Thursday 28 July 2011

How to be a certified programmer



Java Certification FAQ

          Frequently asked Questions on Java Programmer Certification 


   

1.1) What Java Certifications exist?

1.2) What are the benefit of becoming certified and how much more will I get paid?

1.3) What happens when new versions of the exam come out

1.4) Is the rumor about certification true?
 

1.1) What Java Certifications exist?




In a press release on 20 May 1999 IBM, Novell, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and the Sun-Netscape Alliance announced a collaboration to establish a standard for recognition of Java skills.  This new alliance does seem to be very good news however in that a wider recognition of the certification exam means it should become more valuable. The announcement also introduces some vendor specific exams, so after you have passed the Programmer Exam you can take a test to show your knowledge of a particular development tool such as IBM Visual Age or Oracle JDeveloper
For the moment Sun have three Java Certifications, programmer and developer and architect. The programmer certification tests basic understanding of the language and is entirely exam assessed.

1.2) What are the benefits of becoming certified?

Being certified will demonstrate to employers a minimum level of knowledge of the Java language. Because Java is a relatively new language there are few people with extensive practical experience. It will also concentrate your mind on the fundamentals of the language. With the proliferation of GUI based tools it is possible to create good looking Java applications without understanding what is going on "under the hood". It doesn't try to cover all of the Java technologies. You can become certified an still know nothing about JavaBeans, Corba, RMI or servelets.

There is no simple answer to the questions "how"much more will I be paid if I am certified". I have seen figures of USD5K to 10K . Welcome to the free market.

1.3) What happens when new versions of the exam come out

Re-certification means you will have to re-take the new version of the exam, rather than just the updated features of the new version. So far there have been versions of the exam for JDK 1.0x and 1.1 and since February 1999 the Java2 exam has been available. Because the Programmers exam concentrates on the core of the language you probably won't gain much from upgrading from one version to the next, except a slight gloss on your resume.  

1.4) Is the rumor about certification true?

I get a constant trickle of questions from people who have heard a rumor that the exam or the objectives are about to change. I am often told that someone has heard this from a "friend". If you hear from a friend, rather than ask me, why not ask them where they heard it from?
A particularly popular rumor I have been hearing for a long time is that the programmers exam will include questions on Swing and or networking. Generally I don't know any more than anyone else who reads everything they can find on the net. And if I do find anything out I will make that information available as soon as I can.

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