Alteryx has recently revamped their entire certification process. As such, they have introduced a new Partner Technical Certification Program. This is a certification for the employees of Alteryx-partnered companies to showcase their in-depth understanding of the Alteryx Designer and Server products.
Getting Started
There are two steps for signing up for the exam. First, as you might have guessed, your company must be an Alteryx partner. Second, you must have access to the Alteryx Partner Portal. This is simply done by emailing channels@alteryx.com. In your message, state you are a partner and would like access to the Partner Portal. Once you receive a reply, you will be granted instant access. After that, you can register for the exam here.
Exam Format
The exam consists of 70 questions in a multiple-choice format on a web browser. The exam is made up of 108 marks total: 65 questions are worth one mark each and one is worth three marks. The remaining 40 marks are made up of four practical questions. You are allotted two hours to complete the exam; however, once you've registered for the exam, you can choose to start whenever you like. The passing mark is 70%. Realistically, you need to get at least three of the four practical questions to pass. The exam is open book, so you’re able to use the Alteryx community and other online resources for help.
How to Prepare
The best way to start preparing is by downloading the Exam Preparation Guide. The guide provides you with the structure and layout of the exam. It will also guide you on what is featured in the exam. This is extremely important since there are currently no sample questions available for practice.
There are a couple of resources on Alteryx Community that I found extremely helpful. The Lunch and Learn series is great, because they cover full topics at different levels of difficulty, all within an hour. I used these hour-long lunches to better understand Regex functions, Macros and predictive capabilities.
“Practice makes perfect,” should be your mantra and that’s exactly what you can do with the Weekly Challenges. These allow you to explore the different capabilities of the tools by requiring you to use Alteryx to complete specific tasks. These challenges are great for building your confidence with Alteryx and the functionality of certain tools.
For those that are unable to complete these challenges, you still get an idea for the use cases of tools you haven’t yet mastered. I recommend doing about 20-25 of these weekly challenges and try to achieve at least intermediate level. I found these great for examining the different capabilities of the Multi-Row Formula tool.
You can find an overview of all the Weekly Challenges, which contains the Challenge Title, Skill Level and Subject Area, here. I recommend copying the list into an Excel sheet to check off those you have completed and log the main tools you used to complete the challenge.
On the Server side of things, the best resource I can point you towards is the Alteryx Server Help for Administrators page. It holds all the details about how to set up and configure Server. It also has details on optimisation, which is asked frequently in the exam itself.
The week I took the exam, I was luckily going through Alteryx Partner Enablement Training for two days. The first day concentrated on intermediate aspects of Designer, as well as creating Macros and Analytical Apps. The second day revolved exclusively around Server. As a partner, you are entitled to take part in the quarterly training days and I highly recommend doing so if possible. To receive more info, you should contact your Partner Channel Rep.
Takeaway Tips
The four practical questions worth 40 marks are at the very end, so timing can be an issue. I recommend trying to leave yourself 40 minutes to answer them. There is no way of skipping to them unless you click through all the questions manually. However, if you are panicking for time, I would recommend getting to these questions as quickly as possible since they are worth a lot of marks.
You cannot mark questions you want to go back to. At the end of the exam, however, you can scroll through all the questions. Questions you have answered will be marked with a blue icon while those you haven’t will be in grey.
Read the questions carefully. Some questions have, “Select all that apply” and if you pick just one that is correct and there are two correct options, you will get zero marks. Some of the practical questions have this option and nearly caught me out.
You don’t have to upload any workflows, apps or Macros. You won’t be judged on style, following a brief, attention to detail or the ability to execute in general. But there are a few questions that stipulate, “Which of these workflows will work?”
For context, I think it’s important to mention that I spent two to three weeks preparing for the exam. I had nine months of Alteryx Designer experience behind me and next to no Server experience. There are far more intelligent people who will need less time than that. Either way, the exam is free and you can take it as many times as you need with a 24-hour waiting period until you can try again.
Why You Should Become a Certified Partner
This information is all well and good, but what does this actually mean for you? First, the certification program is a standardised way of measuring the skills and knowledge of sales engineers, consultants and technical support who use Alteryx on a day to day basis. Furthermore, it provides evidence that you are a skilled consultant on a professional level.
Second, becoming an Alteryx Certified Professional can help you set yourself apart from the competition by demonstrating your knowledge of Alteryx technologies. It's beneficial for your company, as they will now have a skilled employee with Alteryx's seal of approval. But it also acts as a starting point for meeting new clients. The certification helps to build interest and trust when meeting with prospective clients.
Finally, it's also extremely beneficial for you personally. Completing certification programs such as Alteryx's will help you be noticed by your boss and future employers. By becoming a certified Alteryx partner, you become a distinguished Alteryx professional within your own organisation. Ultimately, it's the stepping stone to becoming the in-house champion for a product that is growing in popularity at a significant rate.