• 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

Can I show my SCJD Code to prospective employers ??

 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 36
IBM DB2 Netbeans IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I passed my SCJP 1.4 on Sept 12. I'm scheduled for the IBM DB2 V8.1
Associates exam this Friday I feel pretty good about it, scoring +90%
on the trial exams.
I'm considering doing the SCJD next. The question is this.. Upon completion, may I show my assignment code to a prospective employer? Or, as I think it might be - is this code "owned" by Sun. I need to know this since it is a critical factor for the time I will spend on doing the SCJD (I estimate several months, to do it right, with breaks when I get sick of thinking about it
-- Jim. SCJP 1.4 May 2003 B.S. Chemistry minor in Physics
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1561
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
that's a very good question, never thought about it...
 
author and jackaroo
Posts: 12200
280
Mac IntelliJ IDE Firefox Browser Oracle C++ Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Jim,
Interesting question. You do have to agree to a non disclosure agreement before you can download the assignment, so technically you cannot.
However I hope that Sun may be willing to make an exception for the case you mention, as long as the code stays with you at all times (you don't post a copy of your submission to a prospective employer).
Perhaps you could ask this question to Sun themselves? The address is who2contact@sun.com. And then please let us all know the result.
Having said all that though, I have never been asked to show sample code to any recruiter or potential employer in nearly 20 years.
Regards, Andrew
 
Jim Doyle
Ranch Hand
Posts: 36
IBM DB2 Netbeans IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Times have changed. Two jobs that I have recently applied for require
code samples *AND* documentation samples. All of the jobs I got in the
past decade were because I had contributed fixes and new functionality
to familiar things (fixes to Kerberos 5, porting DCE to Linux, etc).
Mind you, I did not have a degree at that time.
Today, with a formal degree, it is no different. They want to see that you
can design and implement. No-one believes whats on the resume anymore.
I actually cant blame them. Back in the 1999-2001 era, I was shocked at
the general lack of ability and capacity of some of the people that held
professional positions. There's alot of these people still trying to
"get back in" - and employers know it - and they want to filter for the
best.
A facility for disclosing your SCJD assignment to an employer would be
very useful... Perhaps an NDA binder that you could put between Sun
and the prospect would be the way to do it. Sun could charge for it
too. Because the assignment is worth something as a qualifying
credential, it is worth making the employer pay to see it. They could
just take all of your code and distill it into Acrobat so that it cant
be cut, pasted or copied into other peoples' projects.
I actually think that completing an SCJD is better than most of the
MSCS programs out there... I've run into alot of guys with MSCS that
dont even understand the most basic elements of concurrency patterns
or database internals... The only Masters programs worth the paper they
are printed on are project or thesis based programs.
-- Jim
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 808
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
You could work around this issue of nondisclosure by building a similar project based upon your work for the SCJD exam. Just make sure it's different enough to stand apart. You can even write your own requirements document, or ask one of the practice book authors, like Mr. Habibi, if it's okay to use his in your portfolio. Add that project to your portfolio, along with other high-quality samples of your work.
I keep a pretty-much up to date portfolio for my three main areas of work: programming, technical writing, and embedded system prototype design. I got the idea from reading an architecture portfolio book, and it's really come in handy for interviews and for getting my foot in the door. (My resume's footer reads, "References and Portfolio Available Upon Request".)
Good luck in the job hunting! Things seem to be loosening up out there somewhat.
 
ranger
Posts: 17347
11
Mac IntelliJ IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

No-one believes whats on the resume anymore.


Thats because lots of people lie.

I actually cant blame them. Back in the 1999-2001 era, I was shocked at
the general lack of ability and capacity of some of the people that held
professional positions. There's alot of these people still trying to
"get back in" - and employers know it - and they want to filter for the
best.


You and me both. There have been many here that I have seen come in the door and back out because they lacked skills.
I even got suckered in one case. I was beginning VB so, I wasn't as hip as I am now. So I interviewed a guy for our VB position. I asked for sample code, which I always do, and the code he agves us was not his. Now we know this from hindsight. Eventually he got fired, and this past week I have had to take a simple app he wrote and make some modifications. He did not follow any VB standards, and indentation was 1 space but some lines not even. So it became obvious now looking at his actual code that the sample was not his.
I mean the VB app is a Bid tracking software with 30 fields on one entry screen. When you get a bid to edit, the code for getting the bid form the database and having the screen display it was 530 lines of code. Now you can enter the number in the bid text field, or click the drop down to bring up a search screen. In the search screen, you can select from the grid and hit enter, or click the OK button. So all in all that is three ways to get a bid. Well that 530 lines of code was in all three locations.
So after cutting it down to 120 lines of code, and centralized in one location, it is a little more readable.
pardon the caps.
THAT IS WHY I STRONGLY RECOMMEND A SIMPLE SOLUTION.
For every application, you can write it simply. It can still be thread-safe and fast. And really, really helps when you have to maintain and enhance.
Long Live OOP.
Mark
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic