What are Certification Timelines and Expectations?

[Danial Ahmed]

What are the realistic expectations of this certification?
a. How long does it take to complete this certification. What will be achieved from this certification. What are some of the prerequisites for this certification.
b. Who are some of the similar certifications that already exist in the marketplace and how is this one any different (or better)from them.
c. How will this help one advance their career in this emerging filed of web services.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Danial Ahmed:
What are the realistic expectations of this certification?

Of course, to certify those who are expert in J2EE Web Services technology.

a. How long does it take to complete this certification.

It depends on individual's experience on this technology and knowledge on the exam topics... If I am not wrong, Nick passed this exam within two weeks of preparation. He got less than one year experience in web services, when he passed this cert....

What will be achieved from this certification. What are some of the prerequisites for this certification.

J2EE Web Services technology and knowledge will be achieved from this cert and SCJP is the only prerequisite for this cert...

b. Who are some of the similar certifications that already exist in the marketplace and how is this one any different (or better)from them.

IBM 288 would be similar to this SCDJWS certification... IBM 288 might be a bit more specific to the IBM's product, while SCDJWS concentrates on technology, not on specific product...

c. How will this help one advance their career in this emerging filed of web services.

I'm not so sure about this question... Each individual obtains different advantages from this cert... So let's wait for other ranchers who might give their opinions on it...

Hope my answers help....

[Valentin Crettaz]

a. How long does it take to complete this certification. What will be achieved from this certification. What are some of the prerequisites for this certification.
Check out what are the technologies one needs to be familiar with?

b. Who are some of the similar certifications that already exist in the marketplace and how is this one any different (or better)from them.
Sun's certifications are based on commonly agreed upon standards and not on specific products, such as for instance, IBM's web services certification.

c. How will this help one advance their career in this emerging filed of web services.
You said it: web services are emerging and they will still be emerging for at least the next 5 to 10 years until a sufficiently large number of people agree on common standards and practices. The good thing is that web services is a close-to-mature technology in beta stage and is already working and deployed in big organizations, such as Amazon, Google, FedEx, Microsoft, IBM, PayPal, etc. If the big ones are trusting web services and base a good part of their business on them, that must mean something, doesn't it?

Moreover, given the pace at which new applications and human beings get to interact through the network everyday, learning how to build web services is definitely a plus in your developer back pack. Even if the organization you are working for does not want to adopt them, you can still practice during your free time and consider that as ongoing studies...
[ January 18, 2005: Message edited by: Valentin Crettaz ]