Certification Exam experience

[S Saleem]

Hi there,

When i was preparing for my certification exams i went through a number of new experiences. Based upon those experiences i wrote an article. I hope some of you might find it helpful. I would certainly appreciate comments.Thanks


A Good Rested Mind And A Lot Of Confidence Is All You Need For Your Certification Exams.

Most of us who would like to get an IT certification hate certification exams. There is so much to do and so much to memorize in a short period of time that it looks like an impossible task.

They start looking for the solutions and pay their hard earned money for the list of Questions and answers. There are a numerous number of tuition providers and some of them give strange guarantees. Like "guaranteed pass in 7 days or 14 days" or "full refund if you don�t pass". The question then comes into mind is how can they give such guarantees.

This is simple, they give guarantees because some of them compile a long list of possible questions and answers, which they consider, would come up in exams. Amazingly this works most of the time, for majority of students. However for some strange reasons it does not work out for certain number of students. These students when find difficult questions in the list start to panic, they feel that they don�t know the subject well and are not ready for the exams. In some cases they even start to forget what they already know about the subject.

While some providers give only a list of possible questions and answers, the expensive ones provide full explanation for you to understand. It depends upon your pocket as well as your time limit. Most students get serious about them just couple of weeks before the certification exam date. You might see them carrying around a thick certification book for couple of months but eventually they start looking for the tuition providers couple of weeks before the exam date.

Some ambitious students even wait until the last couple of days before loosing confidence and then they start to look for the tuition providers. Certification exams are a cut above the traditional ones. With the traditional degree, you read, understand, learn and write and it typically takes 2 years or more to complete, no experience necessary or required.

Certification is different, people who go for it are either working in their chosen field or have acquired experience previously working in the field. Certification is just an enhancement to prove that they know the subject inside out. The best part is something to put after your name such as MCSD, CCNP, and CLP etc.

They have been working in their chosen field, so it is possible for them to study couple of weeks and get the certification. They know the subject inside out anyway, certification is just the technical part and therefore they need couple of weeks before they go for exams. Some employers require candidates with certifications but most of them still look for experienced ones instead of certified ones.

So if you are considering taking certification exams try to choose the tuition provider who gives you the most current and updated material. There is a cutthroat competition in this market and the prices are going down day by day. Therefore, some tuition providers are not updating their material as often as they should and might give you the old stuff. They might look cheap but to tell you the truth the stuff is not even worth paying for.

If you are serious about certification then don�t make a mistake of leaving the search for the tuition provider to the last minute. Doesn�t matter how much knowledge you have about the subject, you would make your life a lot easier if you get in touch with the tuition provider as early as possible. After all a good rested mind and a lot of confidence is required to pass your certification exams. Plus of course the questions and answers list. You can find a number of tuition providers on Certifyglobal

[Edwin Dalorzo]

Nice article, Saleem. I share a couple of thoughts, not everything, but a couple.

I believe not everyone does the certification exams for the same reason. I have been a software engineer for the past 7 years, a couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to learn Java. I had never being so lost in the world, I did not even had a clue about where to start, this thing is so big. In those times my brother, who is also a software engineer was studying for his Microsoft .Net Certifications and he seemed to be increasing his knowledge and his technical skills at a very high speed. Hence I decided to do the same with Java. But in my company I was not developing with Java, I was developing with C/C++, so you can imagine it was not going to be easy to find the time to work on it.

It took me about a year to get ready for the Certification Exam, my real objective, far from passing the exam, was becoming a very good Java programmer. I read the certification book like three times during the year, and about two or three other books that covered other topics, like threading, JNI, the whole Java Language Speficication and part of the Java Virual Machine Specification, every time practicing every subject, answering every question, and I went even deeper than the necesary in a few topics. For good or for bad, everything was different for me, because this was my first time with Java, so as everything was new, everything was exciting, but at the same time, very time consuming and difficult to assimilate.

At the end I bought my [url=http://http"//www.whizlabs.com]Whizlabs[/url] silutation exam just as anyother does and even today I still keep, very proudly, my Safari bookshelves.

Obtain this certification might be a small thing for many experienced developers, but in my case I felt very proud of myself after passing the SCJP, I wass very satisfied with the results and I do not believe that an experienced programmer could pass this or any other Sun exams without a few weeks of very, very hard work. Still, there are a few guys satisfied with passing the exams with the minum grade, sometimes not even having good command of all the subjects. Well I do not understand that kind of people, they just want the cartoon that says "Sun Certified Professional" and they feel prouder of this piece of paper than the real, practical knowledge they might have got from a little bit more of hard work. The real beauty of the certification comes from that feeling of really knowing your business and being able to prove it to anyone who needs a proof, like one of those very generous employeers.

I do not regret I did the exam, not even after Sun released Tiger a week or two before I did it, and surprisingly a few months after my certification I easily got a new job working with Java thanks to it. So I think it was worth every penny I paid for it, and these certification gave direction to my formerly disoriented efforts to learn Java. I want to continue with the other certifications. But as I did the last time, I take my time to do the things the right way, to really learn, and I do not worry so much about passing the exam, although I never register for it until I am pretty sure I will pass.

Once again, nice article. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Regards,
Edwin Dalorzo.

[ January 15, 2006: Message edited by: Edwin Dalorzo ]
[ January 15, 2006: Message edited by: Edwin Dalorzo ]