If you are interested in becoming a PHP professional, you have to consider PHP Certification which requires passing a single exam including from 50 to 70 multiple-choice questions. This exam was developed by the creator of the PHP language. When you pass the exam you are entitled to call yourself a Zend Certified Engineer (Ontario, Canada uses the term Zend Certification Endorsed), ZCE for short. The present version of the exam is based on PHP 5, and the PHP 4 exam has been outdated.

Check that any study materials you have are grounded on PHP 5. You can obtain an exam voucher at the online Store Zend PHP Certification for $125. This exam is accessible through the Pearson VUE test centers located virtually across the globe and is suggested in English, French, German, and Japanese.

While certification is no proof that you can really perform on the task, doing the hard, hard work of certifying may help you prepare for the reality. Let’s be frank. If you only learn your stuff on paper, you won’t know what to do on the job.

This particular certificate comes with some peculiar benefits. You get to be listed in the Zend Yellow Pages that prospective clients use to find local PHP professionals. You can also join a discussion group limited to ZCEs. This enables you to chat with colleagues. At present there are more than 350 members of this group, out of the more than 2000 Zend Certified Engineers.

Because PHP is generally used as a web development language, the exam concentrates on web application and development. You may wish to purchase the Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide which includes the following chapters: PHP Basics, Functions, Arrays, Strings and patterns (regular expressions included), Web Programming, Object Oriented Programming in PHP, Database programming, Elements of Object-oriented Design (Design patterns), XML and WebServices (invoking the new DOM library), Security, Streams and Network Programming, and Differences between PHP 4 and PHP 5. You should also be able to answer questions about the PHP Data Object (PDO), and the Standard PHP Library (SPL).

There is no need to mention, there is no guarantee that learning this study guide is enough to pass the exam.

There are two offered PHP certification training courses; one is made for people with no familiarity with PHP. This program is based on three 18-hour courses.

The other certification training program is grounded on a single 18-hour course. These courses are held on-line in real time and require that you have a computer with a functioning web browser. Take my advice, don’t sign up for anything more expensive than a book until you download PHP and spend some period trying it out. One thing is sure; if you want to pass the exam you should run PHP hour after hour, day after day.

Get more imformation about PHP training by visiting PHP training courses and PHP training London