to authors...why to take weblogic 7.0 certification

[sunitha reghu]

Since weblogic 8.0 is out why to take certification in 7.o instead of 8.0
I know there is not much difference but still..........

[Sivasundaram Umapathy]

Weblogic 8 certification is oriented more towards the use WL workshop to build J2EE applications where as Weblogic 7 focusses more on J2EE and less on weblogic dependent things.So if you are working for a organisation where workshop knowledge is not required, it is better to take the Weblogic
7 certification.

[sunitha reghu]

But most of companies go with the latest version. As a matter of fact if a company has 8.0 even if workshop knowledge is not required the person with 8.0( 8 certification not out) will get more credit than person with 7 certification.

[Sivasundaram Umapathy]

Although the app server vendors(or for that matter any vendor) create new versions of their server product, it takes some time for the organisation to move from an older version to the new one. So there are still a lot of companies running WL5.1 or above.
BEA 8.1 Study Guide says

This examination concentrates mainly on Workshop-based development. Although some fundamental J2EE concepts and APIs are tested in this examination, it would be more accurate to view all questions as deriving from the use of Workshop to develop applications specifically for the WebLogic platform.

If an organisation really understands the scope of the new exam, then they would surely prefer WL7 exam than WL8.

[sunitha reghu]

why not to workshop?
WebLogic Workshop is both a development tool and a runtime framework that abstracts underlying J2EE constructs from the Java application developer. It presents a visual development environment for application development, and generates the underlying J2EE infrastructure for running these applications on WebLogic Server.
Workshop also provides new designers for building Web applications within the Workshop IDE. JSP pages can be developed using the same development environment familiar to Web services developers. A different visual metaphor is used, but the structure of the overall Workshop environment (two-way source/visual editing, use of annotated Java code, integrated testing and debugging, access to external resources through controls, etc.) is the same. Workshop leverages Struts technology to enable the creation of Pageflows that combine multiple JSPs, and that specify the flow of applications and data across them.
So I think knowing abt workshop and 8.1 features is an advanatge.
There is no support for weblogic 5 version even 6 is going to retire.
with 6.1 if its supports only j2ee 1.2 functionality then i wont be able to use filters.
Only thing that confuse me why they skip 8.0 and went to 8.1?

[Nicholas Cheung]

But most of companies go with the latest version

This may not always be true. For example, J2EE 1.4 is already released for sometime, but there may not be so much companies that adopt it. That is also the reason why SCBCD is focus on 1.3 but not 1.4.
However, if the version did give a great improvement, companies will try to go with them faster, like JSP 2.0 becos the conveniency of EL, and JSTL. But EJB 2.0 and EJB 2.1 do not make much difference.
Even some people mentioned before they are still *fighting* with EJB 1.x BMP.
Nick

[Jeff Walker]

Originally posted by sunitha raghu:
Only thing that confuse me why they skip 8.0 and went to 8.1?

I'm afraid you need to be less rational, and think more like a marketing person.
My last company did the same thing with their product. The large number increments (e.g. 7.0 to 8.0) represent large functionality and usually large design changes as well. This often results in large inconsistencies with previous applications that used the older version. The smaller increment releases represent obviously only smaller functionality changes and often are little more than bug fixes.
Now, when a product jumps from 7.0 to 8.0, then it's like telling the customers "We changed a WHOLE bunch of stuff in here, and well, you know, your previous code may have to be rebuilt with our newer jars. It'll probably take you WEEKS just to get back to where you are right now!". So, to calm customers down, marketing managers ask for another small increment; to give the customers the impression that the big leap forward is not only complete, but many of the bugs have been ironed out and so its very safe and reliable to use 8.1 now, and it won't cause you as much effort to switch to it.

[sunitha reghu]

im just saying abt their version numbering. from 7.0 to 8.1. That is why they increased their license fee.

[Billy Tsai]

I recently had BEA educational training on Weblogic8.1 system administration and plan to take the BEA 8.1 certified system administrator
are there any practise questions and mock exams available for 8.1 exams anywhere?

[Dilip Karki]

There are differences in the structure and objectives of the 7.0 and 8.1 tests. WebLogic 8.1 as a product may be better than 7.0. However for those who are taking certification exams, here are a few things to note:
1) Many organizations may still have 7.0 and may not care whether you have an 8.1 certification.
2) 7.0 test covers a little bit of everything and as such is a well rounded test (in my opinion). In 8.1 a lot of emphasis is on WebLogic Workshop, which is not necesarily bad, but it represents a learning curve for those not familiar with specifics of these products and are more of J2EE developers. For those people, 7.0 would be much easier to tackle. The 7.0 test is not due to be retired until 2005 as far as i understand.
So there are trade offs between taking 7.0 or 8.1 certification. I would still recommend 7.0 for those that want to get a quick certification, since there are resources available.
For those willing to wait, I am sure there will be additional resources for 8.1 ( for example the whizlabs simulator perhaps due in a few months).