On the Symfony blog, there's a new post that introduces a new certification targeted towards the latest release of the framework: the Symfony 4 certification.

Symfony 4 was released in November 2017, alongside new best practices and Symfony Flex, the new way to manage Symfony applications. This new version is so different from Symfony 3 that we've decided to introduce a new Symfony 4 certification program.

The Symfony 4 exam consists of 75 questions to be answered in 90 minutes or less and you can take the exam in any of the 4,000 test centers available worldwide. The list of topics covers the most important parts of the core framework, excluding third-party libraries like Doctrine, Monolog, etc. Depending on your results, you'll get the Advanced Certified badge or the more difficult Expert Certified badge.

They already have the vouchers on sale for the certification so you can take it and add that certification badge to your list. You can find out more about this and other Symfony certifications on the Symfony project certification site.

On the Laravel News site there's a recent post covering something that was announced at the Laracon US 2017 conference: the Laravel Certification Program.

A licensed Laravel certification platform was announced at Laracon EU this week, and a new landing page is up at The post also lists out some of the topics included in the certification test including framework basics, Blade templating, service use and localization. There's also sections asking about Laravel best practices and more general PHP topics. You can find out more information about the certification and get some answers to questions in their FAQ.

The 7PHP.com site has a new community interview posted today, this time with Philip Jackson a Magento Certified Engineer. In this new post Khayrattee Wasseem asks him some questions about some of his own background as a developer and, more specifically, the Magento Certification and everything involved.

This is the #1st set of Magento Certification Tips and Advice to help anyone taking either of the FOUR Magento Exams powered by Magento – an Ebay Inc. Company: the Magento Front End Developer Certification, the Magento Developer Certification, the Magento Developer Plus Certification and/or the Magento Certified Solution Specialist. The aim being to help people who want to sit for those exams and inform them what it is all about & what to expect by hearing it from (pro) PHP Guys who have already been through it, that is.

Khayrattee's questions to Philip include things like:

• What motivated you to start using Magento & when did your journey start?
• Can you briefly give us an idea of what a Magento Certification is about & what it tries to achieve?
• Could you help us differentiate between the three available Magento certification and which one most important to have?
• Did you buy any learning material from Magento, how useful and critical were they? Would you have passed your exams without them?
• Is a Zend Certification important before getting MDC? Is there any relevance?
• Is you are good with Magento, does it mean you are equally good with Zend Framework?

Check out the full interview for the answers to these and more great questions.

The SitePoint PHP blog has a new post that weighs the pros and cons of getting the Zend PHP Certification. The Zend Certified PHP Engineer is described as "a measure of distinction that employers use to evaluate prospective employees".

As a PHP developer, you may have been asking yourself how to improve your skills, gain reputation or become more professional in your work. One of the ways of doing so is to get through a certification programme. The only one that covers PHP itself (not a particular framework or software solution) is being delivered by the Zend company. In the remainder of the article I will focus on this particular certificate and describe its advantages and disadvantages. At the end I will also mention some other certification programs that may be valuable to a PHP developer.

He starts with a bit of general information about the certification including some of the categories it covers. He then gets into the pros and cons, listing two items for each. He suggests that it's a good way to measure your knowledge but there is a question of how much it really proves to get a passing score.

If you're thinking about taking the Zend Certified PHP Developer (5.5) test but aren't sure exactly where to start, Lorna Mitchell has provided a list of some good resources to help you out.

Yesterday I updated my previous ZCE certificate to the Zend Certified PHP Developer qualification (the new ZCE for PHP 5.5 also got a new name). Since the ZCE 5.3 exam is no longer available and I work with various clients to prepare their teams for these certifications, it was important to me that I keep my own certification up to date. Now I've done that, I'd like to share some resources for others doing the same thing.

She points to a few things that could help you make the grade:

• A set of sample questions she's put together
• A bundle of helpful links
• Some flashcards she made to help with arrays and strings
• and a few other things to helpful external resources.

On the Symfony Blog today there's a new post talking about Symfony Live Berlin coming up next month (November 7th and 8th) with a free hack day following.

This year has already seen a few successful Symfony Live conferences in Paris, Portland, and London. But we got one more - Symfony Live Berlin is approaching fast! From November 7th to 8th, there will be again talks and workshops in Germany's capital city. Additionally, we will host a free hack day on Saturday, November 9th. We will return to last year's location, the Umweltforum Berlin - an over 100 year old church!

They talk about what's different than past years - dedicated language sessions, offering the Symfony certification exam and the previously mentioned hack day following the main event. You can see the full schedule for the event here or just pick up some last minute tickets if you'd like to attend.

The PHP.cc (a consulting firm made up of Sebastian Bergmann, Arne Blankerts and Stefan Priebsch) has officially announced their latest offering, thePHP Curriculum.

Beginning in early 2014, we will introduce thePHP Curriculum to our international clients, your best opportunity to become an expertly trained Certified Web Professional or Certified PHP Craftsman. The International (English) version of thePHP Curriculum expands upon its successful implementation this year in Germany.

The program aims to certify developers for various skill levels - Certified Web Professional and levels 1-3 of a Certified PHP Craftsman. It includes study materials, programming tasks, individual feedback and email support. The modules (and their order) is customizable so you can learn at your own speed and focus on the areas you'd like.

On 7PHP.com there's a new post that interviews a PHP community member, Eric Hogue, about his experience with the Zend Certified Engineer exam.

This is the 3rd set of Zend Certification Tips and Advice to help anyone taking either of the two Zend Exams powered by Zend Technologies: the Zend PHP Certification Exam and/or the Zend Framework Certification Exam. The aim being to help people who want to sit for those exams and inform them what it is all about & what to expect by hearing it from (pro) PHP Guys who have already been through it, that is => Hear It From Zend Certified Engineers!

He starts off with some general questions to Eric about the exam and its structure and how he prepared himself for it. He mentions some of the resources he used to study and what kind of topics to pay attention to. There's also a few quotes included at the end giving another perspective on the exam (specifically, some frustrations).

On 7PHP.com today there's a new interview posted, a different kind of one from their usual "community spotlight" series. In this new article they talk with Michelangelo van Dam about the Zend Certified Engineer test and any advice he can offer to those wanting to take it.

This is the 1st set of Zend Certification Tips and Advice to help anyone taking either of the two Zend Exams powered by Zend Technologies: the Zend PHP Certification Exam and/or the Zend Framework Certification Exam. The aim being to help people who want to sit for those exams and inform them what it is all about & what to expect by hearing it from (pro) PHP Guys who have already been through it, that is.

There's a long list of questions in the interview covering a wide range of things about the test everything from what its about out to some of Michelangelo's own opinions about the tests:

• Can you briefly give us an idea of what ZC is about, what it tries to achieve?
• Can you give us an idea of what need to be studied and what kind of stuffs we should expect..etc
• Parts of the modules that you think is more complex and one should pay special attention to?
• What TWO questions can you remember that you can share with us
• Do you recommend PHP guys to get certified?

Check out the answers to these and more questions in the full interview.

Another community member has passed the PHP 5.3 Zend Certified Engineer exam (Sjoerd Massen) and has blogged about his experiences both before and during the exam.

Today I passed the exam to become a PHP 5.3 ZCE. Like everyone else I had to sign the non-disclosure contract so I can't go into detail about the questions that were asked, I can however tell my impressions of the exam and how prepared for it.

His preparations included going over some of the older sample tests and some additional study time on streams. He also mentions the PhpRiot iPhone/iPad application that helped him prepare as well as a few of the training courses he bought for certain topics. His overall impression of the exam was that it was more difficult, with plenty of open questions made for you to fill in an answer.