Zend Exams

The Engine Behind PHP

In 1999, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski founded Zend Technologies after rewriting the core parser for PHP. Their work became the Zend Engine, the execution environment that has powered PHP since version 4. Today, operating under the Perforce corporate umbrella, Zend remains a central authority in the PHP ecosystem.

Because Zend built the underlying engine, their certification program carries distinct weight. It serves as an objective baseline for PHP competency. Hiring managers looking for developers to maintain large-scale Laravel, Symfony, or custom PHP applications look to Zend credentials to verify that a candidate understands the language's mechanics, not just its syntax.

Zend Certification Program Scope

Zend certifications focus squarely on the PHP language and its practical application in web development. The exams are closed-book, run for 90 minutes, and typically contain 75 questions. They mix multiple-choice recall with scenario-based items where candidates must analyze code snippets and predict their output.

The program separates exams by PHP version, allowing developers to certify on the standard relevant to their work environment.

For developers maintaining legacy systems, the 200-550 validates competency in PHP 5.5. It tests the core language features and object-oriented programming models that defined that generation of web applications.

Teams operating on modern infrastructure look toward the 200-710 (Zend Certified Engineer). This exam aligns with PHP 7.1. It expects candidates to understand the performance improvements and language additions introduced in the PHP 7 release cycle, including scalar type declarations, return type hinting, and anonymous classes.

Core Exam Domains

Both the 200-550 and 200-710 exams test a similar array of fundamental domains, adjusted for the specific PHP version. Candidates must demonstrate proficiency in:

• PHP Basics and Functions: Variable scope, namespaces, closures, and language constructs.
• Object-Oriented Programming: Interfaces, late static binding, and design patterns.
• Security: Mitigating cross-site scripting (XSS), preventing SQL injection, password hashing, and secure authentication.
• Data Formats and Web Features: Manipulating XML and JSON, managing HTTP headers, and handling sessions.

The exams emphasize practical reasoning over rote memorization. A candidate will rarely be asked to simply define a function. Instead, they must identify why a specific block of code throws an error or how a given script handles type coercion when adding a string to an integer.

Career Value for PHP Developers

PHP powers a massive percentage of the internet, but the barrier to entry for writing basic PHP is notoriously low. This creates a challenging hiring market where employers struggle to differentiate between a hobbyist who can patch a WordPress theme and an engineer capable of designing secure, scalable enterprise applications.

A Zend certification serves as a clear filtering mechanism. It proves a developer understands the internal behavior of the language.

An engineer holding the 200-710 credential demonstrates they can write code that executes efficiently and handles memory properly. When a critical application relies on raw execution speed and strict security practices, knowing exactly how PHP processes requests and manages data types prevents vulnerabilities from reaching production.