Apologies for posting a
similar query elsewhere, but I think this might be the better forum to ask about this specific certification, so here goes.
I'm a 25-year veteran freelance application developer, mostly on Oracle but with a year or so of serverside
J2EE,
SCJP, plus various other languages/tools etc over the years. Unfortunately, my
Java experience is mostly years out of date, although I have been working on JEE projects recently, mostly on the DB side of the O/R interface.
I now have the possibility of some financial support to pay for a training course that will lead to some kind of "certificate" (the funding organisation's requirement), and I'm thinking of trying to start working my way back into Java-land by doing a course with Spring that I could not otherwise afford and that would lead to the
Certified Spring Professional certificate.
The idea is that I can't simply invent recent/relevant Java experience (although I sometimes wonder
why not....), but at least I would be able to demonstrate a certain level of familiarity with current Spring technologies. Also, because the certificate requires you to take one of Spring's expensive courses (they're not stupid, just greedy), I'm guessing fewer people will have done this.
But I've been around long enough to know that vendor certifications are not necessarily the passport to instant success (my SCJP certainly wasn't), so I'd like to know if anybody out there has any experience of this certification program?
Has anybody done it? If so, did you find it useful in terms of building your own skills and/or for finding work? If you are recruiting, would this piece of paper make the slightest difference when considering an applicant?
Thanks for any insights you can offer!
