Hi all,
I am a developer of about 2 years, who is looking to progress my career. I've mainly worked with Java up to now on various projects, and was considering trying to take the Sun Certified Java Programmer / Developer exams. Are these a useful thing to have on my CV and what are people's experience of them?
Any opinions would be welcome. Apologies if this is not strictly coding related, but I thought people here would be a useful source of knowledge.
Regards
These professional qualifications are a decent indicator that you've read through a lot of text books, worked some examples and paid Sun/Microsoft, Oracle and whoever else a stack of cash.
Like the other recent threads about Stack Overflow rep - having these certificates don't make you bad or good, just that you've spent some time to cover some ground.
Your efforts and experiences are going to determine if you're employed. These certifications will pad out your CV/Resume so might help you get into certain doors. Certain classes of recruiter like them alot because they're easy shorthands for knowledge without actually being useful indicators of worth.
Certifications will get you past HR. They normally don't understand the difference between bad and good programmers on paper, so it's easy for them to look to look at two resumes and pick the one with the certification because to them it means "good programmer." Don't expect to get the job because of it, but it can get you to the point where you can prove your knowledge in the interview.
To put it another way. If you think you can pass it without much work, and your current employer will pay for it, you might as well do it. The worst that happens at that point is that you don't put it on your resume.
It depends on your goals, really.
They may well increase your API knowledge, and many larger companies will look for the presence of such things on your CV.
However, they are essentially memory tests and in my opinion will not enhance your development skills.
If you're job hunting, they could be icing on the cake. Otherwise, my suggestion would be not to bother.
If your CV is sparse you may want to take the exams. In my experience very few employers look for Sun certifications. I would recommend studying for the SCJA and SCJP exams to see if there's anything you can learn from them. They do prove a fairly comprehensive knowledge of Java technologies and syntax, but they don't prove you can produce good code, a discrepancy any decent employer is going to be aware of.
Is worth it only if you are really a good Java programmer.
First is worth it for you, you can prove to yourself that you are indeed a good programmer using a third party measuring standard. Second it is useful to have this in your CV as the employer knows you passed some Java test that is relevant. However that does not mean it will not test you by himself, it is just increasing your chances to be called up for an interview.
It depends. Some companies care about it. For example, if you are working with a company that is a Microsoft partner, then it is important for their employees to be certified. Some companies like having that certification to show you have at least a cursory knowledge of what is going on.
I've found that companies that rely heavily on certifications are not places I want to work for. I was a SCJD for awhile, but I can't honestly say that it helped open any doors for me.
On the other hand, I don't see anything /wrong/ with them either. They are a good way to approach learning topics in a structured way. And being a fairly new developer, they probably would be quite helpful for you.
Better get MSFT certification instead... :) just kidding. It's my opinion that any certification is always a add-on to your expertise. Being somehow involved on the recruitment process on my company, we always check for certifications.
In my experience, some Java certifications (SCJD and SCEA) are worth it because of the assignment component. There, you are given an assignment, which you have to spend a fair amount of work to complete (my SCEA assignment took most of 40 hours); you will also have to sit an exam to defend your assignment, mostly so they know you know why you did things the way you did (and that you did the assignment yourself).
I enjoyed the assignment aspect of the certification the most. Your mileage may vary, especially if you're doing a non-assignment certification. :-)
Mind you, I did my SCEA because it was free (Sun was beta-testing the Java EE 5.0 certification at the time); if it had cost me the standard price, I wouldn't have done it, because I'm not really a certifications-oriented kind of coder. :-P
Hi,
I completed the Java Programmer, Java Developer, and Java Web Component Developer certifications. Perhaps I'm biased towards seeing these certifications as valuable because I've invested so much time and effort in obtaining them (nobody likes to admit they've wasted their time), but my honest opinion is that it was definitely worth it.
By "worth it", I mean that I really learned a lot from studying for the exams and completing the assignments. It's almost impossible to know what difference having these qualifications on your CV makes, but I can say with near certainty that it will improve your skills and knowledge of the Java platform. I'd be very interested to know if anyone who has actually completed the certifications feels it's not worth the effort.
Cheers, Don
honestly, when i see these certifications prominently displayed on a resume, i have come to view them as a sign of a weak programmer. maybe i have just had the misfortune of interviewing weak programmers with certifications, but, that's how it is. generally, good programmers with good experience will not include the certs (even if they have them). and i don't expect young/new programmers to have much experience anyway.
personally, contribute to an open source project and put that on your resume and that will probably open far better career paths than the certs.
I don't think so and I would highly recommend against it. I agree with Cory Foy (and several others but I didn't catch all the names) that it's always good to learn and there's nothing wrong with it. But realistically, time is not on our side. Instead of spending time to learn to how to pass the tests which won't make you a better programmer or problem solver, you could spend that time research on some topic, find the solutions to those problems and blog about them, contribute in some Open Source projects, participate in StackOverflow, etc. I think there are many ways to better yourself than simply getting those certifications. Personally, I have seen/read from so many bloggers who really impress me, and then there are those people I know face-to-face with all kind of Microsoft Certified Engineer in-whathever titles who are really clueless. The saddest part is with the word Engineer in those MCSE-whatever, they would call themselves engineers. I have seen training centers with slogans like "You could become an engineer without spending 4 or 5 years in college" or something to that effect.
I am studying for the SCJP and half way through already I feel that I've learned a great deal about the nuances of the language and am really looking forward to diving into a project and not getting hung up on how to do basic things.
I feel though that a large part of the exam mainly tries to trick you with syntax gotchas that could be caught immediately by just typing code into whatever IDE you use. I do believe it's quite an objective way to tell that someone at least knows the language and will not need to get up to speed on learning it if hired.
I've found that many elite companies scoff at the SCJP. If you're applying to what may be considered a "top shelf" company perhaps you don't need it because you already have a C.S. degree from a respected university or have contributed to impressive projects in your experience.
Most mere mortals however could only benefit from the SCJP and what they learn through the process of preparing for it. Look at it as another leg up in our competitive field.
The SCJP 6 exam is also harder to pass than previous versions and this might be a response by Sun to raise the "prestige" of the certification.
I'd say go for it. I'm having fun and learning a ton.
Just after I graduated from college I did a Java course with Sun. Part of that course outlined what you need for Sun Certified Java Programmer. I started studying for it and found that you needed to learn quite a bit about how the language works - which was useful. Doing the cert ensured that I had at least some knowledge of all the different basic areas I'd need.
What the cert doesn't cover is any form of analysis, design, OOP or architecture - just how the Java language works and some API coverage.
I'm glad I did the certificate - the study certainly helped but over 6 years later I still can't say the certificate made any difference in terms of employment prospects.