ZCE is dead
The ZCE exam is dead
There were a lot of haters, but it is/was the only seriously challenging general PHP qualificiation that I'm aware of
If you could pass it without cheating, then it proved - in my opinion - that you had a good general grasp of PHP concepts rather than being a "framwork developer" who can't really handle raw/unfamiliar PHP code
I can't find any alternatives which is a shame as PHP 8 has brought the language on a lot and it would be great to have a ZCE 8 to go with it
It makes me sad about the demise of Zend and everything they offered PHP
Yeah I get your point ZFE was a good thing, actually trying to make PHP into a legit thing.
Unfortunately the Zend guys for all the good they've done also made it so hard and complex that nobody wanted to touch it. Laravel did a much better job in a much shorter timespan at popularizing PHP and pushing for good practices and getting people out of the half-assed script bullshit than Zend ever did.