Theodore Casser

I don't see anything at their site that says you have to take the class. They certainly seem to offer a class that covers the requirements, but I think it's not a prerequisite from anything I saw.

I guess I come from the perspective of "training is never a bad thing", but I don't know that I can really make an argument in favor of the training that they give. (Part of that is my having not taken their training. Part of it is my wondering at the value of it and trying to figure out how one would leverage that to help with a salary request at a job.)

I would think that you might be better served in starting off with getting a book or two on Spring and working through it to see if you can grasp it yourself, and perhaps write a few sample applications to play with it and get experience. It's certainly cheaper and leaves you more of a reserve while you look for another job, while not leaving you idle in the interim.

deepak adlakha wrote:Now the big question, Is it worth spending $2511 for this ?

I think its very expensive, i would say this has become expensive than PMP. Although we can't compare as two are separate, but $2511..is very expensive in my thought.

The shame is that I would ordinarily consider the Spring certification when I have time (having previously qualified for the grandfathering). When a certification costs as much - if not more - than a semester of my studies at university, however... I have to decline. I don't think it's worth it.

Vijitha Kumara wrote:3-5 hrs with 215 questions way too much I guess. Maximum 100 tough questions would be acceptable if they want to make it more harder to pass.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned about the certification betas. I don't mind the format - the old ones (before Oracle bought Sun) were generally about 180 questions and 4 hours. 215 questions in 3-5 hours is fine - MS does their betas at regular-exam length, with 180 minutes for the exam and another 45 for comments.

I just, as I stated in the thread I started regarding the new EJB exam, am opposed to paid betas. Yes, it's a great deal if you're already going to be going for the cert... but it's the whole concept of a quid-pro-quo - we're doing them a favor of testing the test, in exchange for a free test. I want to know what else I get for my money.

And, as was also mentioned here.... it's a shame that Oracle doesn't seem to "get it" that there's a very interested community here that's willing to help them with these things and with Java evangelism in general (and about certification in specific) if they'd reach out to us. I can tell you that they don't respond when you try to get their attention on Twitter, which is infuriating. Just makes me less willing to 'update' my certifications.

I'm sure that the recipes book addresses Hibernate integration with Spring (since that's the most popular) - does it address integration with other frameworks?

Lucas Smith wrote:Why is it a steal? From whose side?

Well, compared to paying full price for the exam, $50 is a great deal for the prospective candidate. I just don't hold out that it's such a wonderful one when you realize that we're talking about a beta exam - and that Sun used to offer their beta exams for free (to the first x number of people who signed up).

Though, despite this... Amazon is now showing a picture of the cover that clearly says 'Includes Hibernate 3.5'... weird.

Lucas Smith wrote:And that lasts for more than five hours. It should be free.

Well, to go back to what Leonid said, it is a steal if you're already planning on going for the equivalent from Java EE 5. And I don't know that it has to be free - my question still remains what you get for your cash if you fail, since you're theoretically helping them out. I'm just not personally inclined to pay for the privilege of helping someone, especially a large company like Sun/Oracle. I'd suffice for a second-shot when the real exam comes out as payment-in-kind, for example.

Given that it's based on 3.3, then - is there anything in the book that is potentially made out-of-date by the fact that the current GA release is 3.5?

It sounds like it would serve as a decent foundation, at the very least. (I would admit that I think caching is where I'm weakest with our implementation of Hibernate at my job at the moment.) I'll have to take a look.

Thanks!

Great minds think alike - I was about to post the same question when I noticed yours. (That, and I think it looks on Apress' site that the cover says 3.5, though the one on Amazon doesn't have a version on it.) I'd be interested to know if it's the latest version, given the date of publication.

I realize that the book cannot possibly cover every issue that might present itself, but given that we use Hibernate pretty heavily at work, I'm wondering what kind of recipes the book covers with regards to caching. Does it discuss specific solutions or address caching in general? Does it discuss how to tune the caching for different objects in the same environment?

Thanks!

Christophe Verré wrote:

So what does the $50 get us?

Oracle might have thought that this costs them too much money It's less expensive than the real exam ($300) !

That might well be the logic. I seem to recall, now that I think back on it, that Sun tried this once before with less-than-wonderful results.

Now, granted, they might also just be weighing the fact that getting the credential is worth something too, and that they dislike "giving" it away when a beta-tester passes. I know, however, that it deters me from volunteering four hours at a stretch to help them out, if I'm paying for the privilege - I always considered the quid-pro-quo of potentially getting the credential as "payment" for my time.

The fact is, so long as other providers offer free betas, I don't think offering folks the chance to take a "beta" exam for a modest fee is going to be popular.

Saw this on Twitter this morning, from @javacert (the official Java Certification tweet-feed from Sun/Oracle):

Sun Certified EJB Developer Java EE 6 beta exam now available through July 31 -Just $50. Register at Prometric.com/sun

Now, this is just me... maybe I'm spoiled and too used to the free beta exams that we used to have. But why would I pony up $50 to help them test the test? My understanding is that the prior system was a quid-pro-quo - we spend the time to take the test, help them level-set the passing score and eliminate questions that were outliers in difficulty, in exchange for getting a certificate if we passed.

So what does the $50 get us?

Wow. Tells you how long it's been since I looked closely at the list of certs with their own fora.

With regards to the JSRs, then... I tend to keep abreast of the ones that relate to what I'm working on. The company I'm working for doesn't implement Sun specs either, but I find that it's useful to know the relevant technologies for the space you're working in, and developments that are coming in the near future.