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Hello,

I want to take on Java road seriously. To follow that idea I'm thinking about going through SCJP 6 exam. I'm familiar on some lvl with all the subjects in the exam and I'm confident I can pass it in 1 month of studying. However the exam's cost would take up all of my savings (I live in eastern Europe, so go figure) which makes me double cautious about that step.

Except for a few small personal projects (totalling to around 30k lines of code) I have no other experience.
I know some basics of HTML and SQL (the latter a bit better) but nothing beyond that.
As a last advantage I can say that I learn new stuff quite fast, but I guess almost all IT ppl are on the smarter side of human population so this point may be moot.

What I would want to achieve (for starters) within a month or two is to get a job, preferably smth like "Junior Java Programmer/Developer" that would be paid well enough, for me to rent a small flat, not die of hunger and still have 50-100$ at the end of the month (in case I get sick and/or other accidents).

How doable is that?
I'd appreciate very much your input on the subject.
 
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The SCJP certification has varied value across companies. Some take the certificate seriously and others don't. Regardless of how they regard the certificate, I'm sure that learning for it will enhance your knowledge about java and make you better at writing programs in java.

If cost is of concern, first research if getting the certificate will help you gain an advantage over other candidates. If it wont, learn for the certificate anyway but do not take it. You gain the knowledge at the very least. If you find that the certificate will help, study hard and pass the exam.
 
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Do you have an experience? Technical or working in an office or working at a store? Or volunteer? Why should someone hire you with a month of Java knowledge and certificate. Vs someone with a degree. Or an internship. Or who has created a website. (you might have more Java knowledge; I can't tell from the post)

Think about this before spending your savings. It might be harder to get a job than you expect. In which case, you'll want that savings.
 
Thomas Soul
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Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:Do you have an experience? Technical or working in an office or working at a store? Or volunteer? Why should someone hire you with a month of Java knowledge and certificate. Vs someone with a degree. Or an internship. Or who has created a website. (you might have more Java knowledge; I can't tell from the post)

Think about this before spending your savings. It might be harder to get a job than you expect. In which case, you'll want that savings.



Thank you (both) for your contribution.

As far as store experience goes, I worked as a salesman for 2 years in the biggest radio/tv/home appliances company in my country. It was a job that was pushing customers' wallets to the limits. Made over 2000 sales for 2.5m total. I know theory and practice on how to make those wallets empty I quitted because with average of 120k worth of sales a month I was getting ~350$ / month. Unfortunately that experience has nothing to do with programming.

As for degree, I studied Computer Science for 3 years at 'theoretically' best university in the country. I quitted because we were doing mostly math; the newest language we were using was c. I can freaking understand Fortran and it's floating point numerical accuracy on matrixes, I know how all those quick searches, binary searches, trees and others work. Which is totally useless, because Java has those in standrad libraries. And they can be used in 1 line.

As for your second question, the websites who collect info on salaries (like salary.com) claim that the average salary in my country for the position I want is around 3k/month, while I can work for 2k, so although I can't beat others with internship as far as real experience goes, I can however underbid them. I realise it's not that strong of an argument, but well, there it is.

 
With a little knowledge, a cast iron skillet is non-stick and lasts a lifetime.
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