B&S I passed!!! Not The Greatest Score, But It Is In The Win Column! Thanks 2 Andrew&

[Bob Nedwor]

They said he was too old.


They said he didn't have enough development experience.


They said he only got lucky on the SCJP Programmers Exam.


They said his work week was too demanding.


They said his personal life would get in the way.


They said his design approach would result in an automatic failure.


I just want to say that anyone who takes on the challenge of the Sun Certified Java Developers Exam can do it if they put their minds to it, work hard enough, and persist. I had so many obstacles to overcome and it has been a long effort. But THANKS TO SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE HERE ON THE JAVARANCH, I just found out that I passed!! Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do it! Run from those people. Believe in yourself, make the most of what is available. Learn from the JavaRanch!!

Admittedly, I did not get the greatest score in the history of the exam. In fact, it was pretty close. But for a person who has never had a paid position as a programmer or a developer (except for 3 months back in 2002 fixing bugs on a COBOL app), becoming a Sun Certified Java Developer is an accomplishment that I could have only dreamed about a year ago!!! The main point for me is that my score was higher than 320 so it is in the WIN column!!!

I plan to donate even more $$ than my previous donation to the Java Ranch on behalf of Andrew Monkhouse, because of his awesome book that has helped me so much, as well as others in this forum such as B Chen, Leo Ho, Ed Tse, Jared Cope, Daniel Dalton and others, not by giving me the answers, but rather by giving me the understanding I needed to learn the material myself and apply it the way I needed to!

I am "so" in the SCWCD forum now...So I hope to some of you playuh's over there for some more of these Java Certifications. In the mean time, LET THE CELEBRATIN BEGIN!! I AM A REAL SCJD!!! WHEO HOO!!

[Leo Ho]

Congratulations, Bob. I'm really impressed that you've never been paid as a programmer and still managed to pass the SCJD (which I consider much more difficult than many other exams that I've taken, in both Java & .NET). You did a really great job!!!

Leo

[Jared Cope]

Hi,

Good work. Maybe one day I can join the prestigous club myself

Cheers, Jared.

[Anton Golovin]

Good, Bob, you will find out it may open some doors for you. It's a good one to have. My advice: so much stuff now goes on with app servers that getting a Sun-certified Web Component Developer is surely worth it.

[B Chen]

Congratz Bob. Pretty impressive. SCJD is hard even for many career developers.
If you don't mine me asking, what do you do that pays your bills?

[Bob Nedwor]

B Chen:

If you don't mine me asking, what do you do that pays your bills?

Not at all. Aside from 3-month position programming in COBOL 4 years ago, I have been mostly in QA for my whole career. QA is actually a pretty good deal if you think about it. Where else are they going pay to me to find the bugs in software that has been created by people who are more technically skilled than I am?

May be some day I will get a shot at a position where I am actually doing some Java Programming. Passing the SCJD only helps.

Why do you ask?

[Andrew Monkhouse]

Congratulations Bob

I am very glad that the book helped. Shameless self-serving request: how do you feel about posting a comment on the amazon.com page for the book?

Good luck with SCWCD. As I mentioned in the book, you may find it useful to create a web application as part of your study. If you dont have a project in mind, then creating a web front end to your B&S project may be simple enough to help you get your head around the SCWCD requirements without spending too much time learning some strange back end system.

Best regards, Andrew

[Bob Nedwor]

Yes, thanks for reminding me, Andrew. That is certainly the best option so far.

I created a review on Amazon. They said it might take a couple days to show up.

Thanks so much to you and the rest of the Ranchers.

[B Chen]

Originally posted by Bob Nedwor:
May be some day I will get a shot at a position where I am actually doing some Java Programming. Passing the SCJD only helps.

It sure will. You should consider doing development.

Originally posted by Bob Nedwor:
Why do you ask?

I was just wondering, since it didn't sound like you were a career programmer or a recent CS grad, the two main group of people who may be motiviated enough to do SCJD.

Good luck with SCWCD. You should find it easier than SCJD.
[ June 13, 2006: Message edited by: B Chen ]

[Simon Cockayne]

Bob,

You are, as they say, the man.

I am stoked you passed.

Moreover, you have reignited my passion to take the developer exam. My study for SCJD has languished on the back burner for over a year.

Your comments today have inspired me.

In fact I think I might print them out and stick them inside my study folder.

Cheers mate,

Simon.

[wise owen]

Congratulations

[Oricio Ocle]

They said he was too old.


They said he didn't have enough development experience.


They said he only got lucky on the SCJP Programmers Exam.


They said his work week was too demanding.


They said his personal life would get in the way.


They said his design approach would result in an automatic failure.

Epic! you could make a song, "infiltrated SCJD"

Congrats!

[Alan Mc Kernan]

Well done chap!!

[Daniel Dalton]

Congratulations - well done!

[Anne Crace]

Way to go, Bob! I, too am trying to get around "no paid experience as a programmer/developer". I also just quit my job as an IT technician to go back to school full time to finish Bachelors degree, and get a Masters, hopefully in CS. I think passing the SCJD should prove hands down that you can do the job. It would be awful hard to fake that one. I barely started coding my project, started the GUI and began parsing through data file in code and with hex editor. I am mostly reading Andrew's book, taking a class through IEEE,and reading Head First patterns because much of this is still not very clear. Your success gives me the faith to stay with it!

[Bob Nedwor]

Thanks for all your kinds words. The JavaRanch is great!
Anne: Good luck with the SCJD and with your degrees. You can do it!

[Mikalai Zaikin]

Congratz ! You da man !

regards,
MZ

[Peter Sin]