Best Web Development Certification

Times have changed and websites are now much more complicated than they were when the Internet was first used by the public. Now, thanks to new technologies and programming languages, Web development has become more and more exciting and at the same time very challenging. A Web developer can put up just about any service on the Web, and as such, needs to have different skills sets. A Web developer would have to know more about client side programming, server side programming and would even need to be proficient in databases.

Technologies come and go, and in Web development, it is essential to know the hottest and most used programming languages and technologies. Right now, the biggest development areas are in:

• Ruby on Rails
• Javascript
• Python
• Java
• ASP.Net MVC
• Node-js
• Objective-C

So, if you are looking for a way to break into Web development, or just looking to have a demonstrable skill set, you might want to learn and get certified in these seven hot Web development know-hows.

But just how do you get certified for these? Read on and find out!

Ruby on Rails

A good certification program on Ruby on Rails is the Ruby Association Certified Ruby Programmer. The certification helps verify the skills of IT professionals who work with Ruby on Rails and is managed by ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation. This certification is sanctioned by the Ruby Association LLC.

Currently, there is only one skill level that is certified: The Ruby Association Certified Ruby Programmer Silver. It covers the basics of Ruby, including background, objects, standard libraries and classes of Ruby. This 50 question multiple-choice test lasts for 1 hour and 30 minutes and costs $150.

This exam includes questions on execution environment in Ruby, command line option, grammar, built-in classes, built-in functions, and object orientation.

JavaScript

The CIW Web Development Series has three specialized exams that you would have to pass in order to get the Web Development Professional title: Perl, Database Design and Javascript. The Javascript Specialist exam will verify your skills in using JavaScript for client side solutions that are platform independent. Questions touch on form validation, frame targeting and image animation, among other advanced Javascript topics.

If that is too complicated for you, you can avail of the JavaScript Developer Certificate that W3Schools is offering. For this certification, you need to have knowledge in both JavaScript and HTML DOM. The 70-question exam lasts for 70 minutes. You would need to get 75% of the questions correct to get the certificate.

Python

These four levels are:

1. Beginning Python
2. Getting More Out of Python
3. The Python Environment
4. Advanced Python

This is perhaps the first Python certification exam available, with none other than Steve Holden creating it. Holden is the chair of the Python Software Foundation.

However, If you do not want to invest that much time or money in a Python certification you might want to go by the Expert Rating route. Expert Rating offers an online test that would quiz you on the basics of Python, common modules, programming concepts, Web programming, exception handling, object class, namespaces, bindings, printing, text processing and advanced concepts, among others.

The proctored test will last 40 minutes and will have 40 multiple-choice items. Each item will have two to eight options. The test costs $10.

Java

The Oracle Certified Professional Java SE Programmer is the most basic certification exam for those who work with Java. Provided by Sun Microsystems, the exam seeks to certify your skills in Java. This is a requirement for other Java certifications and costs $150. Test takers will be given 150 minutes to answer 60 questions.

For those with advanced skills in Java, you might be interested in Oracle Certified Master Java SE Developer. You would need to be a Sun Certified Programmer to take this test, but a Java Associate certification is not required. The exam costs $575. The Master Java certification combines a written certification exam and a practical programming task.

ASP.Net MVC

While there are a lot of ASP.NET certification exams available, only a handful actually certifies MVC skills. And while you have ASP.NET, this does not necessarily mean that you know MVC. A good certification program is Microsoft's MCTS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4, which also measures your skills in setting up and deploying MVC applications.

Specifically, your skills in ASP.NET MVC will be tested in the configuring and extending a web application section, which is 15% of the exam. As part of this section, you will be asked about deploying an MVC application. Another part of the test that is relevant to ASP.NET MVC 2 accounts for 13% of the exam where you are asked about developing Web applications using MVC 2. This section includes the following topics, among others:

1. Creating custom routes
2. Creating actions and controllers
3. Structuring an application based on ASP.NET MVC
4. Customizing and creating views

Node-js

ATG Certified provides a standalone Certified Node.js Developer Exam that costs $79. The four-hour exam demonstrates one's skills in node.js, TCP and HTTP servers. The candidate will be tested on his or her skills in writing a Javascript server using node, as well as his or her understanding of TCP and ports. It also covers data transmission from a client to a server and back.

Objective-C

Topics covered include the following, among others:

• Best practices
• Exceptions
• Categories
• Memory Management
• Protocols