Passing the Zend PHP Certification Exam
It’s been three weeks since I passed the Zend PHP Certification Exam, and I’ve been waiting to receive my certificate before I blogged on it so that I could scan it and display an image of what it looks like.
Unfortunately, I haven’t received it yet.
I’m not sure where the certificate is or even whether I’ll ever get one. I’ve not received any correspondence at all from Zend, so I’m not even sure if they know I passed. In all, I think the most disappointing part of the test is the lack of communication or details about what happens after you pass.
My thoughts on the test now seem in the distant past. The test itself was not altogether difficult, and there were no horrific questions on it like those that appear in the Study Guide (which led me to believe I would fail). Perhaps the least compelling reason to take the test is the cynical idea that such tests prove only one’s ability to retain information; a great programmer makes use of the resources at hand: Google, the PHP manual, and the mailing lists. None of these resources were available during the test, so what I was truly tested on was my ability to recall.
Still, certifications have their place, and in a business world, it looks great on a resume. The only problem is that many employers don’t know who or what Zend is, so the name of the exam means little to them. I imagine that a brief description must be provided in the resume to explain what the certification means, and I’d like to see Zend supply this concise definition of PHP and the Zend certification to its exam participants.
To inform my company as to what Zend certification means, I sent them this description from the Study Guide:
The Zend PHP Certification formally confirms the recognition of specific abilities and skills acquired and developed by the examinee. In other words, how predictably is the person likely to perform when applying PHP technology to a business problem? Have the examinees reached a predefined minimum standard in both academic and practical experience needed to produce quality work?
Of course, I also had to explain what PHP is. I think the description on the PHP Web site is in great need of updating. The best description I’ve found thus far is on the New York PHP Web site.
Finally, a word of advice about the exam: I finished with twenty minutes to spare. While I don’t expect everyone to finish so quickly, what I would like to advise is that you use every last spare minute to check and recheck your answers. I probably changed at least ten to fifteen answers during my review that I clearly recognized as wrong, and I’m convinced that made all the difference. So, double-check your answers!
5 Comments
You're in the yellow pages, so Zend definitely knows you passed:
http://www.zend.com/store/e...
I never knew your real name, apparently. :-)
Thank you for your feedback on the PHP Certification Exam. As the person running this project I would like to take this opportunity to add some information regarding your posting.
It takes 4-6 weeks for the certificates to be printed, signed, and sent out.
You should be receiving yours soon! If you have any questions or concerns, please be sure to send us an email. We normally respond within a few hours, if not minutes. I have taken your important feedback, and will be sending out an email to new Zend Certified Engineers within 48 hours of passing the exam explaining the timeline, what to expect, and when.
You may rest assured that no one, including yourself, has yet come near to a perfect score, and the questions could be harder than they seem! The exam was written by some of the leaders in the PHP community who have made sure that the exam contains plenty of quality questions that test your in-depth knowledge of PHP.
In any case, I'd like to thank you for taking the Zend Certification Exam and hope that you will realize the benefits on both a personal and community level.
Best,
Daniel Kushner
Director of Education
Zend Technologies, Inc.
Once it arrives, your certificate should look something like this, possibly with better light :).
I would agree that an email sent immediatly after receiving a passing grade would have been cool, it could(/should) include as an attachment the ZCE image, as well as the URL you should link to for validation.
In terms of good things to say about PHP, I helped proof read the english version of the PHP Whitepaper being prepared by PHP Quebec, it may have some nice resouces along those lines, though I'm not sure if it has been released yet.
ZCE test not altogether difficult huh? If the cert was so easy, then why are you the one and only person in the entire state of Georgia that has passed it? I was number 5 or 6 in NY a few months ago and there are only 8 people now- and one is John Coggeshall who was one of the test creators...
My only assumption is that I'm probably one of the few people in the state of Georgia who have actually taken the test. I could be wrong, though.
I'm finding that there are very few PHP programmers in this state. If there are others, they are closet PHP programmers and won't admit it. I guess to find them, I'll probably need to hit some of the college campuses where (it is my feeling that) there are probably more PHP programmers.