How to start with?

Hi All

I am planning to take up SCEA, I would require some information regarding:

1. How to start initially?
2. Books to refer?
3. Difficulty Level?
4. Suggested books,material and blogs.

Thanks All

Jetendra

I think this might be the most difficult of all of the exams. Certainly, along with SCJD, it is the most involved.

How do you start? Like everything else, you just go one step at a time. In this case, focus on Step 1, the multiple choice exam.

You need to know alot about design patterns and also alot about development technologies. I didn't see ANY code snippets on the multiple choice exam, but tough questions on when to use JSF, EJBs, Web Services and the rest.

These are the key books I used to pass the SCEA certification. These resources are focussed on J2EE, but they will also be very indispensable for the JEE 5 SCEA exam as well. These are what I used to pass.

My priority would be the Cade book, UML Distilled, the Sun Press SCEA book, J2EE Design Patterns, Head First Design Patterns, GOF Design Patterns, and then Java Modelling in Color to help you on part II of the exam. You'll also have to find some EJB3, JSF and Web Services material into the mix as well.

It's a tough exam, but if you work at it, and get the right resources, you'll pass.

Sun Certified Enterprise Architecture for J...
by Mark Cade
$34.21
UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standar...
by Martin Fowler
$35.09
Head First Design Patterns
by Elisabeth Freeman
$29.67

Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Desi...
by Deepak Alur
$40.49

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Objec...
by Erich Gamma
$36.53 Java Modeling In Color With UML: Enterprise...
by Peter Coad

Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java...
by Paul Allen
$31.49

Good luck!

-Cameron McKenzie

Thanks a ton for the detailed mail. Thanks again.

...

Check the FAQ.

Can you please let me know the books and the chapters to be covered in that books for SCEA part 1 exam.

I have provided some list of books in my blog.

For EJB 3.0 and other related topics such as scalability, Availability etc., I would recommend the below

Mastering enterprise JavaBeans 3.0
By Sriganesh, Rima Patel

I used this and liked it very much.

I say this with pain in my heart, but I would skip "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Objects..." by Erich Gamma. This is The Classic about design patterns, but it's not the most readable book in the world. I recommend getting the Head First book, which is excellent, and get the book from Gamma later in life when you need a good reference.

Here is a post from me with my recommendations for books.

Correct Paul. "Head First Design Patterns" is what I used to study that topic. I liked it very much. I would recommend that book to others who either want to know about design patterns in general OR beginning to prepare for the SCEA.