new j2ee developer now, what to do next?

[Jesus Angeles]

I am a new j2ee developer.

After so many certifications, I finally got a j2ee job.

However, while having this job, what else should I do? Should I self-study other related technologies that are not used at my workplace? I am not familiar with the changes that go on this career.

(My previous career is mainframe/cobol development. What I learned 10 years ago on a 3 months training is the same cobol/db2/cics that I used up to my latest mainframe job. It is a very different static kind of technology career.)

I am concerned about being complacent and becoming obsolete.

[Ayub ali khan]

Hi Jesus,

Java field is very dynamic !!! lots of frame works, standards whoa thats handfull !!!

If I was you, I would first try to be comfortable with the current technologies I work on a day to day basis..like may be core java,Object Oriented Analysis and Design.

Once I have a hang of it or feel confident, start sprending your reach to other frame works, just knowing and doing little stuff will do.

Have a list of your favourite blogs on tech, articles, good forums like this will definitely add value in the long run.

Wish you all success !!!

---Ayub

[liqiang yang]

"After so many certifications, I finally got a j2ee job."

What certs did you get? and how many I should get?

[Jesus Angeles]

Originally posted by liqiang yang:
"After so many certifications, I finally got a j2ee job."

What certs did you get? and how many I should get?

Why should you get them? For what purpose?

[Jesus Angeles]

Originally posted by Ayub ali khan:
Hi Jesus,

Java field is very dynamic !!! lots of frame works, standards whoa thats handfull !!!

If I was you, I would first try to be comfortable with the current technologies I work on a day to day basis..like may be core java,Object Oriented Analysis and Design.

Once I have a hang of it or feel confident, start sprending your reach to other frame works, just knowing and doing little stuff will do.

Have a list of your favourite blogs on tech, articles, good forums like this will definitely add value in the long run.

Wish you all success !!!

---Ayub

Thank you very much.

I saw this comic strip one time. It shows a guy dressed up like a beggar, on a queue of homeless people being given free meal.

He said "I was a software developer. I took a 2-week leave away from work, and now I am obsolete.".

[Gabriel Claramunt]

Originally posted by Jesus Angeles:


Thank you very much.

I saw this comic strip one time. It shows a guy dressed up like a beggar, on a queue of homeless people being given free meal.

He said "I was a software developer. I took a 2-week leave away from work, and now I am obsolete.".

Ha! That was an obvious fake software developer... a *REAL* software developer will spend most of his 2 week leave exploring new technologies!!

[Jesus Angeles]

Originally posted by Gabriel Claramunt:


Ha! That was an obvious fake software developer... a *REAL* software developer will spend most of his 2 week leave exploring new technologies!!

Well, at least he tried to be groovy during his break. He bought rubies because he thought they are a good investment. He found walking by the train rails very relaxing. During his trip, he was charged with DWR (driving without reading); his friend Jason got him out on bail. Also, he has changed cleaning detergent brand to ajax.

[liqiang yang]

Of course the first purpose is to get a Java job when I get enough certifications and make money for living, then I can put more attention for learning new technologies and get working experience, while don't have to worry about paying bills. I strongly feel the preparation of certification exam is the best way to force one to learn and practice more. That's why I don't care about the exam marks too much but really care about how much stuff I really understand and how to apply it in the development. I am pretty sure this is my long term and final purpose. Thanks.

[Jesus Angeles]

Originally posted by liqiang yang:
Of course the first purpose is to get a Java job when I get enough certifications and make money for living, then I can put more attention for learning new technologies and get working experience, while don't have to worry about paying bills. I strongly feel the preparation of certification exam is the best way to force one to learn and practice more. That's why I don't care about the exam marks too much but really care about how much stuff I really understand and how to apply it in the development. I am pretty sure this is my long term and final purpose. Thanks.

There are many exams with different focus. In my case, I took them all. It is so that, whatever opportunity comes, whether it is ejb, jsp or anything else, I can sell myself. When I got assigned to a jsp/servlet application, I had scjp, scwcd, scbcd and scdjws. I suggest that you take all certs that are along the types of technologies that you 'love' to work with.
[ May 23, 2008: Message edited by: Jesus Angeles ]

[liqiang yang]

Hi Jesus,
Thank you so much.

According to your experience of looking for a java job, do you think you have only one type of technology skills(such as Java) is enough to get a job. A lot of jobs need Oracle, WebLogic, WebSphere or other technologies. I just check the job market(North America) on the web, most job posting need a long list of "must have skills with X years" and followed by another long list of "nice have skills with Y years". I think if I can match 50% of those items, I definitely become an IT superman. I don't know if this is a real situation of job market or not. Now I live in Canada. I am not sure where you live, maybe your area the java job market is strong enough. Again I am wondering that I should hold how many certifications can cover those long list job requirements in current Java job market. Any comments? Thanks.

[Jesus Angeles]

Originally posted by liqiang yang:
Hi Jesus,
Thank you so much.

According to your experience of looking for a java job, do you think you have only one type of technology skills(such as Java) is enough to get a job. A lot of jobs need Oracle, WebLogic, WebSphere or other technologies. I just check the job market(North America) on the web, most job posting need a long list of "must have skills with X years" and followed by another long list of "nice have skills with Y years". I think if I can match 50% of those items, I definitely become an IT superman. I don't know if this is a real situation of job market or not. Now I live in Canada. I am not sure where you live, maybe your area the java job market is strong enough. Again I am wondering that I should hold how many certifications can cover those long list job requirements in current Java job market. Any comments? Thanks.

In 1 job, even a small project, you will already use a lot of technologies. You probably know, that to run a j2ee application, you need a j2ee server. That is one. Well, most likely your application has a database, so you need a database, and possibly a database layer like hibernate or other orms. That makes it 3. During development, you will need an ide, and possibly a unit testing framework like junit. So that is 5. In short, it can go on and on. In 1 project you will experience a lot of technologies.

So if you spend 1 year in a j2ee job, you may have yourself a long list too.

Sun's certifications are focused on java and its apis, and not on the implementations of those apis. E.g. scwcd will test you on servlets, but would not test you on how servlets are implemented in websphere or weblogic. But if you know the servlets api, you can easily work with servlets on either websphere or weblogic, because they are compliant to those apis.

[arulk pillai]

"After so many certifications, I finally got a j2ee job."

Self-study is always recommended and you can look at learning some of the sought after technologies like Spring, Hibernate, JSF, Ajax and integration technologies like Web services, JMS, etc.

You can fast track your career via pro-active learning and gaining practical experience. I did this a lot in the early stages.