Good study materials for Adobe CS4 Certifications?

[erisstudios]

Hi,
I'm somewhat new to web design / development. My life has taken some interesting turns recently and left me wondering if maybe now is a good time to change direction and do something I really enjoy.

I've toyed around with Flash, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and a few other apps on my own and have done some online training courses. I've never done anything professional. I have three questions:

1) I don't really want to spend 4 years getting a Bachelor's. I have a feeling that a 2-year degree may just be "laughed at," or at least not worth the time. So I'm thinking of pursuing the Adobe CS4 Certifications in lieu of a degree. What's your opinion on this course of action? Will it be enough to get me an entry-level job in web design / front-end development? I may also take a couple of online or onsite college classes in general web design principles to supplement the app certs.

2) What are the best study materials for the Adobe certifications? I don't think I want to spring for professional training classes. I would like some "test preparation" materials if they're available. I'm looking to get certified in Flash, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. I realize the tests are about $300 a pop if I remember correctly. Are there any other certifications (Adobe or others) that you would recommend?

3) What sort of things do prospective employers/clients like to see in a portfolio? I'm going to put together my own website of course, but what else in particular I should include in my portfolio of work?

Thanks for helping to make an aspiring web designer's dreams come true! <--pure cheese

 

[Steven Even]

Practice exams

Hi there,

The CS4 certification exams haven't been released just yet. There are plenty of practice exams to purchase on the net, most cost around $70. I bought an excellent practice exam for Photoshop CS3 from ebay for only $10. (Just search for 'Photoshop CS3 practice exam' on ebay). It was set up as an interactive pdf with clickable radio buttons and gives your result as a percentage at the end (just like the real thing really). Sure, this isn't enough to get you through the exam, you'll have to study hard for that but it will give you an idea if you want to go down the road of ACE exams and how prepared you might be.

I'm sure a few ACE qualifications on your CV will look great to any prospective employer.

Good luck with everything.

 

[erisstudios]

Perfect, thanks! I noticed on Adobe's website that the only Flash and Dreamweaver certs they list are older versions (not even CS3.) Do you know if that's accurate? (I assume that Adobe's site would be up to date, but you never know...)
Thank you!

 

[Steven Even]

Latest exams

This link will take you to the current exams available: Yes CS3 is there for Flash and Dreamweaver.

http://partners.adobe.com/public/ace/main.html

The top ones being the 'recertification' exams and underneath that the 'certification' ones ('certification' ones are the ones you are after as the 'recertification' are for people who are already ACE's and need to update to the latest software version, these ones can be done online and are only 50 questions so effectively you can have the application open and check the answers where as the initial 'certification' exam is in a closed room, no access to the application.)

 

[ahk2chan]

1) I don't really want to spend 4 years getting a Bachelor's. I have a feeling that a 2-year degree may just be "laughed at," or at least not worth the time.

One quick point I want to mention is that for the jobs that I am looking for (web developer / architect / technical path), the companies are looking for bachelor degree or higher as the minimum entry criteria...

 

[specialk]

Do employers really look for this cert? I would imagine that a company looking for web designers would be looking for some body with an actual degree. This one is new to me, I will have to check it out.

 

[horrorshow75]

I have to agree, at the very least I would think for a web development job they would at least want someone with experience with HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, JS, etc. I'm sure they could care less if you have a Dreamweaver or Photoshop cert. They may be a nice addition but as your primary degree of learning I would have to seriously say most employers would pass.

I mean that's like getting an MS Word certification to get a writing job.

I actually didn't even know they made certs for these apps and it surprises me that they do.

Also you are really pigeon holeing yourself to companies that use those apps. What about other companies that don't you'd be missing out on those opprtunities.