SCWCD and C#

[Sam Tilley]

Hi, i passed SCJP earlier in this year and am working on projects in Servlets and JDBC at work to get some good experience and i was wondering where would be a good direction to head now.
As i am already doing servlets i thought that it might be able to have a go at the SCWCD, does anyone know how the market is in this area (particularly in the UK) i looked in some job sites but most ask for about 20 technologies or 8 years experience or are jobs i saw posted a few weeks ago.
Also i read somewhere that anyone with good java knowledge would be able to pick up C# (blasphemy going the Microsoft way i know) fairly quickly and so was wondering is there much of a market out there yet for this language, or both together.
Cheers

[Peter Crowther]

My very recent experience of trying to find a job in London wasn’t great even though I have a computer science degree, SCWCD and over two years’ experience in Java and related technologies. The response from recruitment con-sultants ranged from no chance and your certifications are worthless when aiming to enter the city banking arena, to, might be able to get an interview, but the pay is not what’s advertised as they can get others for less money.
Not that any of this has put me off, but it’s a fact that there are too many people chasing too few jobs at present – especially in relation to Java jobs. The recurring advice I’ve been given is if you’ve got a job stick with it for the next year or so and carry on working on your skill set.
Personally, I would go for the SCWCD just to reinforce the fact that you’ve worked with the technology. I was going to try for the IBM XML 141 exam next, however, I might look to use/get certified in a technology that’s less common/fashionable. It would appear that this could be the key that sets your cv apart from the rest.
Good luck Sam and stick with it.

[John Fontana]

I personally think it will be time better spent studying C# and .NET.
You know all of those ads that call for 6 years Java experience? That would mean you had to be working with it from the beginning, right?
Besides, I busted my bananas studying Java, and eventually the job I got is doing C#. Yes, it paid to study Java, but it was my combination of Java experience and willingness to work with any platform that got me in...