Originally posted by Salvador Cecilio:
How difficult are the IBM certifications compared to Sun's?
They're different, by and large, so it's really comparing vaguely different ideas. Sun's are product-agnostic by design - you're learning the ideas behind the basic structure and APIs for the version that you're studying up on, while IBM's are concentrating on the idiosyncracies of their technologies.
That said, my personal opinion is that I've found IBM's easier if only because there seems to be less to study, less to know to do well on them. But then again, I've also stressed myself out, by and large, less on the IBM exams so there may be a mental angle too.