FileMaker Developer Certification

A little known fact about being part of the FileMaker community is that a large number of developers go through a rather rigorous FileMaker Certification exam. And that exam has to be sat each year for each new version of FileMaker.

At Digital Fusion we strongly believe that all our developers need to be current in the latest version of certification. That's important for many reasons:

• It shows our clients we're professional and know our stuff
• It encourages each developer to closely review each new version
• It shows that we measure up against the bar FileMaker has set
• It helps us ensure we are all on the same page

The exam isn’t easy either — even when you’ve done it several times! And it’s fair to say everyone gets a bit nervous in the lead up. To give you an idea of what it consists of, there are about 60 questions to be answered over a two hour period, examining all different aspects of the productline covering everything from programming techniques to design to server and security. It’s pretty thorough and detailed. 

When we are employing new team members, we don’t specify that they must be certified, but we do expect that they have a crack at it fairly on so they/we can benchmark their knowledge. It can take 2 or 3 attempts before they nail it and can call themselves a FileMaker certified developer.

Developers by nature are a competitive sort so when a new certification exam is released, there is a bit of gamesmanship as to who goes first, who gets the best result. This is all very friendly but does mean there is good banter around the office.

“Being a certified FileMaker developer shows that you are a capable and competent developer who can utilise all of the features in the FileMaker product family to their fullest potential” Daniel, now certified in versions 8 to 17!

“Being a certified FileMaker developer brings my lanyard one step closer to the floor at DevCon" Paul Thomas - FileMaker Certified Developer version 16-17