My Journey to Citrix Mobility Certification

In December 2015 I successfully passed Citrix Mobility Specialist Practicum becoming India’s first, and till date, only specialist to achieve it. It was a tremendous achievement and I wanted to recount my experience and share some insights.

The 42-hour test which has to be completed within 4 days greatly enhances one’s professional skills and capabilities. Although I finished the test on day one, I reviewed my responses diligently and did not submit till the end.

The bar is high for aspirants as only those having engaged in a number of enterprise mobility deployments qualify for certification. Since I had worked in a couple of large deployments—Shardul Amarchand and Mangaldas, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, MTS Telecom, Ratnakar Bank etc. – I was well versed with the requirements and challenges of deploying enterprise mobility.

I was confident and excited as I geared up towards certification as I would regularly read up on study material available on Citrix website, follow discussion forums and attend Master Class. These activities were really helpful for my professional engagements as well as it provided multiple insights and opened up a world of perspective. Overall I found that if one has good understanding of SSL certification and networking, it is easy to clear the exams.

Undergoing the certification has significantly enhanced my professional capabilities. As a certified specialist my problem solving skills have improved because it has trained me to think, analyse and approach challenges in an informed, deliberate and structured manner—all of which vastly impact outcomes.

I would like to call out two specific areas of benefit. First is the enhanced ability to handle business communication. Usually we take pride in our skills as an engineer working in cutting-edge technology, while ignoring skillsets required for business communication with clients. Consequently even the most brilliant ideas are sometimes misunderstood and fail to impress the client. One of the outcomes of certification is the clarity I bring to discussions in terms of linking technical ideas to business logic. This makes it easier for the client to grasp a technical concept and enhance the quality of engagement.

Second, the certification has enabled me to address a problem from multiple angles. The Master Class forum brings together hundreds of specialists who address a single problem from multiple angles. It has taught me that there isn’t one single way of interpreting a problem. But the challenge lies in one’s ability to explore it from multiple angles, analyse and adopt the most appropriate solution. The certification journey has taught me the criticality of examining a challenge from multiple angles is a continuous and ongoing learning process.