need some pieces of advice

[Karl Ironman]

Hi everyone,

I hope this message doesn't sound classic. but I couldn't find the answer to my question though I googled a lot.
I have an OCA and studied for OCP very well. I took enthuware mock exams and except the first two ones, I didnt get anything less than 80%(most of them were more than 90%). I have done coding since my childhood but not in Java. Anyway, I took the real OCP exam today and got 63! and failed.

Is it really important to pass this exam if I dont have any hand-on experience?
as I have to work during the day, I dont have much time to contribute to open sources, etc. that's why I thought getting a cert can be a short cut.
I have no idea how I could answer min.20 question wrong which means I need a lot of practice, but is there anywhere that I can find good subjects to practice my skills holistically.

the ones that I found were too simple to challenge me for OCP cert.
Ideas, subjects, project topics, anything that helps me pass it next time, would be much appreciated.

thanks for your time
Kai

[K. Tsang]

Sad to hear that. What version did you take? The score report should have a list of those topics you are weak at.

When I took SCJP I needed 3 times to pass!

How often did you take those practice exams? Taking them too frequent tend to give you the idea you know that question because you probably memorized it and its answers.

Coding will surely help. What to write is up to you, preferably focusing on those objectives.

[Sergej Smoljanov]

Try to read this 2 books: JLS Specification, and this http://www.angelikalanger.com/GenericsFAQ/JavaGenericsFAQ.html.
If you not use study guide - use it also (and start with it). Information in it is focused and limited and this is good. K&B for example is great. Also version of Java you try to pass and topic you want to study more will help to give you advice.

[Steffe Wilson]

Hi Karl, sorry to hear about the exam not being a success.

Karl Ironman wrote:Is it really important to pass this exam if I dont have any hand-on experience?

Whether its important depends what your aims are I guess; plus where are you now in your career and where you want to get to.
Are you trying to move from another language into java? What level are you at, junior, mid, senior?
Have you tried interviewing for java roles?

[Karl Ironman]

Thank you all for your responses and your time.
- Thanks Tsang. I hope ill pass it next time. But honestly finding some challenging topics is not easily. The challenge of programming subjects are mostly on the algorithms and the DBMS.
indeed i need to practice more.

- Thanks Henry.
In fact I looked for an option to change the topic but i couldnt find it. Surely I will follow your advice the next time.

- Thanks Sergej
Many thanks for your suggestions. I will try then all.

- Thank you Steffe
In fact I am an electrical engineer with many years of experience but i prefered to change my career. So i have gone back to uni and study CS while working but my job is not in IT. So I was thinking of getting these Certs to be able to get a job while im passing relevant courses.

[Steffe Wilson]

I'm in a similar situation, a sw dev but with skills in technologies falling out of fashion, so I'm trying to move into java. I don't believe it is essential to have a certification. I've been invited for java interviews without one. However what I have found is that the sort of tech questions you get asked at interview are pretty much the same you get asked in a certification exam. I had done lots of coding in java in my spare time but still failed the tech interviews because I didn't know the level of detail required. Hence why I'm studying for one now.

There are bound to be national & regional variations in skills supply and demand, so your local employers might be more fussy than mine or they might be less fussy. But you might well find you've done enough of that kind of study now. The only way to find out I guess is to put your CV/resume out there and try a few interviews.