This post was authored by Sydney Araya, Customer Marketing Specialist, Education Services at Nutanix.
Whether you’re looking to advance your career, build your expertise, or deliver a superior experience to your end-customers, Nutanix Platform Expert (NPX) certification offers benefits you won’t find anywhere else.
Although NPX certification requires a serious commitment in time and study, earning it delivers serious rewards in terms of knowledge, personal and professional growth, and community connections. Even the process of preparing for it – even if you never formally apply – can have a huge impact on your professional skills.
Need some motivation to get started? Here’s some advice from our NPXs:
Don’t let it intimidate you
“If you’re really serious about the NPX—and way too many people are often intimidated by it—take the boot camp first, pick a design and start writing. Work it every single day, even if it’s a single paragraph. Put yourself in that rhythm and you’ll get done.”
-Wayne Conrad
“Nutanix works really closely with you to help you gain the knowledge you need to pass. And if you don't pass on the first try, they provide valuable feedback that helps you understand what you did wrong and how you can improve for your next attempt at the certification.”
-Samuel Rothenbuehler
“People who are looking for certifications, no matter what level, put yourself in the mindset of applying the certification criteria to your daily work. Read the blueprints, read the documents and as you’re completing your daily tasks, try to apply that blueprint to your projects. What you’ll end up finding is that you’ll either find yourself working into a project that fits nicely with the certification or it makes it easy to stitch together projects to build a synthetic one that shows your skills as a full stack architect.”
-Jon Kohler
Take advantage of the training available
“You can also sign up for an Enterprise Solution Design Boot Camp to get an understanding of what is expected and required when going through the NPX certification.”
-Magnus Andersson
“I paid for online training and got my Nutanix Certified Professional (NCP) certification. I also made sure I read everything bloggers were saying about Nutanix.”
- René van den Bedem
Lean on your professional community
“The Nutanix community is a really great way to learn all the pieces you may not have had experience with. User groups are a great free training resource to be involved in, as is our Twitter and our .NEXT community forums.”
-Wayne Conrad
“In addition to all of the great training you get at the NPX Boot Camp, you get to know a lot of other people that are interested in Nutanix technology and in becoming an NPX. I spent a lot of time with my assigned mentor who worked on the project with me and helped guide me in the right direction.”
-Samuel Rothenbuehler
“A lot of Nutanix employees and power users are publishing great blog posts on the ecosystem-particularly around operations, interesting use cases, and any 'gotchas' they've discovered to help you avoid any missteps in your deployments.”
- René van den Bedem
Just go for it
“I suggest anyone looking for a great challenge consider NPX—and be prepared for hard work.”
-Magnus Andersson
“My advice for people who want to get certified is to go for it.”
- René van den Bedem
“Don’t be afraid to fail, there’s nothing wrong with failing and learning. A lot of people are good at the technology but they’re afraid to put themselves out there.”
-Tim Buckholz
“Give yourself time to breathe. Set small goals. Once you achieve your goals, celebrate a bit. At the end it will be really rewarding.”
-Bruno Sousa
Through a rigorous application and defense process, Nutanix ensures that every NPX is a superb technologist and architect – capable of designing and delivering a wide range of cutting-edge solutions that are custom-built to support the business goals of organizations around the world.
Learn more about the NPX Program!
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