Hi All - I just got an email from Oracle that I have
"passed the Oracle Certified Master, Java EE 5 Enterprise Architect certification."
. Also see "Certified" on the "integral7" website.
I want to offer my sincere thanks to the members of this forum for the really helpful discussions I've had the opportunity to be part of and absorb. This has gone a long way in helping me out with Parts 1/2/3.
Some of my experiences listed here - if it will be of any help
Part I
I worked my way up and down through the
SCEA book by "Paul Allen and Joseph Bambara" - several times. I kept thinking I'm not ready and finally went and wrote the exam when I realized there is just one more month left for the voucher to expire
Also went through various forums, made notes and spent 4-5 hours the night before the exam reading everything. Also used Head First Design
Patterns extensively
Part II & III
This forum and associated discussions - but the buck stops at Humphrey Sheil's Book, Chapter 9. Many of the design discussions here on Part II go into a level of detail I did not cover in my assignment, but I religiously followed Sheil's advice and example. Looks like that worked
Also identified and explained pattern(s) used in the design.
Part III - I was very verbose and most answers were based on real life situations I have encountered and I used those and applied to the problem.
An interesting episode. After nearly 1 hour of typing out answers to nearly 5 questions, there was a software glitch and I lost ALL my answers. After a futile and frustrating one hour of being unable to retrieve anything back, I had to restart the exam again !!!
Looks like it didn't end up being as bad as I thought
Ultimately enjoyed using the forum and the input I gained from it - Thank you, again all !!! And best wishes to all those planning to take the certification.
Rgds
Ravi