Mohan Natarajan, an Associate Architect from our team DCKAP is a Magento enthusiast, organizer of Magento Meetup – Chennai, India and manages DCKAP Store. He recently got all the 4 Magento certifications done. Here he shared some of his thoughts.
Congrats, Mohan, on getting all the four Magento certifications. How does it feel?
Mohan: Thanks. It feels awesome. It also feels good to know that I am the first person to hold all the 4 Magento certifications in India. Karthik Chidambaram, Founder & CEO, DCKAP, motivated me to take up the certifications. In fact, DCKAP encourages everyone to do the certification. We have 25+ Magento certified professionals in DCKAP.
You have been working in Magento for 6+ years, what was your biggest challenge till date?
Mohan: Magento is one of most popular eCommerce platform with a lot of built-in commerce features. But then, it is not all plug-and-play. Every project has its own challenges. One that I vividly remember is the Oracle Magento integration we implemented for one of our customers. It was challenging to automate the synchronization process between Magento and their ERP systems.
You manage the DCKAP Store. Share your experiences on developing extensions for Magento.
Mohan: Very interesting question. Building extensions started as a small idea and now we have a team. Developing problem-solving products is always challenging and exciting. The feeling that we have resolved a persistent problem is reward enough. Also, there is great satisfaction in supporting our customers. What started as a single extension store has 7 extensions in the Magento 2 market place and 13 in the M1 marketplace today.
Any tip or tricks to clear the certifications.
Mohan: The developer/developer plus certification is geared towards the back-end, whereas the front-end certification as the name suggests is for the front-end developers and the solution specialist certification is for someone who is in a role of mapping client’s business needs with Magento functionality. So there is no one all-encompassing tip or trick. But I can provide some pointers…
- Deep knowledge in Magento Community and Enterprise Edition.
- Real time experience in Magento Projects
- Hands-on experience in Magento extension development & customization
- Attend Magento U training sessions
- Get advice from someone who has completed the certification
- Get a study buddy
What do you like about your Magento life the most?
Mohan: I love working in Magento. It has given me the opportunity to travel, attend conferences, meet fellow developers, make new friends. I have worked in complex projects and now we are developing an extension store. All this would not have been possible without Magento. The best part of my job every day is when I can help one of my colleagues have a ‘light bulb’ moment.
What do I like about my Magento life – in a word – Magnificent.
