New certification program addresses growing popularity of Drupal

Look around the web today and chances are good your eyes will fall on a site with Drupal in its veins. Drupal is a free, open-source web development platform for online content and user communities. Drupal powers some of the busiest sites on the web, and can be adapted to virtually any visual design. Drupal supplies the digital lifeblood of over a million sites, including WhiteHouse.gov, World Economic Forum, Stanford University, and Examiner.com.

With a growing and flourishing open-source Drupal web development world, there is a corresponding need for training and certification to help developers perfect and market their skills. Businesses that utilize Drupal are seeking more expertise in the workplace, as well as means to validate the skills and knowledge of Drupal professionals. That's why Acquia, a leading provider of Drupal products, services and expertise, is taking steps to help meet both of these demands.

The new Drupal development certification program from Acquia Learning Services is poised to transform the portfolio of anyone ready to grab Drupal by the horns. Earning Acquia Certifications will provide visibility and credibility for your experience and expertise with Drupal, and help your organization establish a leadership position within the Drupal community and with Acquia products.

With fluency in Drupal and Acquia, you'll be ready to join Twitter, Mercedes Benz, Warner Music Group, Stanford University and the more than 4,000 Drupal-powered organizations that are changing how business gets done. Global 2000 enterprises, government agencies and NGOs rely on Acquia to create new revenue streams, lower costs, and engage audiences more deeply through content, community and commerce.

Drupal offers businesses the ability to scale, handle massive traffic, provide a secure environment, tie into social media platforms, and become more responsive with rapid development. And it can be used at both the enterprise or individual developer level. In media and entertainment alone, artists use Drupal to build their personal sites; TV networks in the U.S. and abroad use Drupal to connect viewers with their favorite shows; and Drupal powers top national news sources like: FoxNation, The New York Observer, Time Out Chicago and The New Republic. Drupal powers Twitter's developer community of more than 750,000, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The Drupal community itself has more than 1 million members, including more than 50,000 developers who contribute code to the Drupal open-source platform on a regular basis, and provides an engine for digital innovation. This community can now take full advantage of the new Drupal-centric Acquia Certification Program certification, launched on March 20, 2014. The early reviews are in, and participants have been consistently excited about their experience.

The program's first exam, the Acquia Certified Developer exam, is a 60-question, scenario-based, Drupal centric exam. It takes 90 minutes to complete and comes with a price tag of $250. Exam details, the skills and knowledge needed to pass the exam, and the exam objectives are all available online. Also, the percentage of each examdomain or topic is posted, so potential certification candidates can get a good idea of how the test is constructed. An FAQ file is also available.

The ACD exam can be taken as in a proctored online envrionment through Webassessor, or in person at Kryterion test centers around the globe, as well as at special events like DrupalCon. The online proctored exams have enabled candidates to save on travel time while also ensuring the integrity of the exam. Studies have shown that successful Drupal developers have a rounded skill set that includes Site Building and Front-end and Back-end Development, along with Fundamental Web Development knowledge. This first exam validates those areas using real world scenarios.    

Who Should Become Certified?

Anyone working in a Drupal development team performing one or more of following activities will benefit from becoming certified:

• Drupal site building, configuration and management
• Drupal module development
• Drupal theme development
• Drupal architect

Why become certified?

Certification will validate Drupal skills and knowledge, as well as provide the following benefits:

• Become more valued to potential Drupal user companies
• Advance your career at substantially higher pace with a high-stakes certification exam credential
• Establish your credibility and expertise with your peers
• Give you more visibility within the marketplace
• Provide you with a formal certification in a dynamic field

Roadmap

There will soon be specialist exams avaiable to Acquia Certified Developers. A Back End Specialist exam will be available in September, and ready to take at DrupalCon Amsterdam, Sept. 29 through Oct. 3. The Front End Specialist exam will be coming out later this year.    

The Acquia Certification Program hosted a testing facility at DrupalCon Austin this past June which enabled participants to take the Acquia Certified Developer exam while at the conference. Both the Acquia Certified Developer exam and the Acquia Certified Developer – Back End Specialist exams will be available to take at the DrupalCon Amsterdam conference.

Supporting Training

To prepare for this exam, check out the free eBook: Five Steps to Get Ready for the Acquia Certified Developer Exam. There is also the four-day, instructor-led Acquia Certified Developer Workshop course that will help the student prepare and understand the exam objectives through hands-on training, as well as through lecture and demonstration.

To contact the Acquia Certification Program Office, please email certification@acquia.com. You can also follow the program on twitter: @AcquiaCertified.