Simulator program

[vasu maj]

Seema and Vijay,
Can you please give us a brief introduction about the software and how it helps asiprants of 484 exam?
Thanks,
Vasu

[Seema Manivannan]

Our J2EE(484) exam simulator consists of 168 questions with detailed explanations, spread across 3 Mock Exams. In addition to the exam questions, we also have Revision notes and a Tip N Tricks section.
You can view and save the performance reports after taking the mock exams.
Please check out http://www.whizlabs.com/j2ee/j2ee-details.html
for more details.
Thanks
[ May 04, 2004: Message edited by: Seema Manivannan ]

[sunitha reghu]

How this certification going to help me in my career?
It seems that in order to pass that i need to know lot of stuff?

[Nicholas Cheung]

It seems that in order to pass that i need to know lot of stuff?

YES. You really need to know lots of things, nearly all aspects on core J2EE 1.3
You can get the test objectives here:
http://www-1.ibm.com/certify/tests/obj484.shtml
and you can get the education resources here:
http://www-1.ibm.com/certify/tests/edu484.shtml
You can see that IBM recommended 5 books and 4 online tutorials to prepare this exam, and thus, its coverage is really large.

How this certification going to help me in my career?

First, this is NOT a certificate! Even you pass the exam, you will NOT receive any certificate. In this aspect, it may not be so useful for career.
This test, together with SCJP, IBM 287 and IBM 484, results in the certificate IBM Certified Enterprise Developer - WebSphere Studio, V5.0. Details can be found from here:
http://www-1.ibm.com/certify/certs/adedwssv5.shtml
Thus, by passing only 1 or 2 exams wont get certified.
You need to pass all 4 of them.
Nick

[vasu maj]

As this exam covers the core of most J2EE aspects the preparation for it is a motivation in itself. I think in the real job market there is not a lot of importance for routine certifications but exams like these are valued by those who know about them. Sun's SCEA / IBM 484 are definitely resume boosters.
Thanks,
Vasu

[sunitha reghu]

My question why to spend so much of time on this?
personal choice rt?
IBM site is mentioning lot of tutorials and reference books.
when comparing to that reference materials and test what this stimulator has more ?

[Hari Vignesh Padmanaban]

Originally posted by sunitha raghu:
My question why to spend so much of time on this?
personal choice rt?
IBM site is mentioning lot of tutorials and reference books.
when comparing to that reference materials and test what this stimulator has more ?

Even though there are a lot of tutorials and references, the BIG advantage of using a simulator is that it makes it more streamlined !!!
Its possible for you to know what exactly to expect and prepare on that basis !!! The topics coverd in the IBM 484 exam is HUGE !!!
So doing it in the most streamlined way possible would save you hell a lot of time !!!
On teh otehr hand, if you have a lot of time, then going through all the references and tutorials would enhance your knowledge, and you woudl not possibly need teh simulator !!! :roll:
The only thing to be worry about is the cost !!!
The simulator price is really very high !!!
Thats ny view

[sunitha reghu]

If you think they have covered all materials ( instead of going thr all books and ref tutorials) then price is ok. But no of questions which is 168 is very less for the price. But I would like to hear from the authors about the topics they covered and how confident they are.

[vasu maj]

I don't know the price of the software but 168 questions is really low when you consider the "range" of the exam.
Vasu

[Max Tomlinson]

How does this product compare to other test simulators? I've taken three Sun certifications and seems to me the Sun sample tests are kind of light for the money. I used the whizlab test for WCD a couple of years back and there were about 6 exams, which I thought was good, but a few of the questions were not 100% accurate.
thanks
Max Tomlinson

[Seema Manivannan]

Our product covers all the objectives tested by the exam.
To know more about the objective-wise question distribution, you can check out http://www.whizlabs.com/j2ee/j2ee-details.html
You can get the details about the software here.
http://www.whizlabs.com/product-offerings.html
Please download the trial version of the product and send us your valuable feedback.
Thanks,

[Prakash Krishnamurthy]

Seema,
I wanted to know how do you guys prepare your questions and how do you know that its close to the actual exam?
PK

[bas duijzings]

As this exam covers the core of most J2EE aspects the preparation for it is a motivation in itself. I think in the real job market there is not a lot of importance for routine certifications but exams like these are valued by those who know about them. Sun's SCEA / IBM 484 are definitely resume boosters.

Sorry to say, but in the jobmarket nowadays I interview a lot of people who have a 2-3 years solid j2ee experience under their belt (so they say). But most of the experience is just theoretical. e.g. the use of entity and session beans, when to use them and when definitively not. Mostly those people I interview forget that experience with open source tools like ANT and JUNIT and good database knowledge is better than just having the certification.
Routine certifications are just a way to make sure that people know the basics. I am definitively not saying it is not usefull to study for IBM484, I am just mentioning that experience in the topic is worth more. E.g. When questioned during an interview i expect people to explain how struts works, i dont expect them to know each class. I expect them to know how to create a solution or where to find good solutions.
Sorry, the only thing I wanted to say is that I havent seen any resumes with IBM484 on it, while I have seen the SCEA.

[Nicholas Cheung]

Sorry, the only thing I wanted to say is that I havent seen any resumes with IBM484 on it, while I have seen the SCEA.

Sure! Becos IBM 484 is NOT a certificate.
Have you seen any people wrote down IBM Certified Enterprise Developer with WebSphere Stuido V5.0 (ICED)?
Only for those who pass IBM 287, 484 and 486, together with SCJP will get this certificate. If you are in the middle, usually you wont mention it.
Nick

[vasu maj]

I agree with you Bass. SCEA for sure gets some attention while IBM 484 may not. I also agree with you on real experience being more important than certifications. There is absolutely no question about it.
BUT,
you see hundreds of resumes and all of them claim almost same amount of experience ( 2 -3 yrs of J2EE). How do you know who is for real? You can't interview all of them, so I think certifications atleast say that they atleast know the basics and are willing to learn and play the part of differentiators.

My two cents.

Vasu
[ May 07, 2004: Message edited by: vasu maj ]

[bas duijzings]

hi all,
I know ibm484 is not a certificate, lets get it out of context (just to create an answer - lets help each other ;-)
Further i am getting suspiscious when people are getting too many certifications, or have too many in progress.
But like vasu said, you cant interview them all. I agree, but then most of the times you get a gut feeling. Look at the type of projects, build up on the cv, and lastly take a look at their career path and their certifications.
So yes I do take a look at the certifications.

[Hari Vignesh Padmanaban]

Originally posted by vasu maj:
you see hundreds of resumes and all of them claim almost same amount of experience ( 2 -3 yrs of J2EE). How do you know who is for real?
[ May 07, 2004: Message edited by: vasu maj ]

So ture !! thats what initiated me to take teh certifications !!! Even though these technologies are new to me (J2ee) and I dont have any experience, I am atleast happy that i am not faking experience and that I am learning so much , and meeting a lot of wonderful people around the ranch
So many fake resumes
And also so many consultants who contacted me , and wanted me to fake experience
I think people who fake experience should be sent to prison ..
okay thats little bit 2 much ..
atleast some legal action should be taken against them !!!
[ May 07, 2004: Message edited by: Hari Vignesh Padmanaban ]

[sunitha reghu]

Hari,
In usa HR can easily find salary they earned from the last company.
So I dont think anyone will give fake resumes.

Originally posted by Hari Vignesh Padmanaban:

So ture !! thats what initiated me to take teh certifications !!! Even though these technologies are new to me (J2ee) and I dont have any experience, I am atleast happy that i am not faking experience and that I am learning so much , and meeting a lot of wonderful people around the ranch
So many fake resumes
And also so many consultants who contacted me , and wanted me to fake experience
I think people who fake experience should be sent to prison ..
okay thats little bit 2 much ..
atleast some legal action should be taken against them !!!
[ May 07, 2004: Message edited by: Hari Vignesh Padmanaban ]

[Amer Khan]

Hari,
In usa HR can easily find salary they earned from the last company.
So I dont think anyone will give fake resumes.

[Kishore Dandu]

Sometimes people with certifications are the one's who are actually faking the experience.
Employer thinks that the candidate has the certification(after all that experience), but the truth is that the certification is through some hard labor using different books and study material(for basic and interemediate tests).

[vasu maj]

Originally posted by sunitha raghu:
Hari,
In usa HR can easily find salary they earned from the last company.
So I dont think anyone will give fake resumes.

Yeah, right.

[Hari Vignesh Padmanaban]

Originally posted by sunitha raghu:
Hari,
In usa HR can easily find salary they earned from the last company.
So I dont think anyone will give fake resumes.

FYI, I know atleast 10 people, who have faked 2-3 years experience , got jobs, , And are worlking happily now !!
All through consultants !!
I have benn contaced by 15 consultants (all indian consultants ) so far, who have mailed me about opprtunites (standard mail: excellent training, immediate placement, H1-B and Greencard)
When i mail them back saying " If it is possible for me to get the job, without making any changes in my resume" ...NOT EVEN ONE REPLIED BACK !!!
mabe it is possible for the HR people to find out , BUT NO ONE REALLY TRIES SO HARD ..if they had, the above people would not have got jobs !!!
As fars as i know, 9/10 people (atleast fresh graduates) are giving fake resumes , just because they are desperate to get a job !!!
I personally think, they are screwing themselves up for short time happiness and are not thinking long term..they just ned a 9-5 job, salary and H1-B ..and they are ready to fake whatso ever it might be to achieve this .. REALLY DISAPPOINTING
[ May 08, 2004: Message edited by: Hari Vignesh Padmanaban ]