marketo certification

[Sarah_Moughan]

Hi, curious about certification - are you Marketo certified and do you look for Marketo certification when hiring Marketers, Marketing Ops or Marketo support team?  Did you learn Marketo through hands on experience and training from colleagues or through Marketo University training and Marketo docs? 

Thanks,

Sarah

[Jay_Jiang]

Definitely think Marketo is better learned through hands on experience. I also picked up varying proficiencies of html, css, javascript, jquery and php along the way. You'll only get so far with training from colleagues and the Marketo University.

Every business is different and to solve problems at scale and effectively, you need to understand all tools available to you, have creative problem solving, critical thinking and systems thinking. I think proficiency at using Marketo all depends on how long you have been in the thick of using the platform.

People will probably disagree with me, but to me, gaining certification after a year or two of using Marketo is more or less a reassurance you've gained a broad standard understanding of Marketo. If you have at least 3 or 4 years of using Marketo, you'd probably have a few key projects you've worked on and I'd be more interested in hearing about your thought processes on why you designed it the way you did.

[Sarah_Moughan]

Thanks, Jay, those insights are helpful.

[Darrell_Alfons2]

I remember years back before I was certified, I was being considered for a technical Marketo role, and the hiring manager was trying to decide between me and a few other candidates.

While waiting, I studied, took the exam and passed, and sent a follow up to let the team know. I received a really positive response, and the job soon after.

In my case it really helped, in others it may not. It will (and should) if you are being hired for a Marketo administrator role. If you are coming on as a campaign manager at a company that has a capable Marketo administrator that invests in training users, then it may not matter so much.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that when a hiring manager is bringing on a new person, they often announce to the team and to their boss etc with some reasons of why they made their decision. If your resume is a little light in the experience area, "Marketo Certified Expert" adds substance.

[Sarah_Moughan]

Thanks, Darrell - good points.

[ChristinaZuniga]

I've kept up my certification for the past few years but have a ton of experience (8 years) from a non-Marketo system. I was hired into my role at this job (implementing Marketo and functioning as sole administrator) despite not having my MCE because of my previous experience - I was up against someone with an MCE but no real-world experience. As a user of the system, that would be fine. As the sole administrator? No way. MCE is important to prove that you have an understanding of the system, but real-world experience is vital.

If I was hiring for another administrator, MCE would make a difference. It would show that they've put in the effort and have studied areas they may have never used. For example, I have only recently started using nurture campaigns but have been passing my MCE for a few years which references nurture campaigns so I've had to study them. I have one employee now and he's studying for his MCE.

MCE is important earlier in your career or for certain things (agency work, becoming a Champion). I would say that it never hurts to get certified and no matter how long I work in Marketo, I intend to keep my MCE current!

[Sarah_Moughan]

Thanks.  Is the "Marketo Administrator" typically a person who manages users, stays on top of data quality, sets up dkim/spf and is more infrastructure/admin in function?  Or are they setting up Scoring and Lead Lifecycle Programs and other marketing features on behalf of Marketing people who, while Marketo users, do not do that type of setup?  I suppose this varies based on size of a company and its Marketing team. 

[JD_Nelson]

from my experience the user management and infrastructure role is best kept with the admin/super-user role. Managing users, setting up dkim/spf are all relatively non-time-consuming functions outside of the initial setup and scoping exercises.

[ChristinaZuniga]

Yes, it definitely depends on the size of the team, both the Marketing automation team and Marketing itself.

As the sole administrator I set up the entire system - all sources, fields (working with CRM), work on data quality, manage and train users, set up dkim/spf, martech stack connections and infrastructure, setting up scoring and lead lifecycle/RCM, reporting, run some campaigns when we're overloaded, etc.

Currently, none of my users (~5) have MCE so their role is to use templates I've created to run their campaigns. I'd give them more access / trust if they had their MCE and given the small group I'm working with, I'd prefer to either hire someone with their MCE or with some experience willing to get their MCE. To me, experience is best but barring that I want someone with an underlying understanding of Marketo and an MCE demonstrates that.

[Sarah_Moughan]

Super helpful, Christina.  Thank you - you must be busy from the sound of the above so really appreciate it!