20%
Knowledge & Scenario Judgment
Timed, written. Judgment scenarios, not definitions.
Stage 2 · Professional certification
Bulletproof Certified Automation Builder
The holder can independently take a moderately complex automation requirement and design, build, integrate, harden, document, and maintain a solution — and can diagnose a malfunctioning system they did not build.
The facts
The certification
- Assessment
- Four components — written, practical, live troubleshooting, and an architecture walkthrough
- Provisional pass
- 75% overall, with minimums on two components
- Window opens
- Assessment fee
- GHS 450
- Valid for
- 24 months
The cohort
- Starts
- Runs
- Five Saturdays, 11:30–14:00 GMT, 2.5 hours with a real break
- Seats
- 25
- Enrollment closes
- Founding Cohort Rate
- GHS 750, or GHS 1,050 with the BCAB assessment
Training and certification are separate products.
Completing the cohort qualifies you to attempt the assessment. It does not award the credential. You can also sit the assessment without buying the training — see the two routes below. Read the full standard.
What the credential attests
The holder can independently take a moderately complex automation requirement and design, build, integrate, harden, document, and maintain a solution — and can diagnose a malfunctioning system they did not build.
Stated limitation on the credential
It does not attest to competence in scaling, infrastructure administration, deployment pipelines, or enterprise security architecture. Those are Stage 3.
The seven competency domains
01
Data Engineering
Transform nested, multi-item, inconsistent, and incomplete workflow data
02
Integrations & APIs
Build integrations from API documentation rather than step-by-step instructions
03
Workflow Architecture
Decompose automation systems into maintainable workflows and reusable components
04
Logic & State
Design decision paths, fallbacks, duplicate prevention, and state-aware processing
05
Reliability
Design retries, error paths, validation, recovery, and observable failure behaviour
06
Troubleshooting
Diagnose workflows the candidate did not originally build
07
AI Automation
Use AI selectively inside controlled workflows, with validation and deterministic safeguards
Documentation and communication are assessed within every domain, not as a separate subject. A candidate who cannot explain a design has not demonstrated the domain.
See the full domain-to-component mapHow the assessment works
35%
Practical Build Challenge
A business requirement you have not built before. No node-level instructions are given. You choose the approach.
Minimum 70%
30%
Troubleshooting Challenge
Live, timeboxed, supervised, on a workflow you did not build. The number of defects is not disclosed.
Minimum 70%
15%
Architecture Walkthrough
Live, five to ten minutes plus follow-up questions. This also serves as authorship verification.
The passing standard
- 75%overall
- 70%minimum, Practical Build
- 70%minimum, Troubleshooting
- 50%no domain below
The minimums on the Practical Build and Troubleshooting components are non-compensatory. Strong theory cannot offset weak hands-on ability. A candidate who cannot diagnose an unfamiliar fault does not hold this certification.
These thresholds are provisional
They are set before any candidate has been assessed. After the first cycle we record the full score distribution per component and per domain, review it, then confirm or revise the thresholds and publish them with the reasoning. Candidates assessed under provisional thresholds are not disadvantaged by any subsequent increase; results stand as issued.
Critical safety failures
Certain outcomes trigger Remediation Required regardless of overall score. These are professional standards, not scoring criteria, and they are published to candidates before assessment.
- Exposing credentials, API keys, or tokens in any submitted artifact
- Sending sensitive or unnecessary personal data to an AI provider
- Deleting or modifying production-like data without appropriate safeguards
- Designing a workflow that silently discards failed records
- Leaving a critical action entirely dependent on unvalidated AI output
Outcomes
Certified
Met all requirements. Credential issued.
Assessment Not Yet Passed
Did not reach the standard. Written feedback issued. You may reattempt.
Remediation Required
One or more specific competency gaps, or a critical safety failure. Named gaps must be addressed and evidenced before a further attempt.
The term “failed candidate” is not used. The assessment measures whether the standard has been reached yet.
Retakes
- First reattempt: minimum 7-day wait — GHS 300
- Second reattempt: minimum 30-day wait — GHS 400
- Third and subsequent: at assessor discretion, following a remediation plan
- Every attempt uses a different practical scenario and a different seeded troubleshooting workflow
Two routes to the assessment
Path A · Training route
Foundations → cohort → assessment
Complete the free Foundations cohort, take the Intermediate cohort, then sit the assessment. Holding the Foundations Certificate waives the readiness review.
Enroll in the cohortPath B · Experience route
Readiness review → assessment
You are not required to buy the training. A working practitioner can take a readiness review, which establishes that an attempt is realistic. It is advisory, not a gate, and its fee is credited against the assessment fee.
Book a readiness review — GHS 150Path B is essential to the credential’s independence and is maintained even when it is commercially inconvenient.
The cohort — five weeks
One competency per week, and one project that grows across all five. There is no final-week capstone crunch. The structure shifts from “follow me” to “here is the requirement, you decide” — you will not all be building identical workflows.
-
Week 1
Complex data
Nested objects, arrays, multi-item data, and missing fields. Split, Aggregate and Merge. When the Code node earns its place, and pinned data as a testing tool.
-
Week 2
Real API integration
POST, PATCH and DELETE. Auth patterns, pagination, rate limits, and status-code literacy. You get an unfamiliar API and its documentation, with no walkthrough.
-
Week 3
Workflow architecture
Sub-workflows, reusable components, naming, and configuration instead of hard-coded values. State and persistence, deduplication, and idempotency.
-
Week 4
Troubleshooting & reliability
The centrepiece. Silent, partial, and wrong-but-valid failures. Observability, run IDs, dead-letter patterns, and recovery workflows. Includes a diagnostic lab on a broken workflow you did not build.
-
Week 5
Production AI & automation design
Where AI should and should not decide. Structured output, validation, confidence and fallback, human-in-the-loop, and judging agent against workflow.
Before Week 1
- A setup clinic runs before the first session. It is recorded, and comes with a written guide.
- A short proof-of-setup task is due 48 hours before the cohort starts — create a table, insert a row, call the REST endpoint, and screenshot the JSON.
- You will need a Supabase account (the free tier is enough).
- By Week 2 your webhooks must be reachable from the internet. Localhost is not enough. We will confirm the method before the setup clinic.
Who this is not for
- People who have never built a workflow. Start with Foundations — it is free.
- Anyone who wants a certificate without sitting an assessment. This one can be not-yet-passed.
- Anyone who cannot commit 2.5 hours a week plus midweek homework for five weeks.
- Anyone expecting the credential to produce a job. It does not.
Pricing
These are Founding Cohort Rates. Future cohorts are priced at the standard programme rate.
Intermediate cohort
GHS 750
Standard rate GHS 1,000–1,200
The five-week training only.
Most complete
Intermediate cohort + BCAB assessment
GHS 1,050
Standard rate GHS 1,500–1,750
- Intermediate cohort training
- GHS 750
- BCAB certification assessment
- GHS 450
- Pathway bundle
- − GHS 150
- Total
- GHS 1,050
Training and the assessment opportunity are line-itemed separately, because they are separate things.
Path B readiness review
GHS 150
Standard rate GHS 200
Credited against the assessment fee if you proceed.
Payment plans
- Intermediate only — GHS 400 at enrollment, GHS 350 before Week 3.
- Cohort and assessment — GHS 400, then GHS 350, then GHS 300.
- Payments do not extend beyond the five-week programme.
- A missed instalment pauses access until it is paid.
Read the Refund and Cancellation Policy — cancellations, transfers, payment plans, and what happens if we cancel.
Card and mobile money checkout is not open yet. Register below and we will contact you within 24 hours to confirm your place and arrange the first payment directly — mobile money or bank transfer. Instalments after the first are arranged through our Slack community and paid via MoMo. Full payment must be received before the certification assessment on .
Pay by mobile money or card. Registering takes you straight to checkout, where mobile money is the first option. Instalments after the first are arranged through our Slack community and paid via MoMo. Full payment must be received before the certification assessment on .
Enroll in the founding cohort
25 seats. Enrollment closes and the cohort begins .
Register below and we will be in touch within 24 hours to confirm your place and arrange payment. Nothing is charged on this page. If you would rather ask something first, message us on WhatsApp — +233 54 652 7779.
Register below and you will be taken to checkout to pay by mobile money or card. We confirm every place by hand on WhatsApp within 24 hours. If you would rather ask something first, message us on WhatsApp — +233 54 652 7779.
Test mode. This checkout is running on Paystack test keys. No money moves, no seat is really taken, and the row this creates is marked [TEST] for deletion. Use Paystack’s test mobile money and card details — real ones will be declined.
Thank you — you’re registered.
Your place is held on the founding cohort. Someone will contact you within 24 hours, on WhatsApp or by email, to confirm your place and arrange payment.
Nothing has been charged. Your place is confirmed once that first payment is arranged — there are 25 seats and we work through registrations in the order they arrive.
We need to confirm your regional rate before payment. You told us you live or work somewhere with a lower rate than we detected, so a person will check that with you first rather than charging the wrong amount. Nothing has been taken.
Not heard from us after 24 hours? Message +233 54 652 7779 or email info@bulletproofautomations.com rather than registering again.
Who sets this standard
Bulletproof Automations is an independent training and certification provider, founded by Johnathan Lightfoot. The framework, the scenarios, and the assessment are his work.
Johnathan Lightfoot is a veteran technology executive and systems integrator with more than three decades of experience, having served in CTO, CIO, application development, consulting and technology leadership roles, and as a U.S. Navy Operations Specialist. His approach to automation emphasises reliable outcomes, data inspection, testing, troubleshooting, explainability, and responsible use of AI. He leads the development of Bulletproof Automations’ training and professional certification programmes for automation builders.
Where this sits in the pathway
Stage 1
Foundations Certificate
Certificate of completion · free
Stage 2 · you are here
Certified Automation Builder
Professional certification
Stage 3
Certified Automation Engineer
Defined, not yet open
Questions
Does completing the cohort certify me?
No. It qualifies you to attempt the assessment. The credential is earned by passing it.
What happens if I do not pass?
You receive written feedback and an outcome of either Assessment Not Yet Passed or Remediation Required. You may reattempt after 7 days for a first retake, 30 days for a second. Every attempt uses a different scenario.
Can I sit the assessment without buying the training?
Yes. That is Path B, and it is a permanent route, not an exception.
Is this an n8n certification?
No. Bulletproof Automations is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by n8n GmbH. n8n is the platform your competence is currently assessed on; the subject is automation engineering.
What if I miss a session?
Tell us as early as you can and we will work it out with you. This is a paid cohort of 25 people, not a lecture hall — a missed week is handled individually rather than by policy.
What is the refund policy?
Cancellations, transfers and refunds are covered in full by the Refund and Cancellation Policy, which also sets out what happens to payment plans, bundled purchases and retakes, and what we do if we cancel. Read it before you pay rather than after.
Will this get me a job?
No. See the note below on the builder pool.
The builder pool
Bulletproof Automations uses BCAB as a minimum competency standard for automation roles, because a credential with a real consumer is worth more than one without.
BCAB is a minimum standard for automation roles at Bulletproof Automations. Holding it does not constitute an application, offer, or guarantee of employment.
How the builder pool works