I recently took the Associate Android Developer exam. You should too!

The Associate Android Developer exam is a Google Developer Certification run via Udacity.

Thats a lot of jargon! Intrigued? Read on.

What is Google Developer Certification?

Straight from the site, the Google Developer Certification is:

a program designed so you can show what you can do and not simply what you know. It allows you to demonstrate your proficiency and skill with typical tasks that you as a developer perform daily in your job. In taking and passing a certification exam, you will become recognized for your skills, which in turn will allow you to promote yourself to relevant communities, projects, or employers

Who wouldn’t want that?

I’m really pleased to see an official certification program from Google — I would love to see certification as a minimum requirement for Android developer positions.

Currently the certification program contains only the Associate Android Developer exam, but presumably more advanced exams will be added in the future.

What is the Associate Android Developer Exam?

The Associate Android Developer exam is an exam designed to test your skills as an Android developer.

If you’re new to Android, Udacity offers a fast-track course designed to teach you Android development, with the end goal of passing this exam.

But if you’re already an Android developer you can take the exam today.

It consists of a coding project, and upon passing, an exit interview.

This was my experience:

The exam

The exam wasn’t terrible difficult. It’s really well designed and covers most of the basics of Android development. I would say it’s targeted at entry level developers.

You will need to know:

how to build Android UI’s

Asynchronous data loading, and background jobs

Data storage

Debugging

UI Testing

When you start the exam, you are given an existing Android app to start with.

The premise of the exam is a previous developer was pulled off this app to work on another project, and you need to complete it.

The exam outlines a number of tasks you must complete.

You’ll need to finish off existing features, fix bugs, implement brand new screens, and UI tests to top it off.

Get to it! Times ticking ⏰

How long will it take?

After payment, you are given 24 hours to complete and submit the exam via the Udacity site.

A seasoned developer should be able to complete the exam in half a day, but 24 hours should be enough time even for a junior developer.

Can I use 3rd party libraries?

There are no limitations on what you can use, or how implement the app.

In fact the majority of the grading is done automatically via UI testing once you submit.

The only restrictions are you must not rename the existing classes in the application, the UI needs to match the designs, and you must use Android Studio.

How much does it cost?

The exam costs $149 USD 💰

After submission

I was surprised that only 2 days after submission I received an email to say I was on to the next stage — the exit interview 🎉.

There were plenty of times available for the interview, and I was able to schedule it for the next day. Awesome!

The exit interview is a video call (via zoom.us).

I had my interview with Carlo, who was prompt and called me right on time. All up it took less than 5 minutes.

You must verify your ID one final time, and answer a few short questions about the app and about Android development. I assume this is to verify you didn’t get someone else to sit the exam.

Carlo then informed me I would receive an email with my results after my answers had been processed.

The result

2 days after the exit interview I received my final results, with an Associate Android Developer certification badge via badgecert.

Your Associate Android Developer badge

You can add this badge to your linkedin profile and your CV.

Congratulations you are now a certified Android developer!

I was really impressed by the process of the exam from start to finish. All up the process took less than a week.

Well done Udacity and Google 👏 👏.

My only criticism is it would be a nice touch to receive a paper certificate as well as the badge!

Hopefully you now have a better idea of what the exam involves — so what are you waiting for?

Take the exam today!