best php certification

pixelmartyr

Who offers the best PHP certification. I am currently at O'reilly school of technology but Zend technologies look far more indepth. I would love to here recommendations from those with more experiance.

NogDog

pixelmartyr;10987257 wrote:
Who offers the best PHP certification. I am currently at O'reilly school of technology but Zend technologies look far more indepth. I would love to here recommendations from those with more experiance.

I think Zend still has the best general recognition. That being said, nothing is as useful as good networking. 🙂

FWIW, I just got a nice job offer for a PHP-oriented job without any certification or even a related degree (my degree is in music), so while those things all help, they are by no means a do-all/end-all when it comes to getting a job. (To be fair, I have over 15 years' experience in testing/QA jobs in the IT industry.) But again, they don't hurt and may well help, depending on the specific circumstance and job.

pixelmartyr

NogDog;10987269 wrote:
I think Zend still has the best general recognition. That being said, nothing is as useful as good networking. 🙂

FWIW, I just got a nice job offer for a PHP-oriented job without any certification or even a related degree (my degree is in music), so while those things all help, they are by no means a do-all/end-all when it comes to getting a job. (To be fair, I have over 15 years' experience in testing/QA jobs in the IT industry.) But again, they don't hurt and may well help, depending on the specific circumstance and job.

Thanks!:evilgrin: I imagine a cert will help me get in the door. I imagine you have to build a portfolio. What should it contain and how should it be presented? Printed code, functioning web site? Also do employers look at your design skills as a php developer or do they strictly look at your ability to develop using hand coding and tools?

NogDog

pixelmartyr;10987282 wrote:
Thanks!:evilgrin: I imagine a cert will help me get in the door. I imagine you have to build a portfolio. What should it contain and how should it be presented? Printed code, functioning web site? Also do employers look at your design skills as a php developer or do they strictly look at your ability to develop using hand coding and tools?

As far as design skills, it depends. Once a particular project reaches a certain size, you'll have separate people responsible for design/art, front-end coding, and back-end coding, database design, etc. You should probably know how to implement a design along with using supplied images to create an HTML/CSS implementation, but for most PHP-oriented jobs you don't need actual design/art skills -- but if you do, that can be a plus, for sure.