An AEP interview in 2 weeks?
Interviewers ask what you have built, not what you have read. This plan gives you 14 days of 2 to 3 hours each: a short video lesson, a real build in your own sandbox that is checked as you go, and the questions to practise out loud. By day 14 you can walk an interviewer from a tag on a web page to a journey message, and show the credentials to prove it.
Learn
A video lesson from the trainer's handbook each day, short enough to watch before you build.
Build
The same day's topic in your own private workspace. Missions check each step against what you actually built.
Say it out loud
The question an interviewer would ask about it. 22 AEP questions have model answers.
The 14 days
Days 1 to 10 and 13 use the AEP lab; day 11 the CJA lab; day 12 the Journeys lab. If your interview is mostly about one product, spend the review day (7) and the mock day (14) on it.
The architecture and the data contract
AEP labWelcome & The Enterprise Reference Architecture · XDM Part 1 — The Data Contract
Mission 1: Build the Customer Profile. Create the custom identity namespace and start the loyalty schema: class, standard field groups, your own fields.
Explain the layers of AEP from collection to activation in two minutes, without slides. The questions →
Schemas that hold up
AEP labXDM Part 2 — Anatomy of a Schema · XDM Part 3 — Schema Design Rules & Governance Lab
Mission 1: Build the Customer Profile. Finish the schema with two identities and Profile on, create the dataset and load a batch.
Answer: record versus time-series, why a custom field group, why a tenant namespace. The questions →
Identity and the profile
AEP labIdentity Graph Part 1 — The Fragmentation Problem · Identity Graph Part 2 — Namespaces & Stitching Mechanics
Mission 2: Resolve Identities Across Sources. Join records from two sources into one profile, then look the person up by each identity.
Draw an identity graph for one customer on paper: devices, email, CRM ID, and which one is primary where. The questions →
Ingestion and merge policies
AEP labDatastream vs Dataset + Module A Review & Assessment
Mission 1: Build the Customer Profile. Put your dataset first in the merge policy and explain what changed in the profile; preview the batch with SQL.
Answer: why the data is in the dataset but not in the profile (the two Profile switches, the merge policy). The questions →
The Web SDK, hop by hop
AEP labWeb SDK Collection Pipeline — Five Hops · Web SDK Lab — Real Collection, End to End
Mission 7: Collect Web SDK Data End to End. Build the event schema and datastream, shop in the store and read each interact call in DevTools.
Walk through one payload field by field: eventType, identityMap, commerce, the ECID in the response. The questions →
Debugging collection
AEP labDebugging the Collection Pipeline
Mission 7: Collect Web SDK Data End to End. Finish the mission: every event passes the schema check and lands in your dataset.
Answer: a request returns 200 but the event never arrives. Where do you look first, second, third? The questions →
Review and catch up
AEP labNo new lesson: catch up and revise.
Redo anything you skipped. Rebuild the loyalty schema from memory, without the guide, in under 30 minutes.
Answer the XDM, identity and ingestion questions out loud, timing yourself to two minutes each.
Tags from a tracking plan
AEP labTag Studio I — From Tracking Plan to Data Elements & Rules
Mission 8: Implement Tags on a Client Website. Read the client site's tracking plan and build its data elements and rules.
Explain data elements versus rules versus the Web SDK extension, with one example from the store. The questions →
Publishing, QA and go-live
AEP labTag Studio II — Publishing, Environments & Deployment · Tag Studio III — Debugger, QA & Troubleshooting
Mission 8: Implement Tags on a Client Website. Build, test on the dev copy, find the site bug with the Debugger, raise the ticket, publish to the live site.
Tell the story of a bug you found and how you proved it was the site, not your rule.
Audiences and activation
AEP labSegmentation & Activation Fundamentals · From Profile to Audience to Journey
Build one batch and one streaming audience in the AEP lab, read their PQL, and activate one to a destination.
Answer: batch, streaming or edge, and why a two-event audience isn't streaming-eligible. The questions →
CJA: connection and data view
CJA labCJA Reporting Layer — The Connection · CJA Reporting Layer — The Data View
Mission 3: Create a CJA Data View. Connect event, profile and lookup data, then build a data view with your own components.
Explain why CJA processes at report time, and what a derived field is for.
A journey in Journey Optimizer
Journeys labAJO Real-Time Orchestration — Anatomy of a Journey · Building the Cart-Recovery Journey (Hands-On)
Mission 4: Build an AJO Journey. Build a cart-recovery journey: event, wait, condition, message. Test both paths.
Sketch the journey you would build for a client's abandoned carts, and say what you would measure.
Troubleshooting like an engineer
AEP labTroubleshooting & Diagnostics — The Five Failures · Troubleshooting Lab — Diagnose Like an Engineer
Mission 5: Diagnose and Fix a Broken Implementation. Find and fix what is broken in a planted implementation.
Pick three errors from the error library and explain each cause and fix in your own words.
Mock interview
No new lesson: catch up and revise.
Put your credentials on your CV and LinkedIn, with one line each on what you built.
Answer all 22 AEP questions out loud, then do one end-to-end walk-through: from a tag on a page to a journey message. All questions →
What you need
- Start free: the free 2-day trial of the AEP lab covers the builds for days 1 and 2, with the first mission's walkthrough video. Your workspace and everything you build stay when you subscribe.
- All 14 days fit the Lab plan with three sandboxes: AEP, CJA and Reporting & Journeys. It includes their video lessons, missions, credentials, the Learner's Handbook and the AI Mentor. See plans.
- A laptop with Chrome or Edge, and 2 to 3 hours a day.
Questions
Can I really be ready for an AEP interview in 2 weeks?
For a role that needs you to build and explain AEP, yes, if you have 2 to 3 hours a day and you do the builds rather than only watch. Two weeks won’t replace project experience, but it gives you real, checked work to talk about: schemas, identities, a Web SDK implementation, audiences, a CJA data view and a journey.
Do I need access to Adobe Experience Platform?
No. You build in your own private AdsBot practice workspace, styled on AEP, CJA and Journey Optimizer, with a working store that sends real Web SDK events. AdsBot is independent and not affiliated with Adobe.
What if my interview is mostly about CJA or Journey Optimizer?
Follow days 1 to 6 for the data foundation every interviewer expects, then spend the review and mock days on the product the role needs. The CJA and Journeys labs each have more missions than the plan uses.
What do I show the interviewer?
Each completed mission earns a verifiable credential tied to the skills it checked. Add them to your CV and LinkedIn with one line on what you built, and be ready to walk through it.
AdsBot is an independent practice platform, not affiliated with Adobe. The labs are styled on Adobe Experience Platform, Customer Journey Analytics and Journey Optimizer.