Switching into Java with no prior Java experience

[Shashank Arya]

Hi Friends ,

I am having 6 years of experience in different fields SQA like testing (manual and automation ) , business analyst ,system analyst(writing tech specs for sybase developers) . Few months back , I got in touch with one of my coleague who happens to be senior java devloper in my company and happened to develop interest in Java technology. I started reading Headfirst java for beginning and made my concepts, then i cleared SCJP and after that SCWCD( completed both Headrfirst SCJP,Servlets and JSP , Big thanks to kathy , Basham and Bates).But i did not code much because of office work pressure ,also am inlvolved in implementation phases of projects and can study java in my free time( which is very less ). Currently I have started hands on eclipse and thinking of switching my job in J2EE.I am following java interview questions/answers because i need to crack my interview in order to match my experience and salary expectattion , i feel its demotivation to start with salary as fresher after 5 yrs of expereince in I.T. field .I have asked for projects which i have started working on side by side on eclipse(basic) and other frameworks( Struts , ANT) etc ) which are popular in java market . Kindly help me in guiding what all i need to do in order to achieve my aim and crack as java developer. I know it will be strugle for me to come in java coding initially but i am willing to take this step as think am late but not too late for my dream as java programmer .But i need guidance from all experence one's on how to crack job and suggestions.

Thanks in advance !!

[Sai Surya]

shashank raj wrote:
i feel its demotivation to start with salary as fresher after 5 yrs of expereince in I.T. field.

I'm sure you will not get a salary of experience Java developer without Java experience. If you are ready for an entry level Java developer position you may get. However, you need to sacrifice salary in order to get into the Java stream.

[Vinod Tiwari]

I concur with Sai. If tomorrow I decide to join an Investment Bank as "Trader" and considering I have 10 year of experience, would you think it be prudent that I get salary equivalent to a trader having 10 yr experience?

However as you were already in IT field and were possibly coding too, I feel there should not be substantial difference but there can't be a parity in pay.

[Shashank Arya]

yes i am willing to sacrifice salary but yes i need to show some knowledge as per which companies can give me some level of salary as per my experience . Salary is not the constraint for me as i have seen other folks who have changed technology in I.T and have got decent salaries as HR consider prior IT experience . What I need is basic expectation from 2-3 years of experience java developer so that i can learn , code and it will not hurt me too much on the job . Its better to be prepared and i know you guys know the best .