Symbian launches new book for Accredited Symbian Developer exam

Accredited Symbian Developer qualification formally recognised by the British Computer Society

The Symbian Smartphone Show, London, UK, 18 October 2006 – Symbian Limited today announced the latest book in the Symbian Press series: The Accredited Symbian Developer Primer. The book has been written to help prepare developers for the Symbian Accredited Developer exam. A pass from the exam is now recognised by the British Computer Society (BCS) as a suitable pre-requisite for becoming a member of the BCS.

The Accredited Symbian Developer Primer teaches the fundamental concepts of Symbian C++ development and is an invaluable revision guide to the Accredited Symbian Developer (ASD) exam. The knowledge and skills detailed in the book will teach developers how to create high quality code for Symbian C++ applications and services and will prepare them for the ASD examination. Once passed, the ASD accreditation now serves as a pre-requisite for joining the BCS as an associate member (AMBCS), having been formally ratified by the BCS as an exam of sufficient quality and integrity.

The Accredited Symbian Developer exam contributes to the long term success of the Symbian ecosystem. It provides a means to benchmark developers, assess training needs, and ultimately, enhance the quality of Symbian software. The exam provides a quantified analysis of an individual developer’s technical strengths and weaknesses, thus facilitating the rapid, astute and cost-effective recruitment of Symbian C++ developers. This same tool can be used to identify areas of expertise and skills gaps within groups of developers, allowing the appropriate allocation of development teams to projects.

The ‘Fundamentals of Symbian OS’ curriculum informs the question selection for the ASD examination. The curriculum is also the basis of the course materials which Symbian Academy provides to universities as part of a free package of teaching support. This package also contains technical support and guidance, technical training, Symbian Press literature, and expert lecturers. Symbian Academy was launched in June 2006. To-date, sixteen universities have subscribed to receive support.

“Symbian Academy has been extremely helpful in addressing my needs in establishing a new MSc Mobile Applications Development course at London Metropolitan University. The course materials and technical assistance which have been provided are especially useful and will help me introduce C++ to my students and I look forward to teaching the course,” said Dr. Yanguo Jing, London Metropolitan University.

“As the number of services and applications available for Symbian OS grows, the quality and the swiftness of smartphone software development become increasingly important. It is therefore vital for companies within the Symbian ecosystem to quantitatively assess the strengths and weaknesses of their software development teams,” said Bruce Carney, head of developer relations, Symbian. “The Accredited Symbian Developer scheme fulfils this need. I am delighted that the British Computer Society has recognised the quality and value of ASD.”

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About Symbian Limited
Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market leading open operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones, also known as smartphones.

Symbian licenses Symbian OS to the world's leading handset manufacturers and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry. During H1 2006, 24 million Symbian OS phones were sold worldwide to over 250 major network operators, bringing the total number of Symbian OS phones shipped to 82.8 million.

Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom with offices in the United States, Europe (England and Sweden (UIQ Technology AB)), Israel and Asia (India, P.R. China, Korea, and Japan).

About Symbian Press
Symbian Press publishes timely, authoritative, relevant and practical information about Symbian OS and related technologies. There are now 15 books and 5 booklets in the Symbian Press series, available in English, Japanese and Chinese.

About the BCS
With a world-wide membership now over 50,000 members in over 100 countries, BCS is the qualifying body for Chartered IT Professionals (CITP).

BCS was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1984. Its objects are to promote the study and practice of computing and to advance knowledge of and education in IT for the benefit of the public. BCS is also a registered charity.

BCS is licensed by the Engineering Council to award Chartered Engineer status (CEng) and Incorporated Engineer status (IEng); and more recently by the Science Council to award Chartered Scientist status (CSci).

Media Enquiries

Global Press Office Symbian Ltd +442071541383 press@symbian.com	US Press Office Valerie Breslow +1 858 337 4217 valbreslow@earthlink.net
Europe Press Office Aleks Vujanic Burson-Marsteller UK +44 20 7300 6299 symbian_pressuk@uk.bm.com

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