Magento platform in the last few years. It gives benefits to the company and my colleagues. For example, whenever someone needs help, they know they can ask me and are likely get a good answer. It’s also important for new joiners to the team, to be aware of who has some sort of recognition in a specific area, and having certified developers makes it easy to identify them. Certifications may seem like just pieces of paper sometimes, but believe me, they can really help.
How difficult did you find the exam?
It was pretty tough. The material provided by Varien only gives you an indication of the main topics covered in the exam. There is no official study guide like the one I used for my Zend certification. I have to give more credit to the Magento certification because in order to pass the exam you must really know Magento inside-out and have a good working knowledge about the way it works. Studying is not enough.
How did you prepare?
There are many online resources out there, but sharing knowledge with my colleagues was an incredibly effective way to prepare. We work as a team and we help each other as a team. Those of us who were thinking of taking the exam dedicated a couple of late hours in the office to review the content of the required topics. We shared knowledge from our own learnings, and discussed the tips and tricks we had picked up from working with Magento everyday.
What do you enjoy most about working with Magento?
The daily challenge it gives you. Many may think that setting up an eCommerce site is an easy task. It’s not. Installing Magento Enterprise and customising its template to meet customer requirements is the easy part, but integrating with existing ecosystems, backend services, ERPs, CRMs and so on, makes it all exciting but challenging. Because Magento is a very well engineered platform, we can concentrate on the implementation of the unique features that our clients ask for.
Do you have any tips for those who are taking the exam soon?
Yes – don’t be scared by my previous answers… you can do it!
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Source: Sessiondigital
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