Certifications 1/22/2019

About the Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer PLUS exam

In November 2018, Magento presented a new certification: Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer Plus. It's aimed at developers and architects with at least two years of experience with Magento 2, so it's a higher level than the Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer certification.

I took the exam on January 21st 2019, so my memories are fresh when writing this blog post. Unfortunately, I failed by only 2%, but I am still pleased with the percentage I have reached.

Which is the target group of the Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer Plus exam?

The certification is supposed to prove that the certified person has sufficient experience with developing and architecting Magento 2. It is officially aimed at senior developers and architects with at least 2 years of experience with the development of Magento 2 projects. In my opinion, you will need more than that amount of hands-on experience, 3 years would be more realistic in most cases.

To pass the exam, you need to have a comprehensive knowledge of Magento: Frontend, Backend, and APIs. It covers everything which has to do with PHP and XML in Magento 2. Contrary to the Professional Developer exam, there are also a few JavaScript questions. It also adds questions which are specific to the Commerce edition of Magento (my estimation: about 25% of the questions are related to Magento Commerce).

What are the contents of the exam?

It's impossible to list all fields here. Let me try to list the most important areas:
  • EAV
  • Dependency Injection
  • UI Components in Adminhtml area
  • UI Components in Checkout
  • REST API
  • Frontend Layout and Blocks
  • Content Staging
  • Shipping and Payment Methods
Of course, this list is not complete, it is only a reflection of what I remember.

You can see the official list of sections in the screenshot of my results which I have received via email directly after the exam.

You'll need a fair amount of detail knowledge, in some cases even things like "Which class is responsible for retrieving X?". Fortunately, those questions are exceptions. In most cases, questions stay on a higher level and ask for the right approach to tackle certain tasks. In general, the questions are easily understandable and fair. You will need to reach a score of 62%.

How does this exam compare to the Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer (without "Plus") exam?

It's harder. You need to have more knowledge, and deeper knowledge. I passed the "Professional" exam with 70% 10 months earlier. Since then, I worked on Magento 2 almost full-time and reached "only" 60% in the "Professional Plus" exam.

Do I need knowledge of Magento Commerce (Magento 2 Enterprise Edition)?

Yes, you should have at least some experience with it. There are quite a few questions about the Content Staging module, and some more about other modules in Commerce (RMA, Customer Segmentation, ...).

What is the best way to prepare for the exam?

The following resources can help you prepare for the exam:
  • The official Magento study guide
  • A training can help with the certification as well. For example, individual trainings can be held with a focus on the certification. On the other hand, trainings give you the basics mostly, while you will need first-hand experience with actual Magento 2 projects to pass this exam.

Personally, I'd do two specific things before retaking the exam:

  • Have a look at how Content Staging is implemented on the database level.
  • Practice UI components in the adminhtml area.

How much experience is necessary to pass?

As I said above: at least two years, better three years of hands-on experience with developing Magento 2. Personally, giving Magento 2 developer trainings helped me as I get to see many different parts of Magento 2 in those trainings.

How can I become certified?

Since November 2018 the certification exam is officially available. Three steps are necessary if you want to take the exam on-site at a certification center:
  1. Buy a voucher at Magento U. A voucher costs about $260.
  2. If you are a Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer already, you can get a discount. Just write a short email to training@magento.com in order to receive it. The discount reduces the examination costs to $100.
  3. Reserve a date at a certification center at https://account.magento.com/certification. There are at least a couple certification centers in western countries. You'll need the voucher which you acquired earlier for the reservation of your exam date.
  4. Take the exam at the selected certification center. You'll get info about when you should arrive there and what you should bring in good time. The exam itself takes place at a PC in the certification center. It includes 60 questions in 90 minutes.
You'll receive the results directly after the exam.

If you'd like to try the Online Certification, read my blog post which contains a step-by-step guide.

Conclusion

The Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer PLUS exam is an effective way to prove that you are a very experienced Magento 2 developer. Only very few people have passed it until now, and probably only few will do in the future, so you are standing out if you manage to pass the exam. The exam is hard, but fair, and can only be passed with a lot of experience in Magento 2 development.

Update April 2019

On my second try, I managed to pass the exam.

I encountered many questions I hadn't seen on my first try, so it may have been a bit of good luck. On the other hand, I got the chance to study the pre-release version of the Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer Plus Study Guide. It has certainly helped with some topics.