Interviews 
Brent W Peterson on Being a Certified Magento Solution Specialist and His Life as a Magento Celebrity
- Syed Muneeb Ul Hasan
- April 20, 2017
Joining us today is another Magento maverick, Brent W Peterson. He is currently working as a Magento Evangelist at Wagento and Mage Training, and also a Lead US Forum Moderator on MagentoCommerce. He is a famous personality in the Magento Community and a certified Magento Solution Specialist. Recently, he was honored with the Magento Master Makers 2017 award.
So without further ado, here’s my interview with Brent!
Muneeb: Brent, it’s great to have you here with us today. Please tell our readers a bit about your company “Wagento” and yourself?
Brent: Wagento is a full-service agency that primarily develops new Magento sites or applications that have something to do with Magento. We also do some Shopify plugin modules (Mostly related to Magento modules that we have already done)
In addition, we offer on-going maintenance for Magento websites as well as Magento Developer training through Magento U and Merchant training through Maga Training.
I have been involved with Magento since the beginning of 2009, and I have been heavily involved in the Magento community since then as well. I’ve been to every Imagine, and for Imagine #2 we put on the first MageRun. We’ll have our 6th annual MageRun this year.
We are also planning our first BhaagMagentoBhaag at MagentoLive India this year.
Muneeb: As a Magento Evangelist at Wagento and Mage Training, and also a Lead US Forum Moderator on MagentoCommerce, what were some of the major challenges you had to face during your career and how did you solve them?
Brent: Clearly you got this from my Linkedin account :) My biggest challenge has been aligning communication points with client and project managers. More recently, I have learned that the same effort should go into keeping our internal team aligned with everyone’s expectations. For example: the shorter the time between communications the less out-of-alignment you will be with your expectations. The longer you wait, the more chances there are for a misstep in expectations.
Muneeb: Being a certified Magento solution specialist, when did you realize the importance of this certification? What change did this certification bring in your career?
Brent: I think the certification is important in the sense that it gives everyone a baseline of knowledge that can be interpreted in the same manner. You can easily say “I know all this about Magento,” but if everyone takes the same test, then you have to know more than enough to pass the test. Any of the Magento certifications tell you something that is objective in regards to the person who took the certification.
Muneeb: You were recently listed in Magento Master Makers 2017. What’s your feeling on this achievement? Please share your experience with our readers.
Brent: I consider it a great honor and I did not expect to be listed for 2017. I cannot put my finger on any one thing that I do, only that I do more than one thing. The Magento community needs many types of people, not just developers. I am happy they chose people to be Magento masters who are not just developers but play other roles in the community as well.
Muneeb: Being a famous personality in the Magento Community, what advice would you give to newbies who want to get started with Magento?
Brent: Get involved in the Magento community. Go and attend events. Ask and answer questions!
Muneeb: What advice would you give to merchants who are thinking of moving to Magento?
Brent: Talk to someone who is knowledgeable about Magento. It would be best to talk to an SI, but any certified Magento developer can give you answers. Project Managers are worth their weight in gold. They save Magento projects.
Muneeb: Do you attend Magento Community Events? Who are the people in the Magento community that have inspired you the most?
Brent: There are so many people in the Magento community that inspire me. To start with, Bob Schwartz lit the fire that got me going with Wagento. Ben Marks and Vinai Kopp taught me in an early Magento U class. They were the start of my inspiration! Later I met Alan Kent who has helped me from an architecture/infrastructure standpoint. However, there are too many people to name.
Muneeb: So let’s put Magento aside for a moment and talk a little about your personal life. Do you like playing games or spending time with family?
Brent: I have a lovely wife who I spend all day with at work and two kids who attend university. After that, I would say I enjoy running. I volunteer at some organizations and I am involved with my church.
Muneeb: How do you spend your vacations? And do you love traveling? Could you share your best traveling experience with our readers?
Brent: We mostly extend our Magento travels into vacations, but we also just vacation for the point of vacationing. We love different islands. So Hawaii and Ireland come to mind. We also run destination marathons. Susan is running Boston, Berlin, and Chicago and I am running in Mt Charleston, Berlin, and Chicago.
We are thinking Mumbai, London, and some fall marathon in 2018.
Muneeb: Brent, as is our tradition, could you please share a picture of your workstation for our readers?
Brent: Here’s a picture of my workplace:
Muneeb: You are a Magento Influencer with a busy schedule. Tell our readers about your daily routine and how you manage your work-life balance.
Brent: I like to wake up at 6 am. I listen to the Daily Audio Bible, then make tea and start to chat with India. I go to work then run in the evening.
Not that exciting!
Muneeb: Magenticians is running an interview series. Who would you like to be interviewed next on Magenticians? You can nominate your friends or people who have notable contributions in the Magento Community.
Brent: I am open to being interviewed. I would like to nominate Vijay Golani, Sanjay Patel, Gabriel Guarino, and Jhon Montevilla.
Muneeb: Thank you for the nominations, Brent. It was great having you for the interview and we hope our readers will find it extremely valuable. And we look forward to another interview with you in the future!
