I’m a bit embarrassed though. I’ve been amongst the first people to ever get Marketo certified back in 2013, after already using Marketo on a daily basis for a while. Being on client-side never required me to become MCC (the old Marketo Certified Consultant certification). When the new Marketo Certified Solutions Architect, also indicated as MCSA, was introduced in 2017, I was asked to be on the beta program. Unfortunately I was very busy with succesful customer projects, since I founded SMOps Interim & Advies BV back in December 2015. But I finally managed to find the time this year to certify for the Marketo Certified Solutions Architect.

You need to complete at least three of the following expertise areas:

• Marketo Lead Management (MLM – formally MCC)
• Web Personalization (WP)
• Account Based Marketing (ABM)
• Integration
  • – Native
  • – Custom (API)
• Digital Advertising
• Administration
• Mobile
• Center of Excellence (CoE)
• Analytics

For Marketo Certified Solutions Architect I’ve completed the following areas of expertise: Marketo Lead Management, Native Integration, Custom API Integration, Administration, and Analytics. That’s 5 out of 11. I intend to also complete the following in the upcoming period: Web Personalization and Account Based Marketing. The other areas don’t fully align with my business and experience: Mobile, Center of Excellence, and Digital Advertising. Completing my MCSA is very helpful to be put forward by Marketo, as official Marketo Partner in The Netherlands for new customers. And it also helps in proving knowledge and experience to prospects.

This new MCSA certification is next to my normal Marketo Certified Expert (MCE). For which I hold 6 out of 8 specializations. Again, I still need to find the time to get the other two ;-). I’ve been MCE since 2013. If you also want to become a Marketo Certified Expert, please check the following more detailed page on Marketo’s website: https://www.marketo.com/education/marketo-certification/marketo-certified-expert/.