ServiceNow Certified Administrator. What are next steps?

stryker129 · ‎11-30-2016

Hi guys,

Currently I'm employee and working on a company and I've successfully passed ServiceNow Certified Administrator.

Now I've a several questions:

1. Probably stupid question, but: What are the benefits of this certificate? How can I use it?

2. Is there any pricing related to developer instance? For example, I'd like to buy (have) separate instances for developers and for production purposes.

3. Are there any advantages if I'll pass ServiceNow Developer certification? Do I need to try to pass it? Any reasons would be appreciated?

Sorry if these questions are stupid, but it just my thinking out loud.

Thanks in advance.

Chuck Tomasi · ‎11-30-2016

Hi Ivan,

First, congratulations on passing the System Administrator certification! The benefit is that it shows you are serious about advancing your career skills and have an assessment to prove it.

Regarding developer instances, there is no cost related to the personal developer instances, however these are meant more for learning and sandbox testing over production level work. You CAN do production work, but recognize they don't have the same level of backups, SLA, etc. with them and if left 'unattended' they may be reclaimed. This is where features like Source Control come in very handy.

The Certified Application Developer certification is another level of certification that demonstrates again that you are serious about your career and know your stuff when it comes to building custom applications. Do you NEED to pass it? That's up to you. The market for ServiceNow app creators is growing. The cert. (and experience) gives you a definite advantage.

Finally, these are not stupid questions.

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Chuck Tomasi · ‎06-01-2018

Hi Paulina,

The good news is - you have options. ServiceNow has grown to include various areas of expertise. You can become a subject matter expert in any (or multiples) of these areas. I recommend focusing on the base platform - understanding the capabilities and how to configure before specializing.

I recommend taking a look at our Learning Paths to see what best suits you. If you want to go in to security implementation, it will outline a different path than GRC Administrator, for example. Fortunately, many of the learning paths have similar components so you can expand and extend incrementally as you go without having to repeat.

paulinabednarik · ‎06-05-2018

Thanks Chuck for advice!

bjhughey164 · ‎11-30-2016

Ivan,

1. Like any certifications, I would say that having the CSA for ServiceNow is much like any other certification. It validates that you are skilled as an administrator of the ServiceNow platform. Can you use this to your advantage during contract and job negotiations, certainly. It gives your name credibility over any applicants who do not have the same certification.

2. ServiceNow has an awesome dev program. https://developer.servicenow.com/app.do#!/home You have the ability to request your own instance and customize and break it to your hearts content.

3. Again, the Certified Developer is again a validation of your skills in regards to the platform.

Best of luck!

Dave Smith1 · ‎11-30-2016

Benefits of this certificate - like any other qualification, it simply says you have satisfied a predetermined criteria set for an examination. It's not an indication of skill or capability but certainly one of knowledge. However, I'd say it has more currency with potential employers than with yourself - as soon as I mentioned I'd gained the certificate on LinkedIn, I was targeted by several recruitment consultants, so it's clear it's a desirable qualification. Having said that, congrats on getting it!
Developer instances - completely free to register and use, but as Chuck mentioned they're much lower-spec than production instances and intended as a dabbling platform for proof-of-concept stuff, and run the risk of being reclaimed if unused for a certain period of time (10 days?). Most organisations are likely to also have a test instance that closely mirrors their production one (in capacity, performance, etc) for staging and UAT which won't be reclaimed, so you may want to check with your organisation's account manager to see what has been provided.
ServiceNow Developer certification - I suppose the first question you need to ask yourself is: what is my ServiceNow journey going to be? What direction do I want to be headed in? It's always great to get more certifications, but only if they're (a) going to be appropriate to your chosen career path, and (b) will actually help you along the way. If you want to go into App Dev, getting this one is dead useful. If you're going to be doing a lot of maintenance and monitoring work, perhaps some other courses (with or without exams) will help in your daily responsibilities.

So, that kinda puts the ball back in your court: where do you see yourself going with the ServiceNow route?

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people. And they remain stupid because they never ask questions..."