This week the planets aligned. My schedule was clear and a Prometrics testing centre that was not fully booked was close by. On top of that I had a voucher for a free Magento exam that I had won at Meet Magento Poland (although admittedly this was a bonus not a requirement). Theses are things that had stood in my way for almost 9 months but finally everything was in place and I could sit the Magento Certified Solution Specialist exam.
The exam itself has been around since early 2014 and is designed to test candidates on there competency of using Magento admin and understanding some of the business/ ecommerce considerations. This exam is not to be confused with Magento's other certifications for Front end and Back end developers which test a completely different set of competencies.
I'm not able to go in to the full details of the exam because I signed a very long and detailed document that essentially said I wasn't allow to - I'm not even sure I'm allowed to mention that I signed a document! Buy hey, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here. I would just like to reassure you that before the exam you do not have a full body cavity search although searches were carried out and it is the first time my legs have been revealed in public since the sun was shining in August... (don't worry I just had to roll my trouser legs up to show that I had not shaved my legs/ hidden any crib sheets - the latter more frowned upon than the former).
That aside what did I think of the test? I've been using Magento in some capacity for around 6 years now so I'm confident that I know my stuff. On top of that I've now been training people how to use Magento for 4 of these years so you really would think I'd have this covered. That did not stop me feeling nervous about it: you just don't know what you are going to walk in to and there are no sample questions prior to attending the exam. However once I started the test I was far more confident that it would be ok. The test itself is made up of 62 multiple choice questions. Only 60 of these are scored. You are given a 90 minutes to complete the test, I think I completed in under 30 minutes.
If you have a decent working knowledge of the Magento admin system (and it's quirks and foibles) then you should find most of the questions fairly straight forward. They are refreshingly honest in line with a test that has had no involvement from the marketing department, that is to say that they don't just go for the glory questions that highlight what is great about Magento but also draw you on some of Magento's weaknesses.
I was reassured that the test felt well within my capabilities. Saying that I scored 52/60 so there are 8 questions I got wrong. I have my suspicions which ones but I would love to know for sure so I can tighten up my knowledge, but this kind of feedback is not available.
For me the test did not require much work but that is mainly because I have been using Magento day-in, day-out for so long. I now have a certification that recognises this. If I was in a position where I was an ecommerce manager using Magento I would study for this certification to ensure I had a good rounded knowledge of the product and so I will be encouraging delegates on future courses to consider going for this certification. Going forward we will be implementing a 'Road to MCSS Certification' course to help guide those looking to gain this certification.
Anyway to cut a very long story short I am now a Magento Certified Solution Specialist, I'm very happy about that and going forward I hope I can help many more people become certified too.
