At Snowdog, our focus extends beyond crafting groundbreaking eCommerce experiences. We embrace a greater purpose of sharing our knowledge, expertise, and passion with aspiring developers. Recognizing the transformative power of practical learning, we have established Snowdog Academy to foster optimal outcomes.
Unlock Your Potential with Snowdog Academy: Become a Certified Adobe Commerce Developer
What exactly is Snowdog Academy? It’s a course designed specifically to teach you the basics of Adobe Commerce (Magento).
Target audience? Beginner developers, experienced ones, but without prior Magento knowledge, but also amateurs who learn PHP on their own.
What’s in it for you? By the end of the course, you will have reached a sufficient skill level to become a Junior Adobe Commerce Developer. You will also receive a certificate to confirm that.
The course consists of two stages — individual tasks and a group project. In between, you will have a chance to participate in webinars organized by experts from Google, Adobe and eObuwie — our longtime partners!
But what is it actually like to take part in Snowdog Academy? What are the benefits? How can you prepare? To answer those questions, I’ve asked Martyna Maciejewska who took part in last year’s edition and then got a job with us as a Junior Backend Developer.
Agnieszka Taradejna: What enticed you to apply for Snowdog Academy?
Martyna Maciejewska: I was looking for summer internships after I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Many companies were cutting down their intern programs — it was at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. One day I stumbled upon Snowdog’s offer and figured ‘why not?’. It wasn’t an internship per se, more like a course, but I figured it might be a great chance to learn something new.
AT: Talk us through the experience.
MM: I started off with a small qualifying task in PHP. My objective was to expand an app for borrowing books. I finished it and luckily got accepted to proceed! The course itself consisted of two stages — coding and a group project. The first part involved 10 Magento-related tasks. Each of them was described in detail, with all necessary learning materials provided. Once I’ve finished each stage, Tomek and Rafał, our supervisors, reviewed the code and indicated any corrections I had to implement. Then, after sending the final version, I would get another brief and materials with a new task. The second stage was a whole project where all participants were working on the same thing, but each had a defined role. I would write code, someone else would review it, another person would test it, and so on. Then, we would switch, so that everyone got a taste of various functions.
It was kind of like actual work with an actual workflow. Coming back to it, it really resembled the way we work at Snowdog on real projects.
AT: What was the best part of the Academy?
MM: It’s tough to settle on just one! Teamwork is definitely a strong contender. All of the participants had access to an internal chat where we would share tips, ask questions and help each other out with any difficulties. Even though everything was done remotely, the team spirit was strong.
We weren’t just able to count on each other, though. At any moment we could get in touch with Tomek and Rafał who work as Back-end Developers at SNOW.DOG. They would help us with any doubts and problems, which we all really appreciated. That doesn’t mean they held us by our hands — they were there to assist, but we were given space and opportunity to come up with our own solutions.
Tomek and Rafał would also give us really detailed feedback, which didn’t just include corrections to the code we had written, but also genuinely helpful tips and advice on good coding practices. We’d also receive plenty of helpful additional materials.
Lastly, I could do the tasks whenever and wherever I wanted, as long as I fit within the deadline! The course didn’t really disrupt my personal life, but I still learned so much.
AT: In what ways did you benefit from Snowdog Academy?
MM: Well, first of all, it landed me a job! But to be more specific, the Academy taught me a lot about Magento 2, which I knew nothing of before starting the course. And here I was, testing the code and then implementing a new feature! Then, I had the chance to see how an online store operates, from the administrator’s point of view, which was really exciting.
While completing the tasks and then working on our group project, I learned a lot about object-oriented PHP programming and seriously polished my Docker knowledge.
Lastly, because the entire group project section of the course was designed to emulate the way an actual working environment, it gave me a little peek into my current life.
Basically, Snowdog Academy expanded upon my existing skills and prepared me for my job as a Developer.
AT: Let’s talk a bit more about you ending up with us — how did that come about?
MM: The thing is, I didn’t apply to the Academy with an aim of finding employment at Snowdog. I wanted to learn about Magento, get some teamwork skills, and get a little taste of what’s it like to work at a company. A job offer was definitely a nice surprise at the end — I guess I must’ve done something right, haha!
AT: Who would you recommend the Academy to?
MM: The course is definitely meant for people with some coding knowledge. That being said, it’s flexible enough to fit different styles of work and motivations. I’d say it’s an amazing opportunity for people who have just begun their IT adventure and want to test the waters. It’s also great for more experienced developers who are willing to grow and broaden their skillset and learn about Magento.
AT: Would you say you need an IT degree to join?
MM: I don’t think you need to have studied IT to get the most out of Snowdog Academy. A similar degree will be more than enough. From my experience, what you really need is an open mind and a hard-working attitude.
AT: Do you have any prep advice for people interested in Snowdog Academy?
MM: Definitely! Since the tasks are pretty much all about coding, it’s good to know at least the basics of object-oriented PHP programming. It’s also good to have some SQL knowledge because sometimes we would have to use a database. Oh, and get familiar with GitHub, since we used it quite a lot, too. That’s pretty much it!
That knowledge is pretty essential for people who consider applying — it will allow them to progress and make the most out of the course.
Snowdog Academy takes place over the course of three months. We close the recruitment polls on 23rd August — make sure to apply in advance!
You can sign up here (English) or here (Polish).
Good luck and hopefully see you soon!
