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Certification
Time to Grade CLD
I wrote my CLD via online proctoring exactly two weeks ago, and received my result today. I passed!
For me, getting through the CLD was all about practice, practice, practice.
I came to know LabVIEW from a "learn-on-the-job" environment, where I started using it fairly extensively before getting into any sort of training - meaning I started with a foundation of design practices from former colleagues who were also not fully trained. So, part 1 of practice for me was getting away from anti-patterns and sloppy design and really paying attention to architecting things correctly. I really paid attention to LabVIEW Core 3 and put it to practice by refactoring some of our less-than-optimal VIs into a better overall architecture.
The next part of practice was to go through the CLD Success Package exercises - and by go through, I mean take each one seriously and try to construct a solution which not only would work, but would satisfy the graders. This taught me that (a) a proper solution is much slower to develop than I expected, and (b) I tend to rush to a partial solution before really figuring out what is being asked for, and sometimes go off-rails a little bit. Misinterpretation of the spec / skipping details / underestimating little things - these were very valuable lessons for the CLD.
Next was watching the CLD preparation videos and reading the NI forums. The videos went into detail explaining the grading and expectations of the CLD exam. The forums also offered some advice which was invaluable in terms of strategy - design the UI first, make the VI run second (proper start/stop), construct the major sub-VIs third, then implement the functionality piece by piece and make sure that at all times the VI still runs correctly. Also, document everything as you make it.
Finally was the practice exam package. Due to a lack of prep time near the end, I only had a chance to attempt one practice exam. Luckily I was able to allocate a block of time to this task and as closely as possible I tried to replicate the exam scenario. This was invaluable, as it shone a light on the fact that a successful strategy is key - getting the 'core' running and documented while adding functionality bit by bit is certainly the way to go, in my opinion.
To the test itself - I felt nerves and panic for the first 30 minutes or so (and definitely panic the final 5-10 minutes). What I did to try and keep organized was add a .txt document to the project where I kept notes for myself (and the reviewer, if they chose to look at it) - what time I started a major element of the project (start UI, test UI, start basic app structure, start sub-VIs, start implementing functionality, etc.) Near the end, when I knew I couldn't add anything else without risking breaking the project, I also left some notes - where I left off, what I felt needed to be added to complete the spec, other things that were left out due to lack of time - just to illustrate that I understood what they were looking for. I get that the scoring is objective where possible, but hey.
The worst part about waiting were those forehead-slap moments where you realize little things you forgot due to the pressure. Like, "Oh snap - I told myself to generate the HTML help file with 10 minutes to go, but forgot!" and "Aargh - THAT'S what that line in the spec meant!" Fortunately the self-agonizing only lasted two weeks thanks to prompt grading from NI!
