My personal experience of the WAA Certification test, by Vicky Brock

Earlier this week I was among the first brave bunch of people to take the WAA Certified Web Analyst test, when it ran for the first time at eMetrics San Jose.

And yes, for the record, that involved me getting my credit card out and investing hundreds of dollars of my own money.

And no, I don’t regret a single cent of it.

I am a web analyst in my job, but these days I am also an employer.  By taking the certification I was able to experience for myself what a balanced and challenging test this was and what being a Certified Web Analyst means from both a practitioner and employer perspective. 

Most significantly, it is not a test of book learning, but of analytical thinking and skill. 

My immediate impression was that I want to employ people that achieve this Certification because for the first time I have a differentiator between people who can use a tool and people who can actually use data to make decisions and recommendations. 

If you can pass this test, specifically the case study section, I know I can trust you to get beyond noise and data and KPIs and get to the heart of delivering meaningful business analysis to our clients.  I know that you should be taken seriously as a candidate for a mid level analytics position and above.

My impressions as an employer

As an employer, the fact that the certification is built to ISO standards and is legally robust in the way I can integrate it into formal procurement process is the icing on the cake.  This is particularly relevant as I work for government and corporate clients who are part of quality assurance schemes themselves.  The QA standards behind this test is a useful differentiator to me, whereas I can’t really do anything with a test that someone could have taken online, with their browser open, using info they crammed on a website. 

So there is value for me that this is a secure test, which I know the person in question took.  Passing this proves you can take real world data, real world business contexts, goals and even political challenges and interpret that correctly.

This is not the analytics equivalent of a swimming certificate.  I’d compare it with my experience of taking the GMAT, often used for MBA entry.  Nor is this test like the Google Analytics IQ test or similar. And this is not a certificate from a private consultancy firm or an industry celebrity saying you did great.  There are plenty of these kinds of awards and no doubt with every passing month the bandwagon will keep rolling and there’ll be plenty more. And those certificates are terrific in their context; they demonstrate interest, enthusiasm and commitment.  But in my opinion they are not a formal professional certification delivered to robust procurement standards.

What I like about this as an employer is that it is formal certification that the industry body representing the analytics field endorses that you have specifically achieved the challenging analytics criteria it has defined and I can review.  An independent body is verifying and keeping a record of the factor that the people it endorses have formally obtained and maintained their skills.  Organisations that have no analytics experience themselves can now employ analysts with some of the risk removed, because this certification follows the same standards and quality processes that certification of marketers, accountants and other competencies follow.

The experience from an analyst’s perspective

As a web analyst taking the test, I found it challenges not just your breadth but depth of knowledge.  I definitely recommend reading the  Knowledge Required For Certification document in advance. It will help you assess if you’re ready and if there are gaps to brush up on. (I skipped the conversion party to swot up on email, for example).  The first half of the test is a series of multiple choice questions spanning a really wide range of topics.  Some of these were not my field of expertise and I know I guessed at a few answers.  

More interesting is the second half, as it really tests your ability to take complex case studies with a great deal of both relevant and irrelevant information and to make analytical decisions based on that.  Context and goals has to be applied to reach the right answer, because all the multiple choice options associated with the case studies are valid under certain circumstances – but there is only one right answer that exactly meets the complex specifics given.

My end feeling on completing the test was very Rumsfeldian. I know there was plenty of stuff I knew.  I know there were a few things I didn’t know.  But what I will be really interested in is all those unknown, unknowns!  Talking to someone afterwards, they commented how they really couldn’t choose between B and C for one question.... hmm, and there was I wrestling between A and D. 

I look forward to getting my report breaking down the scores for the different sections and when I look from an employer perspective at candidates who’ve taken this test I’ll be particularly interested in seeing strong scores on the case study side.

This first test was paper based (whereas the roll out will be computer based at test centres) so I don’t know yet if I passed.  I hope I have, of course, but it’ll all come down to those unknown unknowns.  But even if I haven’t it has been extremely valuable to do as an employer of analysts.  Because if I haven’t passed myself, then I sure as heck want people who have!

The test will be running at eMetrics London next week (19^th May). If you’re thinking of taking the test or have any questions at all (beyond what are the answers, as I sure as heck don’t know those!) then please feel free to drop me a line or tweet @brockvicky

And as one employer to another I’d say this really is a differentiator - you really want the people that ace this Certification working for you!

Comments

[Rob McLaughlin]

I took the test at the London eMetrics. It was very tough, especially the case studies which each felt like doing a whole day's work in 15 minutes!

Honestly, after the exam I was extremely concerned that I had over exposed myself and was starting to regret taking it at all. The test really makes you push yourself, it worked me much harder than I expected. I challenge anyone to take the test and not be impressed with the breadth and depth of the way it interrogates your skills.

I have taken vendor exams and they are good tool testers but in terms of real problem solving they do not compare at all. The WAA exam is much much tougher.

Based on my experience, if you claim to be a web analytics professional then you should, once confident in your abilities, take this test. Be sure though, if you masquerade as an analytics ninja this test will floor you.

I took it and passed, but it was hard work - good work WAA and thanks for my certification!

Rob.

[Credit]

I have found so many interesting articles & information on various topics in your blog especially its discussion. I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work. I like your presentation.