When you become your code

PHP – Zend Certified Engineer

Captain’s log,

Stardate -319008.87 and, it has come to my attention that there is a web scripting engine largely ignored. While I have been aboard the starship U.S.S. Enterprise  for many years, and web centric development since -323906. In my own mind, I had learned all my tricks from Montgomery Scott. I had been able to avoid the PHP quadrant while keeping the dilythium crystals charged….

OK, admittedly this sounds increasingly like a bad Star Trek episode gone entirely awry. Let’s try this again. The year is 2004 and I have been working with web related technologies for a number of years. Not the least of which was PERL and mod PERL. During this time I had heard more and more about PHP and tended to scoff at it. You know, the typical “Well it isn’t PERL (or insert language)” sentiment, and it would be fair to say that was a feeling that was shared by many web masters and developers of the time.

During this time I had to try out PHP for an API to a mortgage product solution. Prepared to be skeptical, ready to be proven right,  and certainly ready to poke fun. Alas, this was not to be as I actually felt a tinge of respect for this language. As time went on, my skill in, and respect for PHP grew. Now this was PHP 4.x and noticed right off that it lacked various features I would deem essential.

Setting all of the preconceived notions aside, I found that I could prototype an MVC architecture very quickly. Over the next few years, I wrote and re-tooled a lot of legacy code. Finding efficiencies, bottlenecks, shortcomings and it would seem everything in between.

Present day, I actively use PHP 5 and heavy Object Oriented design patterns. This works very well with my development style, after all why reinvent the wheel if you only need to inflate the tire. So, the other day it dawns on me that I know I have all of this experience. The question is of course how can I stand out from the rest of the crowd?

First thoughts of course were, “Ohhh, I could wear some cool t-shirts to showcase my geek factor”. Immediately followed by, “I could say I have a lot of experience”. While both of these I am sure have some unrealized merit the real answer lay closer to the surface.

PHP-ZCE – No, it’s not a contagious influenza strain. Nor would it be a new medication to help with rickets. Rather, the company(Zend) that controls PHP has offered a way to certify your knowledge, value and worth. Sure, I know how much I know or think I know but it’s a dose of reality to think about truly proving it.

I have signed up and will be going to a certified testing center. One could say that it will provide some value or worth to me. Really what I hope is to encourage the trend of holding fellow PHP engineers to a higher standard. You say you’re worth more? Your value isn’t realized? Prove it. Join me in raising the bar.

I’ll keep you posted…

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