Justin Sickles

Magento Certified Developer

Magento Certified Developer

As of today, I am now a Magento Certified Developer! I sat for the certification test this morning and passed it with flying colors. I even have an official developer profile up on Magento’s own website!

Study Preparation

I studied for the test with a combination of the official Magento Study Guide, and a practice test. First, I actually wrote out all of the sections, along with all of the questions in each section. I did my best to find explanations, definitions, and answers to each one. I won’t lie, it was a very, very tedious process. I hope to compile my notes into a series of pages here as a future reference for myself and those who follow.

Practice Test

I also used a practice test, which consisted of 102 questions, all purporting to be similar to those on the actual given test. I took it multiple times, failing it miserably the first time. Even after fully writing out the study guide, and taking the test for the second time, I only did marginally better. Turns out, there is such a thing as material overload! So, after the second take of the practice test, I wrote out all the questions I got wrong, and then wrote out the correct answers, along with why those answers were correct. After all, I am trying to learn about Magento, not just memorize answers to a practice test.

After a few days of this, I took the practice exam for the third time, and I blew away my own expectations, only getting six wrong out of the 102. I used a Google Forms based version of the practice exam, one that had all questions presented in random order, and had all answers to each question in random order, to prevent any possible memorization of the original practice test and its answers.

Testing

All this studying led up to today, the actual certification test. I went to a local Prometric testing center, and was quickly signed in. Prior to the test, I was actually searched for contraband such as a cell phone, camera, or eyeglass-mounted video recorder. I even had to pull up my pant legs to show I wasn’t carrying anything in my socks!

The test itself was relatively painless – 72 questions, two of which are not scored, with a passing grade of 37. Most of the questions were on the practice exam, so it was quite easy! I walked out of there, a proud owner of a piece of paper with the word, “PASS” on it; just 35 minutes after stepping into the testing office.

Next Steps

Next up is to await my official developer profile on Magento’s own website, and to assist AtlanticBT in becoming a Magento Silver Partner; one of the requirements is to employ two Magento Certified Developers. I am now the second Magento Certified Developer in the office.