Is "OCP, Java EE 5 Business Component Developer" still worth, in 2017?

[Rolf Hemmerling]

Hello,
I am graduated engineer in Information Technology, but unfortunately workless. So our labour office is willing to pay the course fees for a 6-month IT training and certification.
My skills: Good understanding of UML, object-orientation on the level of Java 1.3 & Python & C++ ( so no state-of-the-art Java knowledge, and little "business experience" with coding, I am more a generalist ).

I am interested in Industry Automation, Data Acquisition, Internet-of-Things, Industry 4.0, and this training and certification should me enable to create server-side java applications for this kind of industry. So I am not expert for accounting and pure-business application, nor for SAP.

I decided to do a Java training and certification, as there are no suitable .NET #C certification offers. See my page with book research results about Java certification
http://www.hemmerling.com/doku.php/en/java02.html

I have the following options, with Java training.

1) 3 month full-time course 40h/w with certification test
"OCP, Java SE 6 Programmer"
2) 3 month full-time course 40h/w with certification test
2a)
"OCP, Java EE 5 Business Component Developer"
or
2b)
"OCP, Java EE 6 Web Component Developer"
2c)
"OCP, Java EE 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" ( not yet confirmed to be offered )

One drawback: While the OCPJP course is usual training in a virtual classroom with lecturer and coached excercises, the additional course (2) is mostly self-study, as there are no other course participants, probably. The professional training sometimes exercises the "OCP, Java EE 6 Web Component Developer" course, but "OCP, Java EE 5 Business Component Developer" is rarely to be executed.

Alternatively, I might take a 6 month full-time course 40h/w with certification test "OCP, Java SE 7 Programmer", with OCA / OCP certification, with some superficial training in web components and business components, but then no further certification, at another professional training service

I noticed the Oracle certification tree
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Certification_Program#/media/File:Java_Certification_Path.gif

****
Is "OCP, Java EE 5 Business Component Developer" still worth, in 2017?
Or is it so outdated, that I should not take it?
What are the alternatives?
****

a)
From other sources and this valuable forum, I learned:
This certification is about J2EE5 = EJB3.0 ( so I should not look at books for EJB3.0, not EJB3.2 and EJB2 neither )

So far, I just found 2 books about BC certification

Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates "Head First EJB: Passing the Sun Certified Business Component Developer Exam", 2003.
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005717/hemmerling-21
I was told here in this forum, that it is outdated, as about EJB2.0
Is this book suitable to do training for the certification test, anyhow ?

Paul Sanghera "Scbcd Exam Study Kit: Java Business Component Developer Certification for Ejb", 2005
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932394400/hemmerling-21
Is this book about EJB3.0 and suitable to do training for the certification test ?

All other books I found might be about EJB3.0 ( which is subject of certification test ), EJB3.1 or EJB3.2,
but none of the books claims that it helps to pass the certification test...
"EJB in Action" was supposed for reading in this forum, for me then the 2007 issue about EJB3.0, right?!

So I will check this forum deeply, but is there enough free material & paid books, to prepare for the certification test?
Do any commercial online test providers help to pass the test, e.g.
http://www.whizlabs.com/oracle-certified-professional-java-ee-5-business-component-developer/
, from your experience ?

b)
BC certification is on "Oracle Certified Professional" level, while - see graphics - the certification "Mobile Application Developer" isn´t offered on the training market in Germany too. Both certifications are not mentioned in the Wikipedia article
So obviously Oracle's certification policy focusses on OCA/OCPJP and the  "Oracle Certified Expert" certifications.
But I have just the option to do ONE extra course, not FOUR.
So if I map the "Business Component Developer" on the "Oracle Certified Expert" level, at least 2 courses "Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" and "Java Persistance Developer" have to be taken.
So IMHO "Business Component Developer" is basic knowledge, while "Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" and "Java Persistance Developer"  go into details, especially if the double training time is provided ( 2 x 3 months, instead of 3 months for BC ).

***
So if I just take "Enterprise JavaBeans Developer", do I then have less or no knowledge about Java Persistance?
And does this me more enable for jobs, to have "Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" training & certification, than "Business Component Developer" ?
***

And... I didn´t find any books which help to prepare for the "Oracle Certified Expert" certifications, besides for "Web Component Developer".
So I will check the other sub-forums for those certifications of this forum deeply, but is there enough free material & paid books, to prepare for the certification test?
Books about the topic, which don´t claim to prepare for a certification, usually don´t help much to pass a certification...

Sincerely
Rolf

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

It's odd that the course options are "old". Java is up to Java 8. There's a ton of language changes in Java 7 and 8. Starting out learning Java 6 already puts you behind the curve. Same for Java EE 5, but not as drastic. Java EE 7 is coming out this year.

Kathy & Bert's book does not cover EJB 3 nor does Paul's book. It will not help you for the exam. Both cover an older version of the exam which is vastly different.

Note that the EJB/JPA/Web exams have the OCP as a pre-req for the certs. So unless you already hold this, you need to either self study or start here with the course.

[Viktor Logwin]

If you need a certification and wish to learn Java (which, I think, is a very good language for backend developing), OCA and OCP SE 8 certificates are for you. And you don't really need an Oracle training for them. Just two books and some mock exams.
It takes time... A lot. But, I think, no course can really prepare you for Oracle certification exams.

A course I would make after the OCP Java SE 8 is, maybe, the Spring Core of version 4.x. Because it is a prerequisite for getting a certificate from Pivotal. I thought about Java EE too. But there are only EE 6 certification modules, not EE 7. And EE 7 came out in 2013.
I think, Spring is an interesting framework and is widely present on the market. Just type "Spring Framework" and "Java EE" in your local job marketplace.
And you can make the Spring certification right now. No need, actually, to get the OCA/OCP certificates. But you need Java. So...

Try to be always up to date. I have worked in Java 6 for 4 years, until I saw: "wtf? Java 8 is now out and I don't get, how to work with it!".

[Rolf Hemmerling]

I just have 6 months,
so OCPJP certification plus one extra OCP certification.

The training institute is not willing to let me do a OCPJP 7, but just OCPJP 6
Though with other course combinations with database courses, which take 1 year, they provide OCPJP 7, within the same time of 3 months ( OCA+OCPJP )
They "did not yet decide when to switch from 6 to 7, as 6 is still provided by Oracle" :-(.
Nobody provides OCPJP 8 training in Germany, payed by the labour office.

And to be honest,
teaching the function-oriented software design,
can´t be done within 3 months,
as the courses start from scratch, i.e. the first 4-6 weeks are just repetitions for me.

Other training institutes provide OCPJP 7, but then without extra certification in J2EE.
But usually they reserve more time for OCPJP 7 than 3 months, put extra unnecessary contents ( UML, software engineering ) in the course, so that it is blown up to 6 months.

So it is for "free" the 6-month courses ( both full-time courses together cost about 14.000 EUR, paid by the labour office ), but its "second-class". I know.

So I would take the chance to take the course NOW, not in 1-2 years.

The alternatives are not so valuable
a) "OCE Java EE 6 Web Component Developer"
Tomcat & JSP, no EJB/JPA

b) "OCE , Java EE 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer"
Just EJB, not JPA

So I don´t have 9 month to take 3 courses.
Given that OCP Business Component Developer teaches me the basics,
this is better than just to have "half of the job qualifications" ?!

Btw, the support for passing  "OCE , Java EE 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" is ZERO = NULL in this forum, as there is no sub-forum for this certifiction.

And I didn´t find any books to help for the "Oracle Certified Expert" certifications, besides for the "Web Component Developer".
There are many books about JPA,
but which books are suitable for EJB on the level of "OCE , Java EE 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer", which help to pass the test?

Sincerely
Rolf

[Rolf Hemmerling]

To be honest,
with the OCPJP certification, neither OCPJP 6,7,8,
I won´t get a job,
as most Java Jobs ask for J2EE....
So I see the training as the only given chance, to get some certificates, and some extra knowledge.

I have basic Java/C++/UML knowledge,
I just was offered to take the course by the labour office of our state,
as I am workless ( so I won´t find a job with my qualifications, i.e. graduated electric engineer in "Information Technology", as I am discriminated by my age and my past "where I come from" - both is totally illegal in Germany )

So to learn just about JPA or EJB,
does not qualify me to get Java J2EE jobs.
To get a not-really-fresh Java7 certificate alone, does not qualify me to get any Java job at all...

Sincerely
Rolf

[Viktor Logwin]

Hi Rolf,

it's hard to give an advice without knowing your background. Excuse me, if I write something wrong or unappropriated.

You write much about choices you have, but what is more important - your experiences.
On every interview you would be asked about 1. your education 2. your work experiences.
If this two points don't qualify you for the job, then, you need to prove, that you can work with technologies and tools, the job offers. To do this, you should first build a good basic knowledge. If you want to develop enterprise applications with Java, you should have a good basic understanding about enterprise architecture. Not some particular technology or framework, but the big picture about the architecture. After that you can start learning particular technology or framework.
First I would start with a good book to build basics and make practical usage of the knowledge. Like a little web-project with DB, some functional logic and web front end. Such little projects can also be shown in an interview to show, that you are able to create such applications.
And only then I would take a training in whatever technology or framework. It is not a certificate or a training, that make you attractive for a job, but your experiences and successes, you've made.
The labour office is patient, if they see, that you're working to achieve your goals. You can explain them the situation.

I wish you good luck. Don't let knock you out.

[Rolf Hemmerling]

In a short,
I am 55 years old,
baby-boomer generation,
have graduated at very-high age of 48 in 2010-02,
I am WELL-EDUCATED in 1000 things,
but I lack of "job experience"
as for me there was never a coder job.
All coding was just done in college project, or own unpaid projects.
So I am a long-term workless candidate,
and I will never have pension from the state.

But I had a nice life,
got many "qualifications",
now the labour office grants me first and last and only time, a paid 6-month training.
There are some worthless trainings out without certification.
So certification and beeing proud of, is my mission only.

So of course nowadys everything is to be able to write web applications.
you may do that with PHP, NodeJS, Python... and Java.
I am unsure for what I need J2EE at all, as engineer,
while Java client-side on the desktop was cool, but never got acceptance in the industry.
So to be honest, probably for the whole IOT / Industry 4.0 / Automation Industry / Data Acquisition, J2EE is not needed.

But I don´t want to waste the time by just repeating my Java1.3 training, so it must be "something on top".
If I could choose, I would take an Android course, or a MIcrsosoft MCSD Universal Platform course and certification, but there are no such offers.

Of course I may decide NOT to take a course at all,
but then the labour office won´t repeat the offer in 1 or 2 years.

Sincerely
Rolf

[Rolf Hemmerling]

The other option is to take instead of "Business Developer", the

"Oracle Certified Expert, Java EE 6 Web Component Developer".
I checked the curriculum, it is about using Tomcat, and JSP pages to generate web pages, with little business logic,
i.e. no EJB, JP
so if I would train that and get certificate,
I am shure I would understand, and I would be able to setup a cloud linux system with running tomcat and jsp pages.
But to be honest, for that I might use Python, PHP, NodeJS ect. too...

So as I am not familiar with Enterprise business, e.g. transactions, accounting,
but electric engineer,
able to connect physical systems with software,
would there be J2EE totally wrong?

As I said, jobs without J2EE are quite rare, in job seeker platforms....

Sincerely
Rolf

[Frits Walraven]

Hi Rolf,

Let me first give you pointers to some of our certification pages:
OCE EJB-D links
OCE JPA-D links
OCE WC-D links

Let me try to give you some answers to your questions.

So if I just take "Enterprise JavaBeans Developer", do I then have less or no knowledge about Java Persistance?

No knowledge of JPA at all is needed for the EJBD certification.

And does this me more enable for jobs, to have "Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" training & certification, than "Business Component Developer" ?  

Well this is difficult to answer: certifications mostly only help in combination with "work experience" unless you are fresh from college...

Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates "Head First EJB: Passing the Sun Certified Business Component Developer Exam", 2003.
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005717/hemmerling-21
I was told here in this forum, that it is outdated, as about EJB2.0
Is this book suitable to do training for the certification test, anyhow ?  

No.

Paul Sanghera "Scbcd Exam Study Kit: Java Business Component Developer Certification for Ejb", 2005
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932394400/hemmerling-21
Is this book about EJB3.0 and suitable to do training for the certification test ?  

I have not read anybody on this forum using that book.

but none of the books claims that it helps to pass the certification test...
"EJB in Action" was supposed for reading in this forum, for me then the 2007 issue about EJB3.0, right?!

Correct, those books don't prepare you for the test, but there is not much difference between EJB3.0 and EJB3.1 so you can also take a newer version. This book will help you to get the overall picture and give some practical examples. There are no EJB or JPA books that are targeted at the certification exams, however they are still useful to prepare for the exams.

Mock exams will prepare you for the exam.

So I will check this forum deeply, but is there enough free material & paid books, to prepare for the certification test?
Do any commercial online test providers help to pass the test, e.g.
http://www.whizlabs.com/oracle-certified-professional-java-ee-5-business-component-developer/
, from your experience ?

Yes, but you should go for the Enthuware mock exams. (write them an email as they have removed the EE5 certifications if you still decide to go for the EE5 one)

Btw, the support for passing  "OCE , Java EE 6 Enterprise JavaBeans Developer" is ZERO = NULL in this forum, as there is no sub-forum for this certifiction.

That is not true, both certifications are in this same forum. If you want advice from people that have passed the certification you should check the Certification-results forum.