My view is that certifications are more handy for beginners and become less significant for experienced professionals. The reason being
Commitment: You must display genuine intent in the choice of your career in Java/JEE and the company. Some companies spend a lot of money and time on training graduates. So you need to show the company that you won�t move on too soon and also that
you have made the right career choice. Examples:
Contribution to open-source projects, self-taught Java/JEE projects, Java certification (just one will do and no need to pile one after another), demonstrating on those part-time jobs and extra-curricular activities that you pursued for an extended period of time (both paid and unpaid), and intelligently being aware of the current trends in Java/JEE (e.g. Sought after technologies and frameworks, new paradigms and concepts, development methodologies, etc).
I can understand that
SCEA requires good hands on experience but not too sure about SCJP.
You need to highlight your academic accomplishments and the little experience you have. There could be many other candidates with similar qualifications and Java certifications like you. So you need to have something extra to stand out from the rest. This is where contribution to open-source project, self-taught projects using sought after technologies, and transferable skills (i.e. soft skills) gained through your part-time or casual employment and volunteer work come in handy. The main purpose is to emphasize your non-technical skills like interpersonal skills, analytical skills, problem solving skills, leadership skills, adaptability, and ability to learn things quickly and be a self-starter. It is not enough to say that you gained important work place skills such as �team work� or �problem solving� skill while collaborating on a university assignment with other students. Working with a team in the work place provides experience dealing with people of different backgrounds and ages. So,
you should point out these skills acquired via other activities like part-time or casual employment, public speaking, tutoring, raising funds for charities, contributing to news letters, laying out copy for a year book, scouting, etc.
These are generic comments only and things may change based on demographics.
Once you are an experienced professional, academic achievements become less significant and there are a lot of other things you can do and show to highlight your superiority.
[ August 21, 2008: Message edited by: arulk pillai ]
