The Delphi Certified Developer // To prepare for the exam

[skyzoframe[hun] 4]

Hi everyone,

 

I need the certification, because of my family. They saw me all the time reading and working in front of my computer. My deadline is one semester.

I want to ask for some advice before I buy anything.

How should I prepare?
What can I expect?
What is your experience?

 

Sincerely Zoltán-Attila Köllő

 

[PeaShooter_OMO 10]

How much experience do you have? That will determine how you should prepare.

 

The embarcadero website says:

Quote

Developers who use the study guide and have at least two years of Delphi programming experience should be able to pass the Delphi Certified Developer exam

and...

 

Quote

The downloadable study guide is included with your enrollment.

So where do you fit into this?

 

I do not have any idea how the certification covers material but I think 6 months might not be enough for someone with no experience. But there are some bright people out there that might even do it in less time. But remember that the idea behind any studying is to encourage learning and recall of that material and not just to pass a test. Ask yourself if your motives are clear.

 

I have been programming in Delphi for many many years and I am still learning every day and I am on this website and StackOverflow constantly to see what else I can learn.

Edited December 14, 2022 by PeaShooter_OMO

[Sherlock 630]

I don't think I could pass the exam But some of our MVPs such as  @Uwe Raabe have, perhaps he might share some insights.

[haentschman 92]

Hi...

Quote

I don't think I could pass the exam

...really?

 

There are two types of exam:

Delphi Certified Developer: via online / browser ... i have  (exam time: ~1 hour)

Delphi Master Certified Developer: ... Uwe has   (exam: i dont know time and where)

 

https://www.embarcadero.com/resources/embarcadero-certification-center

...what you want?

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by haentschman

[Sherlock 630]

21 minutes ago, haentschman said:

There are two types of exam:

Oh, right! I just had the Master in mind. And that I am not...

[Uwe Raabe 1888]

It has been quite some time when I made this certificate. Actually, I was one of the first people doing it.

 

The questions were quite challenging, especially because they required deep knowledge of most of the Enterprise features of Delphi. In the past years there were many additions to these (e.g. FireDAC, REST, Mobile etc.) and I doubt that the questions kept the same over the time. I cannot say anything about the current state and level of difficulty of the exam.

[skyzoframe[hun] 4]

53 minutes ago, haentschman said:

...what you want?

The first one, do you have it already 🙂 // Delphi Certified Developer

[Fr0sT.Brutal 897]

59 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

FireDAC, REST, Mobile etc.

I'm not using either of these just because I don't need them. It's pretty annoying to get questions about side components

[Uwe Raabe 1888]

18 minutes ago, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

I'm not using either of these just because I don't need them. It's pretty annoying to get questions about side components

The idea behind probably is that a Delphi Master Developer should to be proficient in these, too. After all, they are part of Delphi Enterprise. Perhaps that is exactly what makes the difference: Being experienced in all or at least most parts of Delphi, not only some core parts. Of course, I don't know the actual reasons.

[Fr0sT.Brutal 897]

Probably but it's unfair. I use Zeos instead of FireDAC and ICS instead of REST, why should I bother about them. I'm sure even Canto and Hodges or whoever is the Delphi mastermind haven't learned and used all classes in RTL.

[programmerdelphi2k 235]

Certainly, no one will use, in real world practice, the solutions to the questions contained in an entrance exam, not even during the course of college, however, it is necessary to know what is the minimum knowledge that the candidate for the vacancy can offer to your future teacher...

The master has more to worry about, doesn't he?

[Uwe Raabe 1888]

45 minutes ago, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

Probably but it's unfair.

Why is it unfair? It is a certificate given by Embarcadero. It is expected to be about their own tools and not about any thrid-party ones.

 

After all, everyone is free to take that exam or leave it if feeling uncomfortable with it.

[haentschman 92]

The Developer certificate is only valid for a limited time... Mine has already expired. Although I have been working in software development for years.

 

Is it still like this? With the Master too?

[skyzoframe[hun] 4]

25 minutes ago, haentschman said:

The Developer certificate is only valid for a limited time...

how long is it valid for? a year?

[Mike Torrettinni 198]

21 minutes ago, skyzoframe[hun] said:

how long is it valid for? a year?

 

Here it says it's valid for only 2 years : https://www.embarcaderoacademy.com/p/delphi-developer-certification-premium-package 

 

Even worse than AWS 3 years. 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Mike Torrettinni

[Darian Miller 335]

Check out the study guides, available on the academy page:

https://www.embarcaderoacademy.com/p/delphi-developer-certification-exam

https://www.embarcaderoacademy.com/p/delphi-certified-master-developer-exam

 

Also direct downloads:

https://www.danysoft.com/estaticos/free/delphi-developer-certification-study-guide.pdf

https://www.embarcadero.com/images/dm/technical-papers/delphi-master-developer-certification-study-guide.pdf

 

Advice:

Keep a copy of Delphi running with a simple Hello World application opened.

Keep a copy of the Help open

 

Some of the questions are just too easy...some are too obscure and you'll have to look them up, or if you are quick enough, run a quick test to help define the expected results of a particular question.

 

[David Schwartz 415]

I passed the basic certification test without much trouble. I looked over the stuff in the "Master" exam and didn't even bother with it since I don't use most of the stuff that's there.

 

Honestly, I think it's meaningless. Nobody has ever asked about it. I don't know why your family would care. Write a little program that they can relate to, they'll find it far more interesting and ask you to make changes, and you can do that and they'll be impressed. Explain that this is the exact same process programmers follow everywhere. Certification is a kind of "static knowledge" valid at the time you take the test. Stuff you don't use fades away over time.

 

Offer to write some simple things for friends -- not games, but something they'd find useful. 

 

Something the certification tests cannot examine is how well you listen, ask questions to clarify, implement what you think was asked (based on written notes they read and approved), then demonstrate what you did while listening generously as they explain everything you "misunderstood". It's a dance of sorts, and you don't want to step on their toes while they flounder around. Belive it or not, this is an INCREDIBLY VALUABLE SKILL that will often be worth more than your programming chops.

 

People have an idea in their head, and no matter how much effort they put into getting it out, maybe written on paper or on a text document or something else, it's rarely very complete. When you begin programming it up, you'll start to find all sorts of things they left out. When you ask them, some will stop and think and give you more details, while others will wave it off and say, "Do whatever you think is best".

 

In my experience, this is the hardest part of building software -- not the "programming" but translating a vague idea trapped inside somebody's head into something that comes close to what they were actually thinking. It will NEVER be EXACTLY RIGHT ... our goal is to get "close enough" so the person or committee will sign-off on it. And sometimes they won't, just because. So you need to learn to document everything so you can show them that you did everything they asked and they approved your work at each step.

 

Certification doesn't mean squat if you can't create and deliver something that someone wants or finds useful.

 

I think that Delphi Cert is the only one I have, and I only took it b/c it was offered for free with one of the Delphi upgrades I got. Whoopee. But I've solved problems at different places I've worked that their whole team of "certified" people couldn't figure out. And boy does that piss people off! Sometimes you just can't win for losing. But that's life.

Edited December 14, 2022 by David Schwartz

[skyzoframe[hun] 4]

22 hours ago, haentschman said:

(exam time: ~1 hour)

How many questions do we have about the basic certification?

If the test time is about 1h and there are 120 questions available, every question has 1/2min to focus on it. So the exam will be lightning-chess or something.

[Mike Torrettinni 198]

46 minutes ago, skyzoframe[hun] said:

How many questions do we have about the basic certification?

If the test time is about 1h and there are 120 questions available, every question has 1/2min to focus on it. So the exam will be lightning-chess or something.

It says it has 60 questions. I think 1 minute per question should be enough to answer if you know the answer. 

If you can download all the relevant material for the exam, it shouldn't be too hard to pass just by quickly reviewing the material to catch up with something you use rarely,

 

If you decide to go for it, let us know of the experience. Having certificates can't hurt, only good for you, especially at the beginning of the career.

[Roger Cigol 88]

Go for it. If you pass you feel good and you have something to put on your CV. If you fail it is probably more useful as a) it makes you less likely to be arrogant. and b) it gives you areas that you can focus on to learn more and hence stimulate your mind and perhaps become a slightly better more experienced programmer....

[PeaShooter_OMO 10]

27 minutes ago, Roger Cigol said:

Go for it. If you pass you feel good and you have something to put on your CV. If you fail it is probably more useful as a) it makes you less likely to be arrogant. and b) it gives you areas that you can focus on to learn more and hence stimulate your mind and perhaps become a slightly better more experienced programmer....

$59 is a bit steep to just go for it. In most parts of the world a person would rather try to make sure of a pass before loosing that much money on a "try". In my country I can buy 56 loaves of supermarket bread with that $59

[haentschman 92]

Quote

If you pass you feel good and you have something to put on your CV

...for german users... what means "CV".

 

Abbreviations are not always good...

Edited December 15, 2022 by haentschman

[PeaShooter_OMO 10]

3 minutes ago, haentschman said:

...for german users... what means "CV".

 

Abbreviations are not always good...

Résumé = Curriculum Vitae

Edited December 15, 2022 by PeaShooter_OMO

[haentschman 92]

DeepL knows " Resume"

[skyzoframe[hun] 4]

After a while, I read these kinds of books. From  2016.

- Expert Delphi By Paweł Głowacki
- Delphi High Performance By Primož Gabrijelčič

- Mastering Delphi Programming: A Complete Reference Guide By Primož Gabrijelčič
- Delphi Cookbook - Third Edition By Daniele Spinetti, Daniele Teti
- Delphi Programming Projects By William Duarte
- Delphi GUI Programming with FireMonkey By Andrea Magni
-- by Dalija Prasnikar
Delphi Memory Management for Classic and ARC Compilers

Delphi Event-based and Asynchronous Programming

Now reading.: Delphi Thread Safety Patterns

 

Because I am far from intelligence. I have to read. ˇˇ Are there any good books to read? What did I miss?

Edited December 15, 2022 by skyzoframe[hun]