Certification Advice

[Sam Laidler]

Hello, hope all is well.

Some background: I’ve programmed in C for about 10 years now - mostly chip & PIN payment processing. I then decided to get into Java and passed SCJP although the result was, to be honest, rather disappointing. It’s been a fairly difficult transition not helped by the fact that I still exclusively work in C as part of my job. Hoping that will change soon.

Undeterred, but a little unsure of where to go now. I guess what I’m ideally looking for is a layman’s explanation of where the different certification paths will take you. I vaguely understand SCJD gives you chance to put your Java skills into practice in the context of a substantial project, but the other modules confuse me. For example, what’s the difference between web component developer and web services developer? As something of a novice, it’s difficult to understand what each certification really entails or what areas of any business it would be most relevant to.

Any guidance most gratefully appreciated.

All the best.

[Rajeev Rnair]

Sam Laidler wrote:Hello, hope all is well.

Some background: I’ve programmed in C for about 10 years now - mostly chip & PIN payment processing. I then decided to get into Java and passed SCJP although the result was, to be honest, rather disappointing. It’s been a fairly difficult transition not helped by the fact that I still exclusively work in C as part of my job. Hoping that will change soon.

Undeterred, but a little unsure of where to go now. I guess what I’m ideally looking for is a layman’s explanation of where the different certification paths will take you. I vaguely understand SCJD gives you chance to put your Java skills into practice in the context of a substantial project, but the other modules confuse me. For example, what’s the difference between web component developer and web services developer? As something of a novice, it’s difficult to understand what each certification really entails or what areas of any business it would be most relevant to.

Any guidance most gratefully appreciated.

All the best.

Hi Sam, welcome to the ranch

Different Java exams / topics in a nutshell!

SCJP / OCPJP (J2SE6) => Java Programmer - 1 Exam (Core Java - detailed )

SCJD / OCMJD (J2SE 6) => Java Developer - 1 Assignment (core Java + rmi/sockets + Thread + Swing etc) + 1 Essay exam

SCWCD / OCPWCD (J2EE 5) ==> 1 exam (Web Component Developer - JSP + Servlets + Filters + Design Patterns)

SCBCD / OCPBCD (J2EE 5) ==> 1 exam Business Component Developer (EJB 3.0 + JPA 1.0 )

SCJDWS / OCPWSD (J2EE5) ==> 1 exam Web Services Developer (XML, XSD, WSDL, UDDI, SOAP, JAX-WS, JAXB, JAXR, REST, JSON, WS-S, WSIOP etc)

SCEA / OCMJEA (J2EE 5) ==> 1 exam (Java Architect) + 1 Assignment + 1 Essay exam

Please visit different forums and see the FAQ to get more details about each exam

Hope this helps!