NYCPHP Meetup

[Tim Gales]

 Chris Shiflett writes:

> ...The certification is
> on PHP, although I'm sure everyone would agree that there is 
> a certain fundamental foundation you would want a PHP 
> developer to possess regarding databases if you were hiring. 
> Some generic database questions should be expected.
>

Yeah, everyone would expect a 'Certified' PHP developer to have  
some knowledge of database fundamentals. But then again you would 
expect any developer to have at least a passing acquaintance 
with a database.

I believe industry figures put the number at eighty-something
(maybe 87) percent of all applications use a database.

Now if I were a project leader on a PHP project using MySQL, 
and I had two candidates for a position on my team -- 
one who had used MySQL for two years with PHP, 
and another candidate who had never made even one 
mysql_connect with PHP, but had 3 years experience 
as junior data architect helping design a Sybase database -- 
I don't think it would take me long to decide.

The beauty of PHP is that it is very transparent. 
I could, almost undoubtedly, more easily show the 
Sybase guy how to use PHP to take advantage of what 
he has picked up along the way about referential integrity, 
than to try and work with the PHP guy (assuming the PHP 
guy's database experience consists of just doing many 
different variations of sql selects -- 
which may be fairly likely in my view).

I have a problem with PHP certification because, in 
my mind, there's no such thing -- PHP doesn't 
operate in a vacuum.

It's RPC, database integrity, XML, interprocess 
communication, etc. -- those are the 'sticky wickets' -- 
not PHP. If someone knows all that stuff, then I think 
he would be more correctly termed a certified web 
developer -- not a certified PHP developer.

Maybe you could certify someone in a reduced 
skill set space like PHP running together with Apache -- 
but there you'd be getting closer to the AMP style 
certification and away from the ZEND idea of certification.

T. Gales & Associates
'Helping People Connect with Technology'

http://www.tgaconnect.com