In the Overview of the Esri Technical Certification Program training seminar—broadcast live a few weeks ago—attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and get them answered on the spot. Common themes emerged. Many attendees said they were trying to figure out which certification was most appropriate for them, and many asked about exam preparation resources. In a post-seminar survey, when asked which certifications they were interested in achieving, 75% of respondents selected ArcGIS Desktop Professional—the most popular choice.
Maybe you, like some of the seminar attendees, are wondering which certification best reflects the state of your ArcGIS experience and skills. How can you evaluate your ArcGIS proficiency in relation to the exam scope? What if your organization is still using ArcGIS 9.3—can you realistically expect to pass an exam that tests knowledge of ArcGIS 10?
In the interview below, Esri Educational Specialist Ryan Otto answers some of these questions as he shares his experiences achieving the ArcGIS Desktop Professional certification last year and then authoring the Esri Technical Certification: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Professional course.
Last September you took the ArcGIS Desktop Professional (beta) exam. Why did you choose that certification?
Ryan: Because I have a lot of experience with the software, I wanted to challenge myself with the Professional exam.
As someone who regularly competes in triathlon events, you obviously like to challenge yourself. But what was your motivation for earning the certification?
Ryan: I guess there were many reasons. First of all, it was an expectation for us to do so and I was encouraged to do it. Second, I wanted to prove to myself that I was in fact a Desktop Professional.
Can you describe your experience preparing for and taking the exam?
Ryan: I looked over the exam objectives, but I didn’t study or do prep work. Maybe I shouldn’t say that (laughs), but I do have 11 years of experience working at Esri, first as an instructor and now as a course author, and my education is a B.A. in geography with an emphasis in GIS. I did feel nervous going into the exam because the objectives looked challenging and possibly beyond my knowledge level. It took me about four hours to answer all the questions. It was difficult, mentally exhausting.
- Note: The beta exam that Ryan took had 170 questions and candidates were given about five hours to complete. The current exam includes 95 questions with a time limit of 2.25 hours.
Last December you got a phone call in which you were asked to author the skills review course because you were one of the few people (at the time) who had earned the ArcGIS Desktop Professional certification. That was a surprise because before the call, you didn’t know whether you had passed the exam. So how did it feel to learn the good news?
Ryan: I was relieved! Honestly, I was very happy and proud to pass the exam and be asked to write this course. And I think that it has given me confidence in front of my peers.
When the project started, you were told the course could not teach to the test, yet the goal of students coming to class is to get prepared to take the exam. How did you reconcile the directive with the reality?
Ryan: We weren’t allowed to see the actual exam questions. We were given the exam objectives and the number of questions in the pool for each objective. We wanted to cover as many objectives as we could, so it would be a good refresher course for the exam. I knew we couldn’t cover everything in the time allotted for the class, so we prioritized and ranked each objective based on the number of questions each one had. Objectives with the most questions are addressed in the course in multiple ways—in the instructor presentation, demos, class activities, and exercises. Objectives that don’t have as many questions are covered, but not in as many ways. It ended up that we were able to cover over 90% of all the exam objectives in the course.
Your job was to develop a course to help GIS professionals prepare to pass the exam, but you couldn’t look at the questions?
Ryan: No, we weren’t given the questions to work from, but if I needed a better understanding of how in-depth to go on a topic, I could request to see an individual question. It was on a need-to-know basis.
So how many did you request to see?
Ryan: Six.
You must have thought about the questions that were on the exam you took. How does that manifest itself in the course?
Ryan (laughing): I remember there were a lot of very detailed questions about coordinate systems, so there is a lot of that covered early in the course.
The development schedule for this course was fairly grueling, kind of like running a marathon at 5K speed. Were there any other challenges?
Ryan: I like a fast-track approach to course development. It suits my work style better. But a big challenge to writing this course was that we had to assume students already knew the content coming in. This is a skills review course. In other courses, we teach students new skills and concepts. In this case, we had to test their knowledge and facilitate them applying it to solve problems, like they’ll have to do on the exam.
Do you have a favorite thing about the course?
Ryan: We included a diversity of teaching methods, lots of different types of learning activities, and focused on the problem-solving nature of the course. The problem-solving focus is my favorite. I think it hits the mark.
What would you tell someone who’s trying to decide whether to take the ArcGIS Desktop Professional exam?
Ryan: I would say that people should definitely spend time evaluating their experience and trying to identify the areas in which they have weaknesses.
We’ve heard from a lot of ArcGIS 9.3 users, those whose organizations haven’t yet migrated to version 10. They would like to take the exam but are concerned because they don’t have experience with ArcGIS 10. What are your thoughts about this?
Ryan: If they meet the qualifications listed on the Certification website, if they’ve been using the software for a while, then I think they can do it. Breadth of experience is the most important thing. Version 10 isn’t that different, the underlying concepts are the same. I mean going from ArcCatalog to the Catalog window is not going to be a stretch for someone who knows ArcGIS. For people who can download it, the ArcGIS 10 trial software is a great tool to get on board with version 10. And the course can help people learn the version 10 tools!
What can a student enrolling in the Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Professional course expect?
Ryan: People who take the course can expect to be challenged. They can expect to solve problems and troubleshoot issues with the software and determine the best solution and method to solve those problems. The course will help students pinpoint weaknesses in their GIS knowledge and skills or areas where they may need to devote more time prior to taking the exam. I also think it will be a different type of training experience and they just might have a little fun too.
Thanks, Ryan.
About Ryan 
- Bachelor’s degree in geography with an emphasis in GIS from Bowling Green State University, Ohio
- Taught Esri instructor-led training classes nationwide for seven years
- Has authored Esri instructor-led training courses since 2007
- Esri Certified ArcGIS Desktop Professional
In addition to Esri Technical Certification: Skills Review for ArcGIS Desktop Professional, Ryan is the author of:
