Zend Certified Engineer Certification Question

[ecy5maa]

Hi,

 

I was hoping if someone can help me out here. I am thinking of taking the ZCE certification, and would like to have some advice on whether I should take it or not. But before that let me give you a bit of a summary about me.

 

I am a fresh grad with no prior work experience ( I completed my masters in Computer Science 2 months back). I was looking to get into mobile app development, and even landed a job but i was let go after 8 days as they wanted a more experienced person. The country that i am in currently, Hong Kong, a lot of jobs advertised are for Php and MySql, so after getting laid off...i want to expand my options. So my questions are:

 

1) I asked a couple of people in the industry and they told me that ZCE is for people who have a couple of years of experience of Php. So I can try giving it, but there is a good chance I wont be able to pass. How true is this?

 

2) Similar to 1, A friend of mine who has given this exam told me that I can give it, but it will take a minimum two tries. How accurate is he?

 

3) I would rate my current Php skills at 6.5/10, With extensive study over the next 6-8 weeks can I be ready for the certification exam?

 

4) And if after reading all of this, you think I should go ahead with the exam, then can you suggest any good reading materials? other than what is available on the zend website.

 

 

Regards

 

Ecy5maa

Edited November 5, 2012 by ecy5maa

[Stefany93]

First of all if you have finished studying Computer science that means you should have a perfect knowledge of PHP at least, but of course, they teach people nothing in the universities so I guess it's no surprise.

 

Second of all, if you want to call yourself a programmer, do not use frameworks, so forget Zend, Yii, mend - bend, and other nonsense. Hard studying at the books and writing code all the time will make you an awesome programmer and you will have no trouble finding a job.

 

P.S. They fired you after 8 days?? Terrible employers!!

Edited November 6, 2012 by Stefany93

[jordan21]

First of all if you have finished studying Computer science that means you should have a perfect knowledge of PHP at least, but of course, they teach people nothing in the universities so I guess it's no surprise.

 

Why should the OP be an expert in php just because they studied CS at university? I'm studying for a BSc in software engineering, and my friend is studying for a BSc in computer science, and php is not taught in either of our courses. Most CS/Software Engineering degrees teach ASM. C. C++ and Java.

 

Second of all, if you want to call yourself a programmer, do not use frameworks, so forget Zend, Yii, mend - bend, and other nonsense. Hard studying at the books and writing code all the time will make you an awesome programmer and you will have no trouble finding a job.

 

What's wrong with using frameworks? I agree with what you say about hitting the books hard and writing code all of the time, but the vast majority of PHP jobs require at least some knowledge and experience of the big frameworks (Zend, Symphony 2, Yii, etc). Personally, I like using frameworks, it means I can spend less time on the boring 'boiler plate' code and more time on the interesting stuff.

 

@ecy5maa

 

I've not taken the ZCE exam myself, but I'm thinking about it. I know a couple of people that have, and they think it was worth it. As for whether it'll improve employment prospects, I don't know, but it can't hurt! I think as far as studying goes the best place for information would definitely be the php manual (naturally!), and it might be worth looking at this: http://www.slideshar...tification-test, it gives some examples of test questions for the PHP 5.3 certification.

Edited November 6, 2012 by jordan21

[ecy5maa]

Thanks for the replies.

 

 

Jordan21 is right. I did C/C++ and Java in my undergrad, while my msc was completely theoretical. However just one more thing, if anyone can clarify...the ZCE is a Php certification as per http://www.zend.com/services/certification/php-5-certification/ but they also have a seperate test for the Zend Framework.

 

So i assume its better to give ZCE certification first. no?

[Jessica]

1. You're not going to GIVE the certification, you're going to TAKE or RECEIVE it. 

2. You will not pass it the first time. 

3. It's useless. A good third of the stuff on the exam is not something you'll ever use in PHP. If you want to get into actually working with PHP, the best way is to do it.

 

As for the blithering moron who says "programmers" don't use frameworks...just... *sigh*. Ignore it. It's best to start out without a framework so you don't become dependent on them, but once you understand how to write PHP, you'll want to get familiar with some of the popular frameworks if you want to get a job. Most companies use one of the big ones. If they're not, you're probably going to have a hard time working with their existing code.

[ecy5maa]

Fair enough.

 

But what I am actually looking for is something that makes my CV stand out from others who are similar to me., i.e. recent grads...so in that sense what do you suggest? Problem is one day I get convinced that I should take it and the next day I decide its not worth its so I dont want to take it

 

Any advice?

Edited November 6, 2012 by ecy5maa

[Jessica]

Start working on some projects you can use to make yourself stand out.

[jordan21]

Maybe do a small open source project and put it on Git. That way when you're applying for jobs you can include a link to your project page on Git in your CV so the employer can see a sample of your code.

[Stefany93]

Maybe do a small open source project and put it on Git. That way when you're applying for jobs you can include a link to your project page on Git in your CV so the employer can see a sample of your code.

 

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. A friend of mine who is a great programmer suggested I should start working on an open source project so I am building a forum now which I am going to put on Github and then put a link in my CV.

[Andy-H]

1) I asked a couple of people in the industry and they told me that ZCE is for people who have a couple of years of experience of Php. So I can try giving it, but there is a good chance I wont be able to pass. How true is this?

 

3) I would rate my current Php skills at 6.5/10, With extensive study over the next 6-8 weeks can I be ready for the certification exam?

 

1) I would agree with what these people are saying, I've been programming PHP for about 6 years in total and almost 2 years commercially, my employer has recently paid for me to take my ZCE and I'm not sure whether I'm going to pass, also, as Jess said before, the vast majority of the test is not relevant to a career in programming PHP, there's a lot of 'trick questions' and the practice exams I've used aren't very clear on what they want you to do, for example, a question asked:

 

When updating one or more values in an array, which looping construct would be most suitable:

A. A for loop
B. A foreach loop
C. A while loop

 

I answered C, a foreach loop, because I find the easiest way (of the 3) is to use a foreach loop that references the values, however, the answer was a for loop, I had thought about the question not stating whether or not the foreach loop implied a reference, and thought it best to assume it did, it would make things much easier if things like this were explicitly stated.

 

3) I would say no but there's too many variables there to give a definitive answer.

[Jessica]

 

3) I would rate my current Php skills at 6.5/10, With extensive study over the next 6-8 weeks can I be ready for the certification exam?

 

 

I just saw this part. Do you seriously think that if you got fired after 8 days for not having enough experience, and you JUST graduated, that you are THAT GOOD at PHP? Honestly? There's no way. NO. Way.

[ecy5maa]

Well, I didnt have a php job..I was working in Android/iOS so my skills in Php had nothing to do with me getting fired. But having said that, by 6.5/10 (Which i am surprised you think is good!,) I meant I am skilled enough, IMO, to get a job as at least a junior programmer. But regardless here is how I sum up the discussion so far;

 

 

1. ZCE is irrelevant in my situation. it is better for me to have a portfolio of Php projects under my name rather than a certification.

 

2. ZCE contains several trick questions and is based on Php one does not come across usually. Hence I most prob need multiple tries to pass it.

 

3. Job prospects may not be helped by the ZCE, but they are not harmed either, at least in my situation.

 

 

Anyone would like to add anything else?

 

 

TBH, I might still give ZCE a go, if I can convince my mom to pay the exam fees But otherwise I guess there is no point, at least now, of giving it.

 

 

Thank you once agan guys for the valuable input