Acquia Certified Back End Specialist - Drupal 7

Date Acquired
Badge for the Acquia Certified Back End Specialist - Drupal 7 certification
Introduction

The Acquia Certified Back End Specialist exam is intended for Acquia customers, partners, and employees who perform a Back end Developer role. This exam validates a candidate’s ability to:

  • Design, develop and deploy Drupal based solutions focusing on the back end
  • Understand the core Drupal basic architecture best practices for back end development
  • Develop and maintain applications using Drupal back end development
  • Develop and implement new Drupal modules
  • Customize and extend existing modules

The basic knowledge and skills required at this level should include all of the following areas and objective components below.

Drupal
  • Professional experience using Drupal technology
  • Set-up and configure Drupal sites
  • Develop and implement new Drupal modules
  • Customize and extend existing modules: knowledge of existing modules, PHP
  • Drupal security and performance
Web and IT Knowledge
  • Experience in developing enterprise Drupal websites and web applications
  • PHP knowledge
  • OOP knowledge
  • HTML, CSS, JavaScript/JQuery
  • MySQL
  • Basic Linux server administration skills
  • Experience with security and performance
  • Version control systems

These training courses or other equivalent methodologies will assist in exam preparation:

Note: This exam blueprint includes topics /domains and test objectives to help guide the test taker. They should not be construed as a comprehensive listing of all of the content of this examination.

The table below lists the domains measured by this examination and the extent to which they are represented. (subject to change)

Domain % of Examination
1.0 Fundamental Web Concepts 13%
2.0 Drupal core API 30%
3.0 Database Abstraction Layer 10%
4.0 Debug code and troubleshooting 8%
5.0 Theme Integration 5%
6.0 Performance 13%
7.0 Security 13%
8.0 Community 8%
TOTAL 100%
Test Format:

Test item formats used in this examination are:

  • Multiple-choice: Examinee selects one option that best answers the question or completes a statement.
  • Multiple-response: Examinee selects more than one option that best answers the question or completes a statement.
Content

Domain 1.0: Fundamental Web Development Concepts

1.1. Demonstrate knowledge of HTML and CSS
1.2. Identify PHP programing concepts
1.3. Identify JavaScript and jQuery programing concepts
1.4. Demonstrate the use of Git for version control

Domain 2.0: Drupal core API

2.1 Demonstrate an ability to register paths to define how URL requests are handled in Drupal using hook_menu and hook_menu_alter
2.2 Demonstrate ability to build, alter, validate and submit forms using Form API
2.3 Demonstrate ability to interact with the Node system using hook_node_*
2.4 Demonstrate ability to interact with the Block system using hook_block_*
2.5 Demonstrate ability to use Core System hooks like hook_boot, hook_init, hook_cron, hook_mail, hook_file*
2.6 Determine order of hooks to enhance performance

Domain 3.0: Database Abstraction Layer

3.1 Demonstrate ability to work with Drupal's Database Abstraction Layer for managing tables
3.2 Demonstrate ability to work with Drupal's Database Abstraction Layer CRUD operations on data

Domain 4.0: Debug code and troubleshooting

4.1 Demonstrate ability to debug code
4.2 Demonstrate ability to troubleshoot site problems

Domain 5.0: Theme Integration

5.1 Demonstrate ability to work with Drupal's theme CSS and JavaScript APIs

Domain 6.0: Performance

6.1 Demonstrate ability to analyze and resolve site performance issues arising from site configuration
6.2 Demonstrate ability to analyze and resolve site performance issues arising from custom code
6.3 Implement Drupal caching strategies

Domain 7.0: Security

7.1 Demonstrate ability to analyze and resolve security issues arising from site configuration
7.2 Demonstrate ability to analyze and resolve security issues arising from site custom code
7.3 Demonstrate the ability to implement Drupal core security mechanisms

Domain 8.0: Community

8.1 Demonstrate the ability to contribute to the community
8.2 Demonstrate ability to write code using Drupal Code standards

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