• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Is it worth it?

 
Greenhorn
Posts: 19
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hello. I am new to the Programming World and I happened to start with the Java Language.
I am an engineering student and some knowledge of programming should be beneficial.
Around the end of last year, I found about the Oracle OCAJP 7 Exam. So I set out on this task to try and study for the exam.
I read and studied from a lot of different resources about the theories that I need to know for the exam.
I even purchased the Enthuware Java SE 7. It is just an amazing resource for preparation! I never thought I could learn so much in such a short time.
I was passing most of the tests and got some good scores. I was pretty much ready for the exam.
However, I don't know why, I didn't apply as I got caught up with other things. Several months have passed and here I am again, trying to study the material again after I mostly completely forgot what I have learnt before.
I am not so confident whether I should devote the next couple of months for the exam once again and what would be the benefits.
Therefore, I am asking for your professional advice on the advantages of having the OCAJP 7 Certificate. I mean it is basically a theoretical exam with no practical programming ( like creating applications ) , so I don't know if it would be the right thing to do to take the exam alone, and not continue further. Is it worth it?

Thank you very much for your time.
Omar
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 384
Spring Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Omar,

It does worth it to be certified ... It feels great.
But above all you need to ask yourself that at what extent do you wish to pursue it, i mean will you build up on it or just leave the coarse after the certification.
Certifications are a good way to attain knowledge, and be somewhat more noticeable to the employers also.

 
Sheriff
Posts: 11604
178
Hibernate jQuery Eclipse IDE Spring MySQL Database AngularJS Tomcat Server Chrome Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It all depends on what you are planning to do in the future. If you want to become a java developer this exam is really a must-have (just like the OCPJP 7). If you prepare yourself seriously (and not just to pass the exam), you will (as you already described in your 1st post) learn a whole bunch about the java programming language. And that will definitely benefit the quality of the code you write.
 
Omar Jouda
Greenhorn
Posts: 19
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Lalit Mehra wrote:Hi Omar,

It does worth it to be certified ... It feels great.
But above all you need to ask yourself that at what extent do you wish to pursue it, i mean will you build up on it or just leave the coarse after the certification.
Certifications are a good way to attain knowledge, and be somewhat more noticeable to the employers also.



Well. I agree certificates are great.
Basically, I am an engineering student which would be my career, but programming knowledge is required. So I would rather expose myself to more languages than strictly stick to java. Hence, there is a low chance that I would push on further. Hence, most probably I will leave the course, and try and build up on my practical knowledge instead, because currently I have none.
 
Omar Jouda
Greenhorn
Posts: 19
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Roel De Nijs wrote:It all depends on what you are planning to do in the future. If you want to become a java developer this exam is really a must-have (just like the OCPJP 7). If you prepare yourself seriously (and not just to pass the exam), you will (as you already described in your 1st post) learn a whole bunch about the java programming language. And that will definitely benefit the quality of the code you write.


Frankly, my aim is not to become a java developer. However, I want to start creating applications, programming electronic devices etc...The OCAJP is completely theoretical so I don't know if attaining the certificate would help as much. I will be going to university this year and I am planning to work somewhere in engineering or programming.
I am not even know if Java is the best start, but I already did.
 
Roel De Nijs
Sheriff
Posts: 11604
178
Hibernate jQuery Eclipse IDE Spring MySQL Database AngularJS Tomcat Server Chrome Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Omar Jouda wrote:I am not even know if Java is the best start, but I already did.


Java is definitely the best start
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 208
9
Eclipse IDE Firefox Browser Java
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Java is a good programming language to ground yourself in, and learn the basics of programming. If for no other reason than to demonstrate the concepts, I would go back and study again for the certificate. I wrote the exam when it was out in beta a while back and what I noticed was that most of the stuff on it wasn't really specific to Java but more to programming basics (of course all the code was Java but an object means basically the same thing in every object-oriented language). You will need the concepts clear in your mind before you branch out into other languages. Learning the first language is 90% of the work, other languages are way easier to learn after that because you can compare to what you know already. Often a second language is just another way to say the same thing (eg Java uses if(condition)..., Visual Basic uses "if condition then...").

I don't know what type of engineer you're studying to be, but from my experience (watching engineers) the types of programming are a lot lower level than what Java can do. I usually see engineering as working with a mix between hardware and software. At that level the most popular languages are C and C++ which might be a place to go next.
 
Lalit Mehra
Ranch Hand
Posts: 384
Spring Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Omar Jouda wrote:
Basically, I am an engineering student which would be my career, but programming knowledge is required. So I would rather expose myself to more languages than strictly stick to java. Hence, there is a low chance that I would push on further. Hence, most probably I will leave the course, and try and build up on my practical knowledge instead, because currently I have none.



It's good Omar that you wish to learn more than one programming language.
"jack of all trades and master of none" comes handy here and you will feel the need of being good or even better in at least a single technology before practicing others.
If you go a bit in depth you'll actually see that the basic concepts of programming remain the same.

You actually need to decide which technology and not just language that you wish to advance in. Be it Java or any other. All have there pros and cons.

And YES JAVA is definitely the best start. I might be biased here as I love Java.
 
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic