Do you have what it takes to become a Plesk Expert? I’ve been training support engineers for over 5 years, from their first day on the job, until they start working with real support requests. Most of the Plesk Support Team grew under my mentorship. And here’s what I found out everyone needs to become a Plesk Expert.
The essential components of a Plesk Expert
- High-quality learning resources: relevant, accessible and based on real-life scenarios.
- Regular hands-on practice: you cannot fully learn something until you start doing it.
- Above-average curiosity: the itch to mess with things to see what happens.
- Perseverance: even in the face of difficulties and setbacks.
Why become a Plesk Expert?
I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t achieve Plesk Expert status. So you can do it too! But why should you? Well, I’ll give you a few good reasons.
- Experts avoid making mistakes because they know Plesk best practices.
- Experts work more efficiently since they have more experience and know where to look and what to do.
- Experts solve problems faster because they have an in-depth knowledge of the product and its inner-workings.
- Experts are in-demand. As the web continues growing, market players are constantly on the lookout for new hires. Plesk is always seeking great talent.
Interested? No time like today to start your road to Plesk Expert. And to guide you, we designed a four-week learning campaign with clear and achievable goals. Plus prizes! Keep reading if you’re up for it.
Overview for 4 weeks of Learning by Plesk
Complete a pre-certification course in Plesk University
Our mission at Plesk University is to give you the knowledge you need to get to Plesk Expert level. When we onboard new Plesk Support engineers, they go through the same courses as in the public Plesk University course catalog. It was our policy from the very beginning. To equip every Plesk administrator, web professional, and hosting company with the skills and knowledge to be self-reliable. And of course, be the best at what they do.
Plesk University has many courses on solutions and extensions, but this week, we want you to try one of our comprehensive courses:
- Plesk Onyx Professional: This course is for everyone who is just starting to work with Plesk. In this course, you’ll learn how to install, configure, and work with Plesk.
- Plesk Onyx for Linux Expert / Plesk Onyx for Windows Expert: If you’re already familiar with Plesk and want to expand your knowledge, go for one of our Expert-level courses. Here, you’ll learn how to upgrade, migrate, and troubleshoot Plesk. These courses are essential for support engineers and advanced administrators.
To complete this stage, complete one of the above pre-certification courses. Then, DM us your Plesk University username for confirmation.
PRIZE OPPORTUNITY
Additionally, for a chance to win a Plesk license, share on social media three things you learned about Plesk with the hashtag #4WeeksofLearning.
Get hands-on practice
You cannot fully-learn something until you start doing it: foreign languages, math, skateboard tricks, crocheting. You name it. That’s why every time a new support engineer works with our courses, I keep reminding them to try what they have learned in each module in a lab environment. The range of activities varies, depending on the course:
- In Plesk Professional course, I recommend to just repeat the steps shown in the course. This helps my students get comfortable with Plesk and practice the basics. We encourage poking around and going on little adventures.
- In Plesk Expert courses, we have a set of troubleshooting labs. We outlined them in a downloadable PDF on the course page, which requires my students to practice their troubleshooting skills.
Use instructions from the Installation module of the Plesk Onyx Professional course to install Plesk on a VM. Then, request a free trial license here and get your hands dirty. Don’t be afraid to break something – after all, it is just your sandbox.
To complete this stage, install Plesk on a VM. Then, create a WordPress website on it, and send us a screenshot of your Websites & Domains screen (example below). Send your submission via a DM to @Plesk.
PRIZE OPPORTUNITY
For a chance to win a Plesk license, say on social media whether it was easy or not to start using Plesk, using hashtag #4WeeksofLearning.
This week, you might also want to schedule your exam appointment in advance. Keep reading to learn more.
Pass a certification exam
All exams in Plesk University are conducted with a remote proctor (ProctorU). This will verify your credentials and monitor your activity during the exam with a web camera, microphone, and remote-access software. This procedure guarantees that we only grant Plesk certificates when fully-earned.
Scheduling an exam appointment
It’s free if you schedule 72+ hours in advance. If you’re in a hurry, you can schedule an appointment even sooner for a small fee. Detailed instructions on how to schedule appointments are available in the introduction to each certification exam.
The examination
The exam takes 30-45 minutes to complete and contains 20-30 multiple-choice, scenario-based questions. It depends on the level – Professional or Expert. To pass the exam, you must answer at least 80% of questions correctly.
If you failed on your first try, you’ll have to wait 7 days for another chance to pass the exam. Schedule your exam appointment with the remote proctor in advance and spend this time revising course materials.
If you have questions, just get in touch via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Just know that we don’t provide exam transcripts or comment on past exam results.
To complete this stage, pass the exam and DM us your results screen. You must send your submission via DM to @Plesk.
PRIZE OPPORTUNITY
For a chance to win Plesk license, additionally, print your certificate, take a selfie and share it with the hashtag #4WeeksofLearning.
Keep going!
If you passed the exam on your first try, then just sit back and relax. You might want to accept your digital badge and use it to brag a little bit about your new expertise on social media.
You can also take a look at our other courses: WP Toolkit, Acronis Backup, or learn how to run Ruby applications on a Plesk server.
If you’re still on your way to becoming Plesk Certified, then keep going. Review the materials, put more effort into questions that you found most difficult during the exam.
Make sure you schedule your second appointment with remote proctor no earlier than 7 days after you failed the first try. Otherwise, you won’t be able to start the exam.
To complete this stage, pass the exam and DM us your results screen. Send your submission by DM to @Plesk.
Graduation and final prizes
The day has come! You’re now a Plesk Expert and can enjoy that achievement feeling. But we decided to sweeten the pot even further with another great reward.
Prizes
5 vouchers for a year of Plesk Onyx Web Professional licenses
Requirements to qualify for prizes
- Pass each stage on time
- Pass the certification exam
- Complete all social media side-tasks. Namely: sharing what you learned about Plesk, telling us how easy it was to install and use Plesk, and sending us your photo with a certificate.
Done all of the above? Then you’ll participate in a random draw of 5 winners that will each receive a voucher for 1-year Plesk Onyx Web Professional licenses.
Winners announcement: March 5th!
Good luck and happy learning!
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