Two companies with deep roots in the web’s infrastructure have joined forces to solve a problem that has frustrated enterprise hiring teams for years: there is no authoritative, rigorous way to verify that a developer truly has the chops to build and maintain complex, high-traffic WordPress applications.
Arizona-based Kryterion, the company behind the Webassessor certification platform, and Automattic, the global distributed company powering WordPress, WooCommerce, and dozens of other products, today announced a strategic partnership to launch the Advanced Professional WordPress Developer credential.
The exam is already live.
Built by – and for – practitioners
The credential is notable for how it was constructed. WordPress VIP, Automattic’s enterprise division that has supported the largest WordPress deployments for over 18 years, led curriculum design. Top WordPress agencies worldwide also contributed to testing the credential before launch.
This is not a credential built in a vacuum – it reflects what enterprise teams actually need.
The exam covers eight demanding domains: WordPress Core, Custom Development, Security, Performance, Change Management, Debugging, Scalability and Architecture, and Disaster Recovery. Preparation materials are freely accessible through VIP Learn – making the pathway equitable for developers at all career stages.
“This partnership marks a milestone in formalizing skills and expertise in advanced professional WordPress software development,” said Klaus Harris, Credentialing Program Lead at WordPress VIP.
“Partnering with Kryterion enables us to offer a rigorously validated credential that reflects true mastery and professional readiness in developing business-critical WordPress applications for the most demanding environments,” he added.
A fast development cycle
Kryterion began supporting Automattic’s item development in early September last year and, by January 2026, the beta test was completed. The full exam launched mid-February – five months from kickoff to live credential.
For a certification of this psychometric rigor, this fast track is a testament to Kryterion’s structured development methodology.
The broader context matters for startups especially. In 2026, over half of employers have removed degree requirements – a 30% increase from 2024.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s Economic Graph research signals that a skills-first approach to hiring increases individual candidate pools by up to nine times for workers without bachelor’s degrees – giving companies the flexibility to target candidates based on evolving skill requirements rather than static job titles.
For firms that hire WordPress talent, this credential offers a concrete, third-party-validated quality signal and, for developers, it creates a clever and portable career advancement pathway.
Featured image: Fikret tozak via Unsplash+
Disclosure: This article mentions clients of an Espacio portfolio company.
