Java Programmer Certification Advice/Help

Miscellaneous Topics
#41

I’d have to agree Breakfast. How many people have books upon books in their homes, which they’ve never read, but ‘will get to it some day.’ I made a rule that I don’t buy any books unless I’ve already read all the ones I own.

Its funny that so many people who are NOT certified, keep saying how bad it is and such. Kinda like saying, “Why’d you buy tool X, you’ll never use it.” Well, as an owner of tool X, I have the option of using it or not.

At any rate, I’m enjoying learning. After being out of school for so long, its nice to ‘hit the books’.

Dr. A>

#42

[quote]Following on from the point about stuff you could learn from a book I would say that although you could learn all of that from a book but in my experience doing the exams mostly works as an incentive to actually pick up some books and do some reading rather than putting them to one side and getting back to writing code.
[/quote]
As I said, if you need it for incentive that is fine. I’m only speaking of the value of the certified ‘status’ - it doesn’t mean much. If you can learn from a book as effectively then you can save yourself some money. I personally use my current project as incentive to learn. e.g. i needed to work with XML dat, so I bought a couple books that I have read most of and use now as reference materials when I need to find some esoteric detail. I started with Core Java, added Java Network Programming, then I mainly used the online tutorials and Sun docs… finally grabbing a book on XSLT, Effective XML, and then the great reference The Java Programmers Almanac. I read the Java newsletters that Sun mails out and I read online articles. That’s what works for me.

#43

when I can’t get my info from Google or the Java Almanac, I ask you guys :wink:

#44

Well, I finished the chapters covering the SCJP. :slight_smile:

So, now I need to review some of the material I’m not quite as knowledgeable about.

One of the guys who was studying with us, already took the exam and passed. :slight_smile: He scored well and was pleased he took the time to review.

I figure I’ll take it within the next 2 weeks or so. Work is going to pay for it, so I’ve got nothing to lose.

  • I discovered I know enough about threads to be dangerous. :slight_smile: Not a mastery by any means, but good enough to answer any threading questions.

  • I’m fairly week on Collections and Wrappers. This is more rote memory than any higher knowledge. Some review will fix this.

  • I still hold that being certified won’t make you a programmer.

  • I’d encourage anyone who wants to get certified to grab the Osborne book by Sierra and Bates. According to the friend who took the exam, the material is spot on for preparing you.

  • While I’d already used inner classes for awhile, it was nice to get a much more indepth look at them for later. I’m better able to spot areas for where they make sense and where they don’t.

Cheers!

Dr. A>