k.p thottam

From my experience I would say that the industry does not make a difference between architecture and design. As per me 'Architecture' is the description of the whole system from various viewpoints, while design takes part of the system and gets deeper in details.

so be prepared to present both architectural and design views of the system, because they aren't looking for a dogmatic response that stays away from design , but a holistic solution.

Originally posted by James Clark:


It isn't one certification process. It is many certification processes, year after year after year. This may not make Sun rich, but is a consistent revenue stream.

There is the mind share aspect that also translates into revenue. Don't forget if you are continuously getting certified java / j2ee / sun by extension is always on your mind

Hi All,

As a practicing architect , I deal with different java based server technologies that have become mainstream outside of the normal sun process. Example spring , Struts , velocity etc.

This should be the case for most of us in the real world.

So my question is : how many of you see the value of upgrading -

a) because it makes a difference in financial compensation ?

or

b) Because the technologies covered make sense from a personal growth?

---
My take is -

for item a - really no one cares as long as you are SCEA , they aren't very concern it is the older version

for item b -- well of all the newer technologies JSF is the only one we are adopting widely is my take. EJB 3 isn't taking off , and as for the ORM the open source dominates the field. So again not much value...


Your opinions guys .........???

I agree and in fact that has always been my thinking

I haven't heard any rave reviews about either the IBM or the BEA certifications you have mentioned. However to become an IBM partner I am sure it would help.

Have you heard differently ?

First of all the Togaf certification you are referring to merely certifies you as a practitioner of the TOGAF methodology and not as an architect. The fact that TOGAF is an architectural framework and that you know how to use it , does not automatically imply you are an architect. Hence Togaf has two separate architect certifications

The architect certifications from The open group are two levels - Master Architect and Architect . The process involves an interview and in the case of the master certification , traveling to meet the board for a face to face. the cost is more than a thousand dollars if I remember right.

Having said that , I think the SCEA + the TOGAF practitioner should be equally good as the more expensive Master architect exam .

And the reason I think so is because most people confuse the TOGAF practitioner certification with the TOGAF architect certification. And guess what , as interviewee , I am not about to clarify the difference

As for the other certifications like the SAP and the SOA , they are technology specific, so the laws of demand and supply of the players in those narrow markets will define their usefulness.

Architecture on the other hand is technology neutral and hence the usefulness of any related certification is much longer.

Yes the same thing happened to me as Kai .

Remember this is an exam on architecture and not on a particular version of EJB. Having said that , it is true that the questions are limited to EJB 1.1.

However a majority of the section will remain unchanged even after the exams EJB sections are updated.

For example the section on UML , design patterns , i18n , legacy systems , messaging etc will remain unchanged even after an update , since they are not tied to EJB .

Go ahead and take the exam.

Yes , I have in the past remarked that going through this forum will provide both the assignment details and various aspects that need to be considered for the solution.

Basically the cat is out of the bag as far as I am concern.

As for the value of this certification , I now treat developers with an SCEA as principal engineers unless they prove that they in fact are architects during the interview.

Part 1 has value for engineers who wish to become architects , but definately this certificate has lost value for architects

Using popular frameworks like struts , spring , WAF , Hibernate etc should not be a problem . I used a subset of the above in my solution. I did however provide an additional high level diagram outlining the mechanic of some of the less known frameworks . For struts it is not neccasary.

There are very many pattern catalogs out there that are not covered in the SCEA (Gof and CJ2EE are the only one covered), so continue strengthening your pattern knowledge.

Check out POSA 1 , 2, 3 , patterns for enterprise architecture - Martin Fowler, and there a couple more popular ones out there that I can't remember off hand.

Hi All,

I agree that the barrier for SCEA is really low . Frankly I feel that the problem lies in the fact that design patterns are dealt with at the lowest and simplest level.

The GOF design patterns in my opinion are the very basic design patterns for any developer (architects definitely need to go beyond this basic). Design patterns like POSA and CJ2EE patterns should be included .

Another area that the SCEA is lacking in , is the technology breath,
Areas like web components , web services , portals , content management systems , workflow engines , document management systems , media streaming , LDAP servers , authentication / Single sign on servers , handheld platforms etc are just not covered.

As a practicing architect, everyone of the above (except for media streaming) I have had to tackle and have delivered solutions using them.

A third area that the SCEA is lacking in, is the area of network technologies and an understanding of the various that compose a network.

As an architect I spend at least 7-10% dealing with these aspects as my servers are a part of the network.


On the issue of experience I would disagree , you can either do it or can not do it. Let the test be the filtering point.

As for the assignment , this forum has made a joke of the assignment. And even those of us like me who have kept silent are to blame.


We all need to wait for the next iteration of this certification and hope it will improve.

thanks
kpt

It has been over two years since I completed parts 2 & 3 . However going thro the postings I realized there isn't one single aspect of the assignment's requirements that has not been posted in this forum.

Additionally while hiring I have started seeing a stream of 'SCEA' with very little understanding of design patterns and J2EE . Could this forum be one of the places where these human web crawlers get their info to pass the exam ?

from an UML standpoint you are right . Customer will be composed of many smaller classes , including address , hence you can navigate from customer to address.

Stick to Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual , I use that very often at work.

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