Program of certification from Acquia is an attempt to determine standards of knowledge and experience of working with Drupal. Based on passed exams by developer, employers can understand his level. Clients can be sure that they work with professionals. Computer programmers can compare own level with level of colleagues. And Acquia checks the number of certified developers in the agencies when they want to be their partners.
Types of certificates
There are main certificates that validate knowledge of Drupal:
- Acquia Certified Site Builder - D8 - is intended for professionals who build Drupal sites using core and contributed modules.
- Acquia Certified Developer - D8 - aim of this exam is validation of skills and knowledge of Drupal developers in fundamental concepts of web development, site creation, front-end and back-end development.
- Acquia Certified Front End Specialist - D8 - validation of skills and knowledge of Drupal developers in the area of front-end development.
- Acquia Certified Back End Specialist - D8 - validates skills and knowledge of developers in the area of implementation of Drupal applications using custom code.
Also there are certifications for Acquia products:
- Acquia Certified Cloud Pro - checks knowledge and experience of work with hosting platform Acquia Cloud.
- Acquia Certified Site Factory Pro - checks knowledge and experience of work with multisite platform Acquia Cloud Site Factory.
Besides these there are also certifications for Drupal 7, but I think they aren’t actual anymore.
Everyone, who passed Acquia Certified Developer, Acquia Certified Front End Specialist and Acquia Certified Back End Specialist certifications, are granted honorary title Grand Master.
Preparation to the exams
It’s possible to pass the exam without preparation if only you work with Drupal quite a long time and know it very well. In any case would be better to prepare for the exam in advance.
What can help you in the preparation:
- Study guides for each exam from Acquia.
- Study guides from community.
- Acquia Youtube channel with educational materials.
- Drupal 8 user guide.
After preparation you can check your knowledge by passing test exam on the https://www.drupal-x.com.
Passing the exam
If you think that you are ready for the exam then it’s time to register to exam. Exam can be passed online and offline.
If online exam has been chosen you will be obligated to install special software. There your photo will be taken and you will be asked to type your name for a few times. You will be required to do it again prior to exam.
During the exam you can’t use a pen, any books, notebooks. You will be watched by a person through webcam and microphone (these devices are required for passing the exam). If the person who supervises you suspects you in cheating he can ask you eliminate a problem or mark exam failed. Therefore it’s better not to cheat during the exam.
There are four answers on the question and one correct answer usually. If few options have to be chosen, it is described in the task.
You will be notified about result right after the exam. If the exam is passed successfully you will receive pdf file with certificate by email, like this:
List of certified developers can be found on the https://certification.acquia.com. If you are one of them, don’t forget to place badge with passed exams to your CV and to social networks.
Good luck!