jan ter avest

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since Dec 18, 2006
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Recent posts by jan ter avest

Not to sound too cynical, but at least in northern european countries you might find an office cleaner for that pay. But a java web developer??
15 years ago
I get your drift, the SCWCD exam is daunting and it does make you ponder a lot about even the simplest of questions. I think in this case the crux is you can put anything you want in the <servet-name> as long as they're consistent. So I guess you're right. But I think what this question wanted to show you is that using the .class name in the <servlet-mapping><servlet-name> is generally speaking wrong, as you would almost certainly never use it for a name in the <servlet><servlet-name> tags.

There are some more questions in Enthuware that can be interpreted in different ways, and even some small typos, but the important thing is you understand how things work. And in my case, enthuware helped a lot with that!
[ September 27, 2008: Message edited by: jan ter avest ]
Yesterday I passed the SCWCD1.5 exam with 86%, what a relief!
Here are some tips I'd like to share with you all that helped me in my preparation.
My situation: zero coding experience, only SCJP
Time invested: around 120 hours.
Materials used: HFSJ 2nd edition, Enthuware, Eclipse IDE to code the examples.

The following worked for me:
1. Use an IDE (Eclipse, netbeans) to do the examples from the book. make your own variations to see what's going on. This saves you a lot of time, compiling from the command line and setting up the dir structure IS lots of work.
2. Not only read but practice the examples from the HFSJ several times. You DO need to memorize method signatures, return values and things like DD tag. This is where I feel the certification is kind of a waste of time, to a certain extend. Do you really need to memorize all convenience methods regarding headers? (to pass you do!)
3. Enthuware exams. They have the look and feel of the real thing and help to get used to the style of the exam. My scores: first 7 tests between 71%-80%, last test 64%.
4. Know EL well: know exacty how it behaves and the syntax. If you don't, you will almost certainly fail. Half of my questions had EL in 'm.
5. Don't freak out when you score low on the HFSJ mock exam. I scored like 50%, but got a lot of question half right (marked not all correct answers). Do worry if you start marking a lot of wrong alternatives.
6. Cram the night before, possibly the hours before the exam with a focus on method signatures, security, DD in other words everything you need to memorize. I got at least 5 questions that, hadn't I crammed, wouldnt have been able to answer with a great degree of certainty.

Good luck to everyone!
[ September 27, 2008: Message edited by: jan ter avest ]
For SCJP I found that Whizlabs was more difficult because they throw in more off-topic questions, which is not necessarily what you want.

For SCWCD, I went with Enthuware because it's good and I really like the look and feel, how they made it look like the real deal.
Hi guys, thanks for reaction on my post through PM, the project's going alright and is honestly speaking quite easy... so I think I'll just finish it all alone.

Thanks again and good luck to you all!
16 years ago
Yo, future Java Millionaire: please make sure you're having fun along the way!

Remember, if you do something you love you'll never work another day in your life...
16 years ago
Hi guys,

After working eight years with finance I got fed up and decided to do something way more fun and creative... software development. I've just got my scjp and my aim is to learn servlets and jsp's in three months.

I'm living in Brazil and if you don't have experience here you're basically that Schoeringer cat used as an example in the HFSJ book... you're neither dead or alive, you're studying your bottom off, but a job? Don't think so.

So, I called up some old contacts and it seems that a lot of people are in need of a problem solving application for daily use... some of them don't even seem that hard to develop! Only thing is, I have no idea of prices or anything. Someone from the forum, who seems really experienced, contacted me and offered his help (thanks J from Singapore!).

So this post is basically to say that if you go out there and ask around, there'll always be something you discover that can be done, you can put that on your CV, and you can start building a career, and maybe even make some transatlantic friendships along. I love this forum.

Good luck to everyone.
16 years ago
Thanks guys and I'm glad you thought my post was helpful!

Now, I'll hang around in the SCWCD forum. I tried to take a week of rest but couldn't resist and I'm already well on my way in the head first servlets jsp book!
16 years ago
Hi,

Just like you I just got the SCJP1.5 and I'm studying SCWCD... I'm on page 130 in the HFSJ book, excellent material.

My employer here, who offers language courses for executives, is in need of a class cancellation / reminder / rescheduling system, he'll also be paying for it. Would be nice to make this web based, so clients, teachers and administrative personnel can log on.

If you're interested, please leave me a message and we can talk about it. Btw, he will pay for it although it probably won't be anything significant... brazilian currency, you know.
16 years ago
I tried enthuware for SCJP and thought it was excellent. I'm getting the SCWCD version for sure....
Congratulations! Score doesn't matter...
16 years ago
I've heard about people preparing in like 4 weeks for the exam... if you have lots of spare time. So the incredibly helpful answer to this question is: it depends.
Congratulations!!

I got my scjp last week and I'm planning to do the SCWCD in a month. How do you feel about the exam, is it as tough as the SCJP one? Atleast I thought that was pretty hard.

Any other tips?
16 years ago
Hey Neo, where are you from?
Like you, I also just passed SCJP 1.5 (talk about relief!) and already got the SCWCD book to go straight to the next level.

In my opinion architecture is very broad and is about vision; an architect uses design patterns to avoid common pitfalls when designing software and builds with an eye on future developments. Atleast that's how I understand it.

Also, an architect doesn't necessarily have in depth technical knowledge of every element of an application, it's more of a general overview.