Web Developers – We Don’t Need No Education?

September is the start of the new school year, and we’re all fresh to do some learning after the summer right?

When it comes to web development, I don’t actually have any qualifications for my industry. Well, I have an A-Level in Computing (*woo hoo!*). But, let’s face it, that’s not exactly a tough one to get. So, after being emailed recently regarding qualifications, I decided to investigate the whole industry. What qualifications are available, are they recognized, and are they really worth the bit of paper they’re written on?

I started by looking at some of the options available here in the UK. I imagine that this would be similar to the USA too.
On the first tier, there is the well established Zend Certification, which is specifically for PHP. Zend states some of the ‘benefits’ of gaining their qualification:

• Differentiate yourself from competitors when looking for a new job
• Boost your value at your annual salary review
• Get your resume/CV noticed
• Gain recognition from your employer
• Have your profile displayed in Zend’s Yellow Pages for PHP Professionals
• Join the Linkedin Group Exclusively for ZCE’s

Well, a linkedin group! Who could possibly say no?!

Zend Certification is actually fairly well-known. But unfortunately, only by other PHP web developers. Even move to the ASP land, and they won’t have any idea what the qualification means. This isn’t exactly ideal when you may be being interviewed for a position by a Java guy and a manager.

In terms of price, it’s not too bad. I suspect Zend have lowered their prices in the last few years.
The actual exam costs around $200, which isn’t that expensive. But your likelyhood of passing first time isn’t top notch, so you’ll want some practice exams at $15-$20 each, and maybe the study guide for around $50. Now we’re looking at about $300-$350.

If you’re nowhere near passing the exam, then you will have to get the full training course, which is about $1,500.

Overall, the Zend certification appears to be a good thing. And, if you’re already pretty slick with your PHP5 then it could be a fairly cheap qualification.

The downside to it is, it’s only for one specific area of web development. It doesn’t even touch front-end development (XHTML, CSS, Javascript)… and it doesn’t look at database administration/building.

In a nutshell: Zend Certification is a decent PHP5 qualification. But only if you can get it cheap. It’s way too specific to spend a great deal of money on

Maybe I was looking at this from the wrong angle. Maybe, what we could all really do with is a degree! Yep, a fully fledged BSc, a ‘proper’ qualification. Everyone knows what those three letters mean: You partied and lived off pot-noodles while racking up $40k of debt for a few years.

In terms of degress, the situation here in the UK has improved. Traditionally, degrees in the computing department tended to be very broad. Subjects like ‘Computer Science’ kind of looked at all sorts of computing areas but never really spent a great deal of time on the web.

But, now there are options! Several universities here are offering degrees such as this one:
Internet Computing (3 years) [BSc] (Manchester University).

Manchester University has always had an excellent computing department. They claim to have made some of the world-changing inventions in computing. To my suprise, they now do this much more specific degree. And it’s still housed within the computing department. (Many internet specific degrees are studied in an ‘informatics’ department instead).

So, what is a degree in ‘internet computing’?

The internet has become central to a wide range of commercial, educational, and leisure activities. As a result, the internet is used directly by a diverse collection of individuals and organisations, with different requirements and priorities. This course provides knowledge and understanding of the architecture and design of web-based systems and web development tools. it also provides skills that underpin the development and evaluation of collaborative and interactive web sites in commercial settings.

Well, it sounds pretty good, until I saw this line:

Tuition fees for Home/EU students commencing their studies in 2009 will be approximately £3250 per year

So that’s £9,750 just for the tuition fees for 3 years, then you can probably triple that figure to include living costs. So, £30,000 and 3 years of study for a BSc in internet computing.

Seems a bit expensive.
Now, I wouldn’t mind spending that if it was the ‘only’ way to get a decent job in web development. But it’s not! We are currently in such a great industry, where employers are very much more concerned about what you know, and how much quality work you’ve done, than how long you spent at university and how many letters you have after your name.
After all, I could have a degree in computer science and not know a thing about OO MVC PHP Development.

There are however employers who do demand degrees. Google is one of them. Because they’re such an awesome company, they can demand only the elite of the academic world, and so expect first class degrees in very complex and deep subjects such as Computer Science.

In a nutshell: Until a degree is classed as ‘essential’ by the industry. Or unless you want to work for Google… They’re just not worth it.

Basically, I believe that a really good portfolio, and experience in the industry is worth more than any qualifications. Unless that qualification really is essential.
And with the state of specific web qualifications, getting one that’s recognized can be a real minefield.

I think that there is a space for a good web development qualification system.
But it needs to be more defined and nationally supported.

For example:

• A-Level in Web Application Development
• BSc in Web Application Development (Specialized in: PHP/ASP/Java/Coldfusion)
• BSc in eCommerce Technology
• BSc in Database Administration

By making the qualifications more specific, and being able to start from an earlier age (A-Level), then we could have a generation of web developers with excellent, focused, and relevant experience that comes from good education to attain their qualifications.

But for now, I’d just build a kick-ass portfolio.