PHP certification

[santhanalakshmi]

Hi,
I wish to do PHP Certification.What are the procedures to do PHP Certification? Where to write the exam? Any PHP Ceritication material is there.......please tell me

thanks in advance,
with regards,
santhanalakshmi.

[Dormilich]

is that what you’re looking for?

[santhanalakshmi]

can u give me some details on PHP Certification.How to approach for the PHP certification and what are the eligibilty should have to do certification?

[TheServant]

PHP is open source and freely available. Not many people are certified, and honestly I'm not sure it's worth the time and effort. Zend are the people who made PHP, so they run courses which lead to certification.
PHP is mostly for hobby-ists, but still has the power to make professional applications, but if you are trying to get web-credentials, go for something like ASP which is less common, commercially more used, and is generally not used by hobby-ists.
I love PHP, and I have always wanted to do a formal course, but I wouldn't pay for one, and it would be simply for experience rather than any value of a certificate.

[Dormilich]

@TheServant
so a solid certificate would proof, that you are able to develop a professional app not affected by typical hobbyist issues (security holes, performance loss) ?

[TheServant]

@Dormilich
True. Out of interest, are Bytes members certified Zend engineers? You're right Dorm, and I probably haven't looked into it enough, but so far I have not felt the need to follow through with any formal PHP training simply because it is so widely supported and used. I know it's stereotypical, but the two commercial programmers I know do not take PHP seriously, even though they should, so I am not sure how a PHP certificate would be received.

[Dormilich]

@TheServant
not that I know of.

@TheServant
from what I’ve heard, that is quite a common prejudice (due to the fact that PHP is done mostly by hobbyists).

I guess they would be surprised that there is actually a PHP certificate.

[Markus]

I plan on getting Zend certified eventually... but not right now.

[TheServant]

santhanalakshmi, why do you want to get officially certified?

And Dorm/Markus, do you know anyone Zend certified? Do you think there is more taught than you know or is it more of a quality control?

[Markus]

@TheServant
All it is really is a qualification; something you can show on your resumé. I think pbmods (a PHP moderator who isn't here very often anymore) was Zend certified.

The certification holds some weight as eye-candy for your resumé because it's by Zend, and most believe they're the guys behind PHP, when in fact I believe there only a handful out of the thousand or so working on the PHP core that are Zend employed. Zend, the company, just piggybacked on the naming of the Zend Engine (the PHP API).

Mark.

[numberwhun]

I, personally, have a very skewed view of certifications. While I believe there are some certifications that are worth their weight in knowledge (ie: Cisco), there are too many in my honest opinion that are just for show.

We are all versed in the facts of the Micro$oft exams and the fact that anyone with a study guide full of past tests can study them and pass all their tests in a jiffy. Of course, proving your hands on knowledge after that is a completely different story.

There are a certification or two for Perl, there is the Zend PHP cert, etc. As far as certifications for programming languages go, I would put a heck of a lot more stock in the persons knowledge than a piece of paper that they have. If you hold a certification and you are still unable to sit down and write a simple program that you are asked to write in an interview, what has that certification done for you besides lighten your wallet. I would certainly hire someone with a ton of demonstratable experience over someone who only had a cert any day of the week.

Now please don't read into what I am saying. I know plenty of people who have certs who also know darned well what they are doing and are exceptional coders. That goes to show its all in the person.

Again, just my .02.

Regards,

Jeff

[dlite922]

@TheServant
pbmods is.

In fact his profile links to his certification on zend.com



Dan

[dlite922]

@Markus
same here. I would do this if Google was to hire me specifically as a PHP developer. Other than spiffing up you resume', I don't see the need to get a cert. Maybe prove it to yourself that you know PHP at some degree/level.

to the OP:

Learn PHP first. Learn to love it second, then and only then! ..think about cert.





Dan

[TheServant]

Interesting topic, I guess it comes down to whether you think you'd benefit from an official qualification, in either business or training. I taught myself, like most of you, so I have always wondered if the bad habits that I have developed are significant enough to get ironed out by doing a full and structured course. I am thinking that internet people asking for credentials will appreciate a show of work more than a piece of paper, while the non-technical customers might be attracted to a piece of paper more than other work?? But really, I could put, "Qualified PHP Expert - Bytes" and they'd be none the wiser... maybe... :P