The Pros and Cons of Zend PHP Certification

Zend PHP Certification is done in two phases – Zend PHP Phase I and Phase II. The phase I of the certification course is basically the foundation course that is designed for providing a sound idea of PHP language to the non-technical or non-programming individuals. This particular course guides the aspirants through the fundamentals of PHP with a somehow experiential approach that is pregnant with a number of examples along with several hands-on exercises. As the course comes to an end, the aspirant learns the key essentials that are needed for PHP programming.

The second phase of the certification curriculum on the other hand, is an intermediate-level course that is built upon the programming knowledge that has been acquired throughout the 1^st phase. The 2^nd phase is chiefly consisted of a hands-on approach, rich with a number of instances along with practical exercises and development of a key project with a view to enhance as well as continue enhancing the skills by utilizing the best practices with the help of the most effective tools.

Now the question is whether this certification course if really worth. While one school of thought is of the opinion that the course is really valuable, according to another quarter, the course is not that useful. On the contrary, it is a bit overrated. All said and done, it is perhaps most sensible to say that the course has its merits as well as demerits and one cannot ignore its efficacy at the end of the day, no matter which way it is seen from. So let us discuss the pros and cons of this certification course.

Advantages

It helps in confirming the skills

The most important objective of this certification is that it provides a formal confirmation about the PHP programming skills of an individual. Once a programmer successfully completes the course, he/she is described as a ZCE or Zend Certified Engineer. His/her name gets included in the directory of all successful ZCEs, which surely is a feather in his/her cap.

This certification is particularly important for the intermediate developers as this helps to differentiate them from the beginners. As the certification course covers various aspects of PHP programming language in a comprehensive manner, getting certified helps the programmers immensely whenever they chose to learn advanced PHP programming.

An excellent way of reviewing and extending the programming prowess

For taking up the examination, a thorough preparation is needed, as the course virtually includes all the fundamental functionalities of the language. Thus, preparing for the certification itself helps a lot when it comes to learning various aspects of the language, or evaluating one’s programming knowledge as well as expertise. The knowledge may include certain fundamental concepts like syntax, language constructions, dealing with operators along with various intricate features that may include working with different types of files, manipulation of arrays and strings, session handling, dealing with cookies and form data and so on.

Disadvantages

However, the certification is not without blues. This takes us back at the start of this article where it is stated that a certain school of thought has reservations regarding this course. Here are the points that have been raised by that quarter.

Limitation of examination questions

The examinees have to answer about 70 questions, the samples of which can be found on the official website of Zend. Some of these sample questions deal with the inbuilt function names of PHP, parameters – their usage etc. All these knowledge would by default form the very part of the psyche of any developer or programmer. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to evaluate this knowledge by asking such questions. Also, according to this sect of pundits, there is no logic of memorizing such a huge number of array and string functions just for passing the examination successfully, simply because in real life scenario, a proper string or array function can easily be found on the net by browsing appropriate PHP documentation.

Efficacy of the certificate

Again, certain people have expressed their reservation regarding the very efficacy of the certification, citing that it may not after all be a proof enough that an individual is an efficient PHP developer. While the certificate does guarantee that the individual in question has advanced PHP knowledge, it does not say that the person is skilled or competent enough to use that knowledge in real life scenarios. You can hire developers from PHP development company who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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