The road to Salesforce Commerce Cloud certification

In the world of eCommerce, businesses choose the commerce platform that best suits their needs. Whatever the platform, implementation requires extensive platform knowledge. This is why most companies work with partners like Capgemini who can implement these technologies and create solutions customized to the needs of their client. A large part of finding the right partner has to do with the number of platform-certified experts they can apply to a project.

The Road to Salesforce Commerce Cloud Certification

So, how does someone go ahead and get certified to work on these platforms? I’ll share my story.

I started at Capgemini as an applications engineer through the LYONSCG University program. A large part of this rigorous, six-month training period is that Capgemini provides us with the resources and mentorship to succeed. It wasn’t until near the end of the training period that we began to prepare to take the SFCC certification exam, though.

This certification exam is no walk in the park. I was excited due to the fact that we were almost done with the training program, thus allowing us to work with real clients and apply our learnings. I was also anxious, though, because of the expectations placed upon us. These feelings of anxiety would soon be dispersed as we were constantly supported by the generous learning culture at the heart of Capgemini.

At Capgemini, we have a One Team mentality, and this extends to certifications as well. Many people at Capgemini helped us prepare for the exam with their experience as well as engaging projects that familiarized us with more complex functionality within Commerce Cloud. Training materials such as integrating cartridges, loggers, and Demandware API, etc. were a big part of the process.

A Salesforce Commerce Cloud certification is a badge that you can proudly wear. It is achieved through taking a comprehensive exam involving different areas of the platform, from setting up and troubleshooting your UX studio and sandbox environments to creating custom object types. Thanks to the amazing culture and expertise here at Capgemini, I can proudly say that I passed the exam!

The Misconception of A Certification

Certification is one way to verify someone’s knowledge, but it is not the be-all and end-all of platform expertise. It is not always true to say that someone who is a great test taker and receives a certification is more knowledgeable and competent than someone who has years of experience but no certification.

The Salesforce Commerce Cloud certification may not always verify one’s complete knowledge on the platform, but it may fulfill one’s satisfaction in self-achievement through hard work and effort. To me, there is a distinction between the intent of getting certified and the effort put into it. If you spend hours practicing and studying, and your goal is to be more knowledgeable on the platform, then you would feel more fulfilled with a certification. On the other hand, memorizing all the text about the platform isn’t the same.

This is not to discredit one’s knowledge on the platform, but without practical experience, certification loses its effectiveness and it will show on difficult projects.

Reflection

After taking the exam and receiving the Salesforce Commerce Cloud certification, I have been even more thankful for the reassurance and support from LYONSCG University and the company at large. Although there is still so much more I have to learn about SFCC, it is reassuring to know that Capgemini will put me in positions to build creative, useful solutions that really help our clients. Personally and professionally, this is such a massive bonus, and I’m sure there are other certified SFCC engineers who feel the same.