ZCE 5.3 - Zend Certification: My happy experience

Você pode ler este post em português também. I’m very happy with the result and with the congratulations received, thank you people. [caption id=“attachment_323” align=“alignright” width=“193” caption=“Aplausos!"] Applause! [/caption] I wrote here my impression about the test, and what I did to get certified.

THE TEST

Calm down, take it easy, the test is not so hard! I think the only important point is that you must be a PHP programmer, using it in day to day, and somehow (at work and/or in your personal projects) being in contact with items as closures, namespaces and OOP in general;
Do not leave questions empty! According to Zend’s own staff, is better to make mistakes than show indecision;
Surely the test will go beyond the day-to-day which the majority of PHP programmers go. So study a lot. Binary / hex / octal math is a great choice;
The test for version 5.3 removed the subject “Differences between PHP 4 and 5”. So do not waste your time studying it;
The test is full of pitfalls, so some tricks as: <?php $a = function($var) { $b = "Hello $var"; return $b; } $c = $a('Adriano'); print $c; ?> are normal. And if you think this code prints “Hello Adriano” you have a problem… LOL…;
Do several readings on Array functions and String functions pages, it will guarantee to you some extra points;
There will be approximately one minute and 14 seconds per question. Save time reading the conceptual questions only once. Use the “flag” feature, that allows you to return to a marked question later;
You will have one year to perform the test after confirming the purchase of the voucher. It is a long time, so I suggest you make the purchase and schedule the test to force yourself to study with a set deadline. All instructions for the process are very easy (to create an account at PearsonVue, etc.), just make sure that there is a PearsonVue center near to you to perform the test.

THE PROCESS ADOPTED

An introduction: In 2011 I had a big scare when I bought the voucher and I opened the book Zend PHP Certification Guide 5.3: PHP is much more than almost anything I had read so far. I decided I should try and read a lot! So I chose, bought and read the books contained at the end of this post. After seeing that I would have much to study, I forgot the test and I launched a deep PHP exploration. I read the books, I tested the code that seemed weird, I did many (but many!) notes, and I did lots of experiences! I admit it was the coolest stage of this whole thing. The PHP website was the best appendix while reading the books. The reading of the books took me a long time. Almost at the end of 2011, I put all that notes and scribbles in books together and I created a summary, focused now in ZCE. With the summary ready, I did read it again. The points in doubts were revisited. Five days before the test, I splitted all questions and answers in different PDFs, then I did perform the test as a simulation, allowing me only one minute and 14 seconds to answer each question, doing something between 10 and 20 questions per day. The intention was to do a “warming” towards the test. Between one and another book, I listened to the [PHPSPCast](http://phpsp.org.br/category/phpsp/phpspcast/ “PHPSPCast

Rumo à dessobrinhação! (Brazilian portuguese link)") podcasts (only in brazilian portuguese, I miss them!). The focus of this podcast is purely PHP, so there are valuable tips for anyone who wants to get the certification. Although I confess some discomfort when I heard that Rafael Dohms did not pass the first time he performed the exam. :-

CONCLUSIONS

After this mega-operation to get the “The logo”, I concluded that I overdid at this time: I studied more than really needed, but look: now I’m a much better programmer than before. And I feel myself far from where I would like to be. :-P
I really don’t know what be a “ZCE” will bring to me. But I’ve had good news: I won licenses for Zend Server and Zend Studio with this good result. I became part of an exclusive group on LinkedIn, where the discussions have an improved level. My first impression. About employability, I twist my nose a little bit. Compare with a Microsoft certification: you can compete for a job position with a person who, like you, has over 10 years of experience in software branch. If you have a MCSE and he/she does not, you are ahead, brother. But this conclusion implies the recruiter which is conducting the selection knows what MCSE is. And here lies my concern: do the recruiters and headhunters know about ZCE as they know about Microsoft certifications? I doubt it. So if you want to get a better job, my opinion: I don’t know if the ZCE will works for it. At doubt, do the exam.

ZCE 5.3 - Zend Certification: My happy experience

THE TEST

THE PROCESS ADOPTED

CONCLUSIONS

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