I am now a Zend Certified Engineer (ZCE). In order to become a Zend Certified Engineer I took Zend’s PHP 5 certification exam at one of the nearby Pearson Vue testing centers. I am quite happy to report that I passed! After working with PHP, MySQL and the LAMP stack in general these past several years I simply felt the need to show myself where I stood. The PHP5 certification test is closed-book with a total of 70 questions which must be answered in 90 minutes. There were three types of questions: Multiple-choice with only one right answer. Multiple-choice with multiple correct answers. Free-form where you type in the answer. Most of the exam’s questions are based on your ability to evaluate and analyze code snippets.
Even though I have been working with PHP for many years I decided it would be prudent to do some studying for the exam. I purchased php|architect’s Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide which did help me spot areas where my PHP knowledge was not as strong as I thought. This book covered every topic that is part of the exam including:
- PHP Basics
- Functions
- Arrays
- Strings and Patterns
- Web Programming
- Database Programming
- Object-oriented Design
- XML and Web Services
- Security
- Streams and Network Programming
- Differences Between PHP 4 and 5
Zend also offers online PHP 5 mock exams which I purchased as well. I found the mock exams to be easier than the actual Zend certification exam though. This may just have been the added pressure the live exam has in regards to the money spent for the exam voucher. All in all though, it was money well spent. The Zend Certification test gets a rating of 5 out of 5 based on my 1 vote.