I am GAIQ

Yes ladies and gentlemen, from this day on I am GAIQ (Google Analytics Individual Qualification).

I have passed the exam two minutes ago and you can see a copy of my certificate below:

Unfortunately Google does not provide a GAIQ certification logo like the one for Adwords Qualified Individual.

Overall the test was preety easy and if you’re using Google Analytics on a daily basis you should do ok. I studied for a weekend and passed with 98%. Also I should note that basic knowledge of the Google Adwords product and some advertising/online marketing terms will come in handy !

During the online exam the following will be useful to have a tab away:

1. A working Google Analytics account with some data in it (preferably with a profile that has E-commerce, Site-search and Adwords reporting enabled)
2. Search and replace filters
3. The Analytics Help website
4. The filter RegEx tool
5. Google Conversion University materials (which I watched two times before taking the exam)
6. optionally you could also have the Google Analytics Tracking API reference (I didn’t need it)

The exam has 70 questions in 90 minutes, of which some are multiple-choice multiple-answers, some are choose-two answers and most are single choice answers.

I found the time to be more than enough, having enough to review all the answers one more time before submitting. Upon graduation you’ll receive a downloadable PDF from the test website, which by the way is google.starttest.com. The certification is valid for 18 months since the passing date.

Good luck to anyone that’s attempting the GAIQ certification exam and drop me a line if you have questions, if you have passed the exam or if you think I can be of any help !

Zend Certified Engineer: PHP5 (ZCE 200-500)

From this day on I can proudly say that I am a PHP5 Zend Certified Engineer.

I took the ZCE 200-500 exam today at a Pearson-Vue authorized testing center, Provision Romania, after registering online, just a business day before.

I have read the Zend PHP5 Certification Study Guide from PHP Architect and I also bought the Practice Exam Pack with 10 questions (I used only 3 tests to prepare). If you want to take the same road as me, I suggest you get the Zend PHP5 Certification Bundle as you’ll save some money in the process.

I have to say I am not an expert in all areas covered by the ZCE exam, but I manage very well in all of them.

The Practice Exam Pack did help me in getting in the state of mind needed for the exam. Also I came across a few things which I would have missed in the real exam, had it not been for a few tricky / theoretical questions.

The problem is that these practice tests are not enough to prepare you for the real exam. I found a few tricky questions including printf parameters and SoapClient / SoapServer usage that were not in the Practice Tests, but I also observed that the XML coverage is emphasized in the PHPArch Practice Tests.

I learned some things I didn’t know in PHP after reading the Study Guide and I recommend reading it as it is a very good book even if you are not preparing for the ZCE exam.

Overall it was not the hardest exam I took and I managed to finish the whole 70 questions (plus review them) in around 1 hour more or less.

I do not know how the ZCE Certification will help my career, but I am happy and proud to be a member of the ZCE Group and I am the 29th certified ZCE in Romania. I am also the second Romanian person to obtain the ZCE in 2009, followed only after a few hours later by Ionut Voda.

If you’re a Romanian from Bucharest, Romania (or just passing by) I strongly recommend Provision Security Training as they were very professional and the process of getting Zend Certified was as simple as possible !

If you have any questions about the ZCE exam or anything PHP related, post them in the comments section and I will try to answer them the best I can !

Good luck if you’re preparing to apply for the ZCE exam !