I am a certified PHP specialist

Yes, probably, the possibility of using this expression - warms someone's soul, but I'm a little bit about something else.

Let me share the experience of passing the PHP 5.5 certification from Zend Technologies .

My goal:

• show by example that it is not as difficult as it seems;
• not as easy as it may seem;
• show another very subjective method of preparing for the test;
• to inspire those colleagues who may have planned certification, but did not dare to do it.

The path from “yes, I want to get ZCE status” to purchase a voucher

4 years - exactly so much time was required from a simple “Yes, it would not be bad to get a certificate” to “Girl, look, and I passed”
')
If you have such a thought, then once again discovering America, I will say - they will help you: a correctly and clearly set goal; clearly demarcated terms; action plan.

purpose

Writing down goals is as old as the world, however, I had never thought about recording and planning life as such. “Becoming the tenth ZCE in Kazakhstan” is one of the first recorded and achieved goals.
In this regard, we technicians do not need to hesitate to learn and learn from tmlidov, project managers and top managers. Life is not only code, features and bugfixes.

Timing

The next item was a record of the timing: two months + error of one month. In fact, the error stretched to two months, there are some reasons not related to work or laziness. Remember that "Slow progress is better than no progress." This expression stuck in my head in the course of classes on the bar, or the horizontal bar - as you like. After all, it is often important to just go, and it does not matter that it is slow at times.

• 15 days to read the manual "from and to";
• 15 days for video tutorials and practice;
• 2 hours per day.

Even if you stick to your schedule at 90% and approach the deadline when you need to buy a voucher - one human factor can interfere with you - is it fear or how do designers say “Comic Sans effect” when it seems that you don’t completed that you need a bit more to prepare. How to overcome this, I will tell further.

Action plan

As noted above, the mandatory process of studying the manual is highlighted, - your faithful friend and comrade.
From the video tutorials, I looked only about SPL, about some features of SAX-XML and about streams, streams.

Key topics for certification are provided on the List of Exam Topics page.

Departing from them and studying something extra is not important, although I’ll clarify that I have studied the XML, XPath and Regex specifications separately.

The prelude to 15 + 15 days was to read the PHP Certification Study Guide .

Some circumstances contributed to narrowing the wallet and being satisfied with version 5.3 - I do not regret it, but you need to read this guide before the manual. It is clear that there is a difference between the first and last versions.

In the first chapters of the guide, you will be provided with information about the process of the testing itself, the number of questions, the time you need to meet. I write a separate paragraph advise the most accented chapters for which it is supposed - give the highest scores.

Here is what it looks like:



In the process of preparation, I found it convenient to use the Trello service and moved all the topics and chapters to the “TODO” column.
And here is the result - all amicably lined up in the column “Done”:



Separate virtual host for note-taking and practice:

Passing trial tests

Zend Technologies provides an opportunity to buy test tests that cost more than the voucher itself, so this auxiliary resource will be quite sufficient.

Only 171 questions, 35 pages. You can go all at once, can be divided into slices of 10/35 pages.

Your task: pass the test, highlight all your weaknesses, repeat them and again pass the test. 90-99 out of 100% - and you can proceed to the next step - to purchase a voucher.

What did I do?

As expected, a natural continuation should be the purchase of a voucher and the passing of the test, but - “Comic Sans effect” : “I will recheck the knowledge; I will repeat some chapters. ”

Strange as it may seem, Guy Julius Caesar and the expression “Go Rubicon” helped to overcome this threshold. I cast lots, bought a voucher and crossed my Rubicon. There is no way back, if you do not appear at a specified time in the test center, then your voucher is burned.

The day before the tests, you need to take a good rest, and at the test itself - not to be nervous. Lack of rest and tension will disturb you in the process itself.

Although, about the "not nervous" - I embellished. “Don't worry, you have already done everything, what will be - it will be” - he told himself; For the last 10 minutes, I struggled with this state and was able to persuade me internally only for 89 minutes.

2 seconds, 1 second, zero - and this window and relief in the shower.



Intentionally did not specify the process of buying a voucher, confusing issues and other topics that were disclosed by previous certified Habr specialists.

Profit

In addition to PHP: strong academic knowledge in Regex, XML and related technologies, in streams.
He began to read more carefully manuals and references for other products and programming languages. Hi Python !

Total

The goal is achieved. The tenth ZCE in the country and the second in version 5.5.

I believe and hope that it will turn out to make some of you decide and get your certificate. Do not be afraid to challenge yourself. A certificate will not make you the coolest specialist - this is achieved empirically, through trial and error, and other various factors, but a challenge that is thrown and fulfilled - gives a lot of positive emotions.

I would be very happy to answer your questions. Thank.