Should I / Can I take SCMAD?

[HaoZhe Xu]

Hello everyone, I got SCJP SCJD and SCWCD 4 years ago, then I studied bachelor degree(CS) at university, during my bachelor degree, I studied J2ME by myself, I did not follow it's tutorial book as I only want to learn J2ME so I can write J2ME programs, as practices, I've done a bit work, MTextReader and BlueBuddy, you can check it on my website Olnex.net. Now I have half a year to go for a diploma degree(after bachelor), I just wonder should I take the SCMAD exam because I can write it on my resume to find a job after graduate, if I should, what kind of books/materials should I study(as I studied J2ME instead of SCMAD although they have some common areas). If I take the exam now, I don't think I can get a good mark, but I don't want to spend much time studying for it.
What do you recommand?
Thanks a lot!!!

[Sathya Srinivasan]

SCMAD targets MIDP, CLDC, MMAPI, and WMA specifications within J2ME. So, if you have written programs in J2ME, you probably have covered at least 50% of the specs already. I don't know the "resume" value of SCMAD, but if you want to test your skills in J2ME and complete your knowledge there, SCMAD is a good idea.

It normally takes 1-3 months to prepare for the exam. Since you are already familiar with the API, it may take less time for you. To my knowledge, there is only one book out there that covers SCMAD exam in particular (one that I co-authored with a few others). I am not sure if the book is available outside India though. There are also a number of resources on the net that you may find useful for the exam. Of course, JavaRanch is a good place to get help as well!