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So which Oracle/Java "expert" level certification is easiest and hardest?

 
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So which Oracle/Java "expert" level certification is easiest and hardest?
There is for Web-services, JPA and web component, all seem to he the same level right?


Greetings, by the way.
 
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I'm not sure why this post is in MD anyways...

Easy and hard are relative terms

I'm a problem loving person (and I'm not huge fan of theoretical exams).

For me - WCD was the most boring certification exam I've ever given. The reasons being:
1) J2EE v5 was relying heavily on deployment descriptor and hence we need to remember lot of tags and related stuff (I'm really not sure if it is required for a servlet component developer). I hope things are better in v6 (JEE 6). I cleared EJB developer exam few months back and it was much better (more emphasis on annotations and almost no need to remember those DD tags).
2) I had to read Head First book. Now, before it goes controversial, let me clear my point that Head First books are really well written and pretty helpful to learn. I myself have recommended few HF books in the past. Its just that the format (big fonts, funny cartoon picture) do not suit my learning style (I prefer to read specification, or books like Core Java by Horstmann & Cornell). Personally, there is very little chance that I'll go for a Head First book (I've read few of them for fun though ), but if someone asks me a good beginner book, HF book will be on top of my recommended list.

And the easiest exam was (though not listed in OP's post) OCM in Java Development. The reasons being:
1) I spend considerable amount of time (approx. 80 hours a week) in playing around with code - so writing new code was sort of walk in the park for me.
2) Monkhouse's book for this certification is just 'my-kind-of' book. I really enjoyed reading it (the book was so good that I had to read it only once and I understood all necessary things ). Post reading book, I spent few hours in designing the assignment, after which, cranking code was a piece of cake.

But again, if I had to give ratings on a scale, I would rate difficulty level as below:
WCD: Easy (its boring, but I don't remember having really 'tricky' questions on the exam. Most of the questions were sort of game-show-quiz questions - either you remember the answer, or you don't). Of course, I'm talking about old version of exam (SCWCD for J2EE 5) - things might be different in JEE 6.
EJBD: Intermediate. I had few interesting questions (especially I liked interceptor, transaction handling, timers etc.) - I mean the questions where you actually have to think (maybe do some paperwork) - as in solving a puzzle.
OCMJD: Tough. Though I enjoyed this exam the most, its not that easy. Make a mistake in threading related code (e.g. deadlock) and you are done. Also, I've heard that if a candidate makes a mistake while packaging the assignment, the automated utility (during evaluation) will fail the candidate (not sure though). Roberto's testing client helped me a lot for stress and mutli-threading testing (and also package testing).

I hope this helps.
 
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Moved to one of our certification forums.
 
Valerij Starkov
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Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:I'm not sure why this post is in MD anyways...

Easy and hard are relative terms

I'm a problem loving person (and I'm not huge fan of theoretical exams).



Interesting.

I have an OCJP and am studying for the Web Services exam now, it doesnt seem that much difficult really, one just has to read and learn. The questions arent puzzels, but I guess they cant really be.

Another question, is it a thing to have all the *Developer certifications? Web Component, Web Services and JPA I think?
 
Anayonkar Shivalkar
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Valerij Starkov wrote: Another question, is it a thing to have all the *Developer certifications? Web Component, Web Services and JPA I think?


Didn't understand the question.

Do you mean to ask if all those certifications are necessary? Well, it depends upon if those are gonna be helpful for you. It might be the case that majority of your work is in EJB and JPA (and you might not need Web Services certification).
 
Valerij Starkov
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Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:

Valerij Starkov wrote: Another question, is it a thing to have all the *Developer certifications? Web Component, Web Services and JPA I think?


Didn't understand the question.

Do you mean to ask if all those certifications are necessary? Well, it depends upon if those are gonna be helpful for you. It might be the case that majority of your work is in EJB and JPA (and you might not need Web Services certification).

That is what I meant yes, if all of those are necessary.

Im mostly doing the certifications to increase my chances of getting a job - Ive got 5 year experience but havent been called to an interview for last 3 weeks yet and getting worried. What do I need to do, like all of those? Im gonna start with OCEWSD, did mock exam on enthuware and got 78% on one of their standard tests. Shouldnt be that difficult to learn and take this WSD certificate at least. Then I was thinking, if WSD is the most difficult one, Im gonna take all the others too. Got nothing better to do anyway.

 
Anayonkar Shivalkar
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Hi,

Maybe you can open more specific discussion on Job Discussion forum.

IMHO, certification will definitely improve hit-rate of your resume, but unless you've really worked on those technologies (and really aware of commonly faced issues in real life production), it won't be easy to clear the technical interview.
Good interviewers can quickly identify a person who has done real hands-on on some technology (and person who has just read stuff and cleared certification) - this is the reason you should write lot of test codes during certification preparation (so that you'll face issues which might not be helpful in certification, but will help you during interview). Also note that since you've already got 5 years of experience, you'll get questions with intermediate to advanced levels (not beginner level).

Also another (and rather most important) aspect is how you write your resume (and how you are targeting the companies). Emphasize on technologies which you have expertise on, and also make sure that you really know the stuff you write in resume (e.g. you should not write about perl script if your experience is only about some 'Hello World' script )

I hope this helps.
 
Valerij Starkov
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Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:Hi,

Maybe you can open more specific discussion on Job Discussion forum.

IMHO, certification will definitely improve hit-rate of your resume, but unless you've really worked on those technologies (and really aware of commonly faced issues in real life production), it won't be easy to clear the technical interview.
Good interviewers can quickly identify a person who has done real hands-on on some technology (and person who has just read stuff and cleared certification) - this is the reason you should write lot of test codes during certification preparation (so that you'll face issues which might not be helpful in certification, but will help you during interview). Also note that since you've already got 5 years of experience, you'll get questions with intermediate to advanced levels (not beginner level).

Also another (and rather most important) aspect is how you write your resume (and how you are targeting the companies). Emphasize on technologies which you have expertise on, and also make sure that you really know the stuff you write in resume (e.g. you should not write about perl script if your experience is only about some 'Hello World' script )

I hope this helps.

Wow thanks for that thoughtful answer and advice.
 
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Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:
WCD: Easy (its boring, but I don't remember having really 'tricky' questions on the exam. Most of the questions were sort of game-show-quiz questions - either you remember the answer, or you don't). Of course, I'm talking about old version of exam (SCWCD for J2EE 5) - things might be different in JEE 6.
EJBD: Intermediate. I had few interesting questions (especially I liked interceptor, transaction handling, timers etc.) - I mean the questions where you actually have to think (maybe do some paperwork) - as in solving a puzzle.
.



I would agree. I did the 6 on both and I will admit that WCD was much easier than EJB, especially if you've read the head first book, which is a great source of preparation. EJBD you had to do with the specs and the questions were more interesting.

I haven't done the OCMJD, but I've done the OCMJEA pt 1 and that one is definitely challenging. Especially due to the lack of study resources available and the fact that they ask things which is not common knowledge. You need to have read a number of books that nobody is telling you to read. And there are a number of questions you will only reasonably find by being an architect. Which is kind of bitter if your company requires you to get the certificate before giving you the position.
 
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I believe the hardest expert level exam is the Java EE web service developer.
It covers a lot of materials. You have to do some online research on your own despite there are some helpful study guides and mock exams. You have to know JAX-WS EJB based/servlet based , SOAP based and XML based web service, JAX-RS, WS-*, SOAP 1.1, Basic Profile 1.1, best practices and design and etc.

I should have take the EJB exam first before I considered the web service exam. I think if you understand EJB, you may have a easier time to prepare for web service exam.
 
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I think Java EE 6 Web Services Developer Certified Expert 1Z0-897 is one of the hardest because there is no book specifically aimed at the exam. However there are training kits, tutorials..
 
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