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Effort to do OCMJD

 
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Just wondering how much actual time in hours (not elapsed time!) you guys put into your project?

I seem to remember the Sun site mentioning something along the line of 300hours.

But reading the Oracle site it mentions a working week for a typical developer!!! That's 40 hours? Seems a bit on the low side?


Scale of the assignment

Obviously, the amount of time taken by a candidate to create a working solution to the assignment varies greatly. Brooks, in "The Mythical Man Month," noted years ago that programmer productivity varies by at least ten-to-one. However, a fast programmer might create a solution in about twenty hours. A more typical expectation of a time requirement might be in the order of a working week. If you spend a lot more than two weeks on the project, you might well be creating something that is more detailed than is really required, and you might want to review the scoring criteria and problem statement provided in the assignment.

Perhaps a more consistent measure of the scale of the assignment might be derived from the average number of lines of code submitted in typical passing assignments. Again, this is subject to substantial variation, but as a guide, 3500 lines of code is a reasonable estimate of the mean size of passing assignments.

 
Sean Keane
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Ah, the good old FAQ's , https://coderanch.com/how-to/java/ScjdFaq#timeRequired

realistic to look at a minimum of 6 - 8 weeks of work at 40 hours per week.



So we are talking between 240 and 320 hours - is this peoples real experiences?

That's a minimum of 6 months based on 2 hours effort, 5 days a week. Seems high!
 
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Seems high, but accurate. I started January 2009 and submitted May 2009. I could only work in the evenings and weekends, because I had to combine with a full-time job. So I didn't have time each evening, but in the weekends I was able to spend a bit extra time. I'll guess I come close to 300 hours (if not more), but it depends on which level you want to get your application (assignment). I tried to be as perfect as possible, so that requires a lot more time than just going for a pass.
 
Sean Keane
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Cheers Roel. Back in the days where you got the percentage associated with your certification, I guess it was a greater driver for making it as perfect as possible. But now that we just get a pass/fail result there is less of a driver to get it perfect, and more of a driver for "just get it working".

On the other hand it. It depends too on your motivation behind doing the cert I guess. Whether just to get the cert or to learn. My motivation is to learn as much as possible, so I'd be leaning towards making my solution as good as possible.

But I guess it certainly something worth considering. If you just want to "get it working" in order to pass then possibly you would be looking at a lot less than 240 hours - worth keeping in mind.
 
Roel De Nijs
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I didn't need the percentage drive, because I got such a drive from Mother Nature
 
Sean Keane
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Yep, I understand where you are coming from Roel. I'd be the same. But people have to be pragmatic too. Not everyone will have the time to commit to producing a perfectly polished solution. Some people may just want the cert and not be bothered about how good their solution is or whether they learned much. Some people may want to get the cert before they have to pay another $2,250 . Various reasons.

I guess what I was highlighting was that Oracle themselves seem to gauge the level of effort required to be considerably less than the FAQ on this site suggests. I can't remember if Sun themselves gave an indication of the level of effort required - I thought they did, and I thought it was similar to what this site suggests, but I can't remember.

If you spend a lot more than two weeks on the project, you might well be creating something that is more detailed than is really required, and you might want to review the scoring criteria and problem statement provided in the assignment.



So this is worth keeping in mind when considering doing this cert. A lot of people may be put off by the hearing 240 to 320 hours are required to pass this cert.
 
With a little knowledge, a cast iron skillet is non-stick and lasts a lifetime.
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