Updateing and improving java skills, is certification a way to go?

[David Johns]

I have mostly been working in Java 6, (started with 1.4) over the last several years. In the last few years, I have been using Java lightly for my projects. One of my goals for this year is to bring my java skills up to date, esp. learning what is available with Java 8. I find that I need something to focus on for that. It seems like working on one of the Java Certifications will give me that focus. My question is which exam would be a good place to start, and what areas would be best to improve my overall coding style. I would like to have a better understanding of best practices and patterns to make sure that I am writing effective, maintainable and readable code.

[S G Ganesh]

There are many ways to improve Java skills. Two important ways that come to my mind are 1) Take up a tool project and use latest Java 8 features (e.g., implement a Java Disassembler and for implementation, use Java 8 streams) and 2) Get certified.

The essential idea is to not to lose the initial momentum and enthusiasm and sustain the focus. So, getting certification for Java 8 would certainly help. For writing great code, there are already good resources out there, such as "effective java" book (though not updated for latest features) and "clean code".

[David Johns]

Thanks for the reply.

When you say take up a tool project, are you referring to just working on a project for a Java tool for my own edification, or working on some common project?

Also, when reviewing books like "clean code" or "effective java", now that there are major changes in Java 8, do the books lose any of their relevancy because they don't incorporate the latest tools (like lambdas and streams). Sometimes getting started investing time in a book or process that seems to be continually outdated keeps stalling out my motivation for continuing down one of those paths.

[S G Ganesh]

When you say take up a tool project, are you referring to just working on a project for a Java tool for my own edification, or working on some common project?

Yes, in my experience, that works the best to learn something new (that's how I learnt programming in Groovy, for example). A tool is is typically self-contained and you can start from minimal features and evolve it. You can also choose the technologies of your choice. And if it goes good, you can even contribute it to open source (or make it commercial - if that is feasible).

[S G Ganesh]

when reviewing books like "clean code" or "effective java", now that there are major changes in Java 8, do the books lose any of their relevancy because they don't incorporate the latest tools (like lambdas and streams)

Oh yes, I share your frustration, but most things remain the same as well. I still love reading classics such as "clean code", "the pragmatic programmer", "effective java", etc because they focus on the core or the essentials. Best practices related to class design, object orientation, writing maintainable code, writing testable code, etc don't change much even though there are new language features or libraries.