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JCert Is Dead
Ian Mitchell writes "According to jCert's web site the initiative has finally expired. For several years jCert promoted the concept of 'certify once, recognized everywhere,' describing itself as 'a consortium of Java-based enterprise-development software vendors and other interested organizations that work together to define a single training and certification path for employers and individuals.' It once included such heavyweights as IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Sybase and iPlanet. However the core jCert members gradually left to pursue their own certification strategies, and IBM - the last remaining member with a J2EE platform - withdrew its certification roles on January 1st."
And beyond that, do you folks think that certification provides a decent learning path.
Pretend that I want to learn more Java|Oracle|Unix sysadmin, etc, and might go through my local university extension. If I learn just from books, it seems like I will only learn some aspects of a topic, and will neglect other chunks. A classroom and teacher help to provide a more well rounded learning experience.
I don't want to pay $1000 for the actual certification test, and don't care too much about becoming certified. I just want to learn useful stuff. Would it be worth it to just follow the syllabus for the Certification?
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Generally, the certification syllabii I've seen were extremely oriented toward passing the tests, with poorly worded, deliberately confusing, overly pedantic problems.
Unfortunately, I have nothing constructive to say.
Disclaimer: I'm a Sun Certified Java & Solaris Instructor
;)Joking aside, certification should provide you a good opportunity to show the learning paths you've been down already. You shouldn't learn to get certified. If you take the Sun Java certs you'll see the it's designed to see if you actually use Java for what's being tested; Such a wide area of questions is asked that you are not expected to score very high. If you look at Sun's percentages to pass they are around 50-60% because you have to have been using Java for a while to come into contact with that much material.
And beyond that, do you folks think that certification provides a decent learning path.
You've apparently had a bad experience somewhere. Are you a MCSE by any chance?
If I learn just from books, it seems like I will only learn some aspects of a topic, and will neglect other chunks. A classroom and teacher help to provide a more well rounded learning experience.
Yes and no, it's all a matter of the course, teacher, and test. There used to be many course out there that were designed to get someone MSCE certified in a week or two. This explains why I had to show a MSCE how to install a cpu (slot 1) a couple years back when I was working tech support. One of the Sun courses I teach that raises a lot of certification questions is SL-275 for previous programmer that are new to Java. It's the course that supports the Certified Java Programmer exam. When people ask how much study they need after that course I typically tell them one solid month of using Java and 1 week of study time.
I don't want to pay $1000 for the actual certification test,
Sun's range from $150 to around $400 for most.
and don't care too much about becoming certified. I just want to learn useful stuff.
And with todays surplus of people wanting tech job every little bit that gives you a chance to get an interview helps because it's a sure thing that everyone else has a resume saying that they know stuff.
My Hello World is 512 bytes. But it's also a valid Fat12 boot sector, Fat12 file reader, and Pmode routine.