Following up on a previous post about taking the Zend Certified Engineer exam (5.3 version), Lorna Mitchell has posted some details about how she prepared for (and passed) the test.

In the last few weeks I've both passed the certificate myself and also taught Zend's certification training course as a classroom course at NTI Leeds. I thought I'd share my top tips for preparing for taking the ZCE - getting to the standard, last-minute preparations, and also some tips for surviving the day itself (disclaimer: everyone sitting the ZCE signs a declaration not to disclose the contents of the exam, so I can't actually tell you the questions, sorry!)

She recommends that only developers with at least a year or two of using PHP regularly take the exam due to the amount of PHP knowledge needed. If you haven't at least touched on most aspects of the language, you might have a difficult time with it. She also points out the lack of up-to-date training materials, some of the things she did the night before as a refresher and a few tips for specific parts of the exam.

In this new post to her blog today Lorna Mitchell looks at some of her experiences as she worked toward talking the Zend Certified Engineer certification (the 5.3 version), including her opinion as to whether it was even worth it.

I recently took (and passed!) the ZCE 5.3 certification. I've been a Zend Certified Engineer (5.0) for nearly 3 years, and I know a lot more about PHP today than I did then. Today I speak and write various things related to PHP, and also teach all sorts of topics including PHP certification. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the ZCE, and I'll write a follow-up post on how to prepare for it.

She talks about the changes Zend has made to the contents of the 5.3 version of the test including the removal of the "differences between PHP4 and PHP5" section. She mentions some of the resources she found to help her along the way to testing success and what the general format of the exam was like. In her opinion, the worth of the test lies in the work done to prepare for it, growing your PHP knowledge along the way. The actual piece of paper resulting from the test could, unfortunately, be more of a result of getting the "right" or "wrong" questions that could be confusing.