Padma Raman

Hi,
I have just started preparing for SCBCD. Will EJB Plus be more helpful? I am interested if it is going to be helpful for SCBCD . Tell me how should i get it? Thanks.
Raman

Hi ,
Thanks a lot for the quick response. I feel better now. I will follow your advice, and go through it until i get it.
Thank you once again,
Raman

Hi Hari,
Thank you so much for your reply. I haven't even started preparing for SCJD.
However, I bought Head First EJB book because i just wanted to know littlebit more that what i do know now and also I thought the book will be useful for SCBCD preparation. I will start SCJD preparation soon.
Thanks a lot once again for your positive thinking and encouragement.
Regards,
Raman

Hi All,
I have just just started reading SCBCD book(Head First EJB) but I do not seem to get all the steps mentioned in cahpater 1. Ofcourse I understood the initial part but not a bit when it came to the programming part. Is it just me ? I just finished SCJP 1.4. I am little disappointed. I thought i would understand everything but i do not understand .:-)
Is it normal to feel that way?
Thanks,
Raman

Hi all,
All of you are talking about fake degrees.I am looking out for jobs and i have a break of five years as i chose to raise my kids and noone is calling me for an interview(have 7 years of IT experience). All my friends and relatives all say that i have to filup the gap(how??? one of the recruiter is even ready to fill up the gap and give me fake references and phone numbers!!!). When i say to everyone that i do not want to lie, they look at me like a ..... person.
Everyone is faking in their resume, so people like us have to keep doing more and more certifications and still we may not get an interview call.
It is really frustrating for a honest person like me. I want to be a good role model for my kids.
regards,
Raman
SCJP 1.4

Hi,
That was too good. Two months and 362/400, and you feel that is not a good score.I wish I could do that.
Could you tell me what books you followed? And also, do you have any work experience? PLease tell us all the things you followed...
Thanks,
Regards,
Raman

Hi Andrew,
Here is the link about J2EE I was talking about. I think it is called IBM test 484. What you you have mentioned is right. It looks like it is a combination of SCBCD and SCWCD and some stuff like connectivity.
http://www.whizlabs.com/j2ee/j2ee-details.html
Thank you very much for your input.
Regards,
Raman

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your reply. Even though I want to do SCJD, I am so afraid to do it. Maybe, I have to say " I think I can, I think I can" . :-).I think I can do it with the help of java ranchers.
When I approached one of my friend for possible intern/trainee position for Java programmer at his office, he told me that all his employer wants is J2E(E. I know what is J2EE). He also asked me whether I have any certification in that?

I surfed the web and found out that IBM offers a certification in that. How valuable is this course? How difficult this exam is?Do you have anything to say?
Thanks a lot.
Regards,
Raman

Hi Deepa,
I gave exam on March 14. The time duration was sufficeint. Normally for mock exams it used to take me 1 hour 40 minutes. Real exam i finished in 1 hour 20 minutes. If you feel that you are spending time on one question,mark it for review. That way you will feel confident and can do better.
All the best.
Regards,
Raman

Hi All,
Thank you so much for all the suggestions. You are really great. Thanks you so much for all your time.
Hari,
Special thanks to you as you have very clearly explained and cleared all my doubts. I think that I should do Certified Developer and one of SCWCD or SCBCD after that(or simultaneuosly).
Thank you so much once again.
Regards,
Raman

Hi,
I just passed SCJP 1.4 and i want to quickly get done with SCWCD. I want to know which site i should check for the latest exam or when it is going to be out. Beacuse i do not want to prepare for something and then i realise that i ahve to study for another version. Looks like that the new version is going to be difficult. I will rather do the easy one because still many companies will have the older version.
Also I want to know the order of SCWCD and SCBCD? Can i do SCBCD first?
Please advise.
Regards,
Raman

Hi All,
Also, one more thing I want to ask. If you do not have real world experience in Java(In other language, yes I do have experience in design, test, development), which exam should i take SCWCD or SCBCD?
Regards,
Raman

Hi,
OOPs, I forgot to thank all the Java ranchers. You are the best.
Now I want your guidance to proceed from here. I would like to know how hard it is to do SCWCD? How should I prepare? Is there any book like Kathy's for this exam. As time is a constraint for me, I am also ready to buy one or two commercial mock exam softwares. Please suggest what are the best ones available in the market(specific names would be more useful in deciding.
Some of you have mentioned about Open Resource Project. Where can i find one? I am ready to work for free to anyone (for sometime) to get some good experience.
Now my background....
I do not have any working experience in Java although I have done Masters in Computer Science and I was a C programmer once. I studied Java all by myself. Java, I learnt Java out of my own interest(some four years back) and did not touch any of the books last four years due to family constraints. Just last December, I started again all over. I could understand everything explained in Kathy but remembering(those tricks) everything was hard for me.
Regards,
Raman

Hi,
Congartulations. That is a good score.
Regards,
Raman

Hi all,
Today I passed SCJP with a score of 77%. God is great. The exam was ok.(30% real easy ones, 30% medium ones, this if you read Kathy properly you can answer each one of them), 30% hard ones - this if you program a lot or if you have working experience you can answer, 10% real hard ones - if u r a genius). I do not have any working experience and I have two kids and I am so busy all the time so I could not prepare like 8 hours a day nothing to worry about. Kathy abd Bert's book is really worth buying.
I really like to thank Kathy and Bert for their wonderful book. This book is not only helpful but also helpful in boosting your spirit. Let me not forget to tell about the sense of humor. I really needed all that and my family used to ask me " what is so funny in there? U r studying Java2, right?".
Here is how I prepared for the exam.
1. I read the Java book(by Kathy and Bert) for two months. During these two months, I studied whenever i got time(from 15 minutes to two hours.
2. Next one month, I spent time writing few little programs and Dan's mock exam.
3. Last month, I spent time on giving Marcus's exam(thye are really good ones. It is only ten dollars and it is worth every penny. (Thanks, Marcus)
and my second revision(Java book).
4. The very last week, I tried the Master Exam CD(comes along with the book), And I tried directly closed exam, i got 77% the same score. I was very disappointed. I was very nervous. I read Kathy the third time and I tried Marcus and Kathy's Master+ bonus exam again. My scre really improved a lot.
5. I was tempted to postpone. Then I revisited kathy again. There you go, I felt better.Whenever my spirit went down, I used to run for the book. Atleast, three questions came from the book itself. I went for the exam. I am happy about my score. ( I repeat ....I have two school going very demanding kids(with all their extra curricular activities) and my husband is also very busy in his work.)
I want to thank my husband who did all the work (laundry, dishwashing, cooking , and teach me garbage collection , and what not... this last week, he did so much for me).
Which exam should i give now if i want to get a job?
Thanks everyone.
Regards,
Raman