topic Re: App Developer Certification Road Map in Developer Q&A Forum

App Developer Certification Road Map

MostafaHussein — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 07:51:07 GMT

Hi folks!

This is my journey with Dynatrace App Developer certification and I hope this help everyone need to start in this great track.

Before start in app development track you should learn both of (TypeScript and React) as the below important topics:

Typescript (https://www.typescriptlang.org/play)
learning typescript before starting in app development is a must to be familiar with all the mentioned examples in developer.dynatrace.com, here’s the list of important fields you should know and within the mentioned link you’ll have too much examples that mostly covers all the below fields
- data types
- statements (if , switch)
- loops (for, forEach, map, every, etc..)
- types & interfaces
- inheritance & polymorphism
- debugging & logging
React (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/react/)
Note: react is very easy to learn by following roadmap topics to the rest
- How to import libraries
- Configure routes and links
- Create Pages
- Create Components

[ROAD MAP] with links

The approach of the Dynatrace App
- AppEngine & Technologies (https://developer.dynatrace.com/plan/about-appengine )
- App Toolkit & How can it be configured (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/app-toolkit/configuration/ )
- What’s the AppShell (https://developer.dynatrace.com/plan/appshell/ )
- What’s the JS Runtime (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/javascript-runtime/ )
- Strato Design framework (the DT APP front-end)
  - What & why Strato Design (https://developer.dynatrace.com/design/about-strato-design-system/)
  - What are the design tokens (https://developer.dynatrace.com/design/design-tokens-in-use/ )
App Functions (the DT App back-end)
- What’re the App Functions ? how it works, use cases and limitation (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/app-functions/ )
- Create and Consume (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/app-functions/create-consume/ )
- Handle Errors (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/app-functions/handle-errors/ )
- Simple Example (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/app-functions/pass-input/ )
Intents
- What are the Intents & Use cases (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/intents/)
- How it works
  - Send/Receive Intents
    - (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/intents/receive-intents/)
    - (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/intents/send-intents/)
  - Debug (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/intents/debug-intents/)
Platform Services
- Most Important Platform Services
  - State service (https://developer.dynatrace.com/plan/platform-services/state-service/ )
    For Practice check this link (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/data/store-app-user-state/ )
  - App settings service (https://developer.dynatrace.com/plan/platform-services/app-settings-service/ )
    For Practice check this link (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/data/store-app-settings/ )
  - Document service (https://developer.dynatrace.com/plan/platform-services/document-service/ )
    For Practice check this link
    (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/data/store-user-generated-data/ )
  - Grail service (https://developer.dynatrace.com/plan/platform-services/grail-service/ )
    For Practice check this link
    (https://developer.dynatrace.com/quickstart/tutorial/access-dynatrace-data/#2-query-the-data )
  - Automation Service & Workflows
    - Important
      - How can be used within the application
      - What are Custom actions
      - Custom actions use cases
      - Main components of the workflow custom action
      - (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/workflows/)
    - Practices
      - Automate app function runs (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/workflows/automate-app-function-runs/ )
      - Create custom action (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/workflows/create-custom-action/ )
      - Test custom actions (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/workflows/test-custom-actions/ )
      - Use Intents for Workflows (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/workflows/use-intents/ )
- For each one of the above platform services you should know
  - How it works
  - Use cases
  - Limitations
  - Try it by yourself
Security
- Permission scopes (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/security/add-permission-scopes-to-use-dynatrace-apis/ )
- CSP rules (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/security/configure-csp-rules/)
  - How to configure
  - Use cases
- Practice
  - Query user permissions (https://developer.dynatrace.com/develop/security/query-user-permissions/)

Finally, if anyone has topics that I've missed in my suggested roadmap please just mention it in a comment and I'll add it to this post with mentioning him beside your topic.

Thanks,
Mostafa Hussein.

Re: App Developer Certification Road Map

Tommaso_Fin — Tue, 12 May 2026 09:06:25 GMT

Hi, I think your list is quite complete, but I followed a different approach.

Just started with the tutorial to create the first app in 5 minutes, then work with an AI assistant to create whatever I needed.

This worked really well for me. I had previous programming experience, but almost no knowledge on Typescript / React, etc... I learned everything on the way and now I am almost autonomous without AI (but I still use it because it's faster)

I just mention that because someone could be concerned by your long list.

bye

Re: App Developer Certification Road Map

MaximilianoML — Tue, 12 May 2026 09:27:22 GMT

Hello @MostafaHussein

This is a very solid starting point for anyone preparing for the cert, especially because you connected the concepts with the official docs and practice links.

One topic I would consider adding is Dynatrace SDK usage inside apps, especially:

How to use SDK clients to interact with platform services and APIs
The difference between calling platform APIs from the frontend versus App Functions
When an App Function is required because of permissions, security, or secrets handling

I would also suggest mentioning app configuration and deployment basics, such as:

app.config.json
Required scopes and CSP configuration in the app manifest
Local development versus deployment to the tenant
Common troubleshooting during build, signing, and upload

These areas often become very important once someone moves from tutorials into building a real production-ready Dynatrace App.

Thanks for putting this together. It will definitely help people approach the certification path in a much more structured way 😁

Re: App Developer Certification Road Map

MostafaHussein — Tue, 12 May 2026 11:56:43 GMT

great, but in exam you've to be familiar with type script to go through the tasks like peace of cake bro.

Re: App Developer Certification Road Map

Tommaso_Fin — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:26:18 GMT

I think all certification methodologies should be updated with the new way of work. I my opinion a certification means that a person is able to perform at the highest level of quality and speed, using all available tools and resources. I don't need a certificated professional which is not able to develop using also AI tools.

Re: App Developer Certification Road Map

MaximilianoML — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:31:06 GMT

I agree that certifications should evolve with the way we work, and AI is clearly part of that now.

At the same time, I think a certification still needs to prove that the professional understands the fundamentals behind the result. An engineer can use advanced design tools, simulations, and AI assistance, but still needs to know whether a bridge is safe. A doctor can use AI to support diagnosis or review exams, but still needs the clinical knowledge to judge whether that recommendation makes sense for the patient.

For me, the ideal certification would validate both sides: strong core knowledge and the ability to use modern tools, including AI, responsibly and effectively.