Is the CakePHP certification worth it?

Question

I have over 5 years of experience in web technologies—primarily the LAMP stack—and over 2 years in the CakePHP framework.

I am considering the CakePHP certification, is it worth it?

Answer 1

It's not worth anything. Any sensible employer will value your actual experience much more than a certificate; it's not like a degree or something. Some actually view it negatively! I would think that anyone who considered such certificates when hiring you would not understand the true value of your experience (unless perhaps you apply to Microsoft and have a Microsoft certification, for example).

Of course, I don't know what the actual certification is like. It might be valuable to you personally, but with 2 years of experience I would think you've probably covered everything that they would.

Answer 2

Maybe better take some recognized certificate, like ZEND.

For me... "framework certification"... looks like something you can get in pre-school really (PHPbb certificate, anyone?:) ) To be honest knowing actual principes on how those frameworks work would impress me more.

Beside how will i know how hard is to get this, maybe you just had to pay $10 and they emailed PDF with some bullshit to you? :) Zend, Microsoft, Oracle are well estabilished companies, typical employer will know that those certificates have some value :)

Answer 3

The problem with saying "any sensible employer" is that it's usually an oxymoron.

I tried for a few years to get a job with a local Fortune 100 company, and couldn't even get an interview... Despite the fact that they had hired one of my coworkers for an ungodly hourly rate for some consulting. I eventually found out why: they didn't even bother with someone unless they were MCSD certified.

With CakePHP though? I don't see any employers asking for it... I don't think most would know it existed. Zend? Maybe. Not Cake though.