Is past prologue?

[Pete Letkeman]

For those of you that are both Java 7 and Java 8 certified, but completed 7 before 8 I have a question for you.
Were you able to take an upgrade exam and go from OCA 7 to OCA 8 or was the exam the standard OCA 8 exam?
I ask because there is talk that by the the middle of 2018 not only is Java 9 expected to be out, but there is a chance that certification tests will be out as well. I know that no one can predict the future. However I suspect,  but I have no facts to back this claim up, that Oracle will handle the OCA 8 to OCA 9 certification the same way.
I'm not asking about any future timelines on anything like that, I just  would like to know what happens currently or what happened in the past.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

It was the standard OCA 8 exam. The upgrade exam was only for the OCP. So if you were OCP 7 you could go straight to OCP 8. But if you had an OCA 7, you had to start over with OCA 8 or get the OCP 7.

Some dates for Java 8:

March 18, 2014 - Java8 released

August 31, 2014 - OCA 8 beta opens

April 28, 2015 - OCP 8 beta opens

Granted the Java 8 exam had a lot more changes than the Java 9 exam will have. Especially on the OCP. So it shouldn't take AS LONG for Java 9. But I would be shocked if the OCP 9 was out the middle of next year. And even if it was, nobody would have a study guide out at that point. (largely because there isn't a commonly held belief that Oracle would be that fact.)

So I think you should pursue your Java 8 cert.

Also remember that Oracle doesn't take away "older" exams for a long time. And that there are way more changes between 7/8 than 8/9. So your Java 8 cert will still have value.

[Pete Letkeman]

Thanks for clearing this matter up @Jeanne Boyarsky

[Roel De Nijs]

There is no upgrade exam for OCAJP, so you'll get the standard OCAJP8 exam if you want to become OCAJP8 certified.

It will take months (if not more than a year) after the Java 9 release before certification exams will exist for Java 9. You can't combine different version certifications, so OCA8 is not a valid prerequiste for the OCP9 certification. But if you are OCP8 certified, you can probably take the upgrade exam to become OCP9 certified (cf. the current upgrade exams to become OCP8 certified).

Here are some concrete facts and figures related to OCAJP8. It was released on 18 March 2014, the beta version of the OCAJP8 certification exam was released on 31 August 2014 and the OCAJP8 certification exam was officially released on 10 January 2015.

[Roel De Nijs]

And almost forgot: OCPJP6 is still alive and kicking

[Julius Sandi]

Pete Letkeman wrote:For those of you that are both Java 7 and Java 8 certified, but completed 7 before 8 I have a question for you.
Were you able to take an upgrade exam and go from OCA 7 to OCA 8 or was the exam the standard OCA 8 exam?
I ask because there is talk that by the the middle of 2018 not only is Java 9 expected to be out, but there is a chance that certification tests will be out as well. I know that no one can predict the future. However I suspect,  but I have no facts to back this claim up, that Oracle will handle the OCA 8 to OCA 9 certification the same way.
I'm not asking about any future timelines on anything like that, I just  would like to know what happens currently or what happened in the past.

Hello. Java 10 release means OCA/OCP Java 9 exam  never be out?. Thanks for your answer

[Pete Letkeman]

Welcome to CodeRanch Julius.

Originally when my initial post was made Oracle had not released Java 9 or announced it rapid release schedule for Java. Now we know a bit more, but not too much.

When Oracle released Java 8 one still had to wait more then a couple of months before you could take the OCA Java 8 exam as Oracle still had to create the exam.
It took Oracle even longer to produce the OCP Java 8 exam then it took them to produce the OCA Java 8 exam.
If it takes at least that long, then by the time an OCA level exam has been produce by Oracle the next version of Java is out.
However Oracle has stated that there will be some versions of Java which will receive long term support (LTS) where as the other versions may not.

Given all of this it is reasonable to think that a Oracle is looking into the possibility of certification of LTS versions of Java.
Oracle recently stated that they are retiring some exams as noted in this posting https://coderanch.com/t/691480/certification/Java-exam-retirements.
So they are evaluating Java certifications however as far as I know Oracle has yet to announce any certifications for Java versions 9 or greater.

The best advice that I've come across on Java certification is to get your Java OCP 809 certification.
After which learn and explore new features like Project Jigsaw. Both of these will help with the next part of certification.
Oracle may even setup a certification path to go from Java OCP 8 to Java OCP X with one exam.
In the past you could do with with different versions of Java to get to the OCP 8 level.

[Julius Sandi]

Pete Letkeman wrote:Welcome to CodeRanch Julius.

Originally when my initial post was made Oracle had not released Java 9 or announced it rapid release schedule for Java. Now we know a bit more, but not too much.

When Oracle released Java 8 one still had to wait more then a couple of months before you could take the OCA Java 8 exam as Oracle still had to create the exam.
It took Oracle even longer to produce the OCP Java 8 exam then it took them to produce the OCA Java 8 exam.
If it takes at least that long, then by the time an OCA level exam has been produce by Oracle the next version of Java is out.
However Oracle has stated that there will be some versions of Java which will receive long term support (LTS) where as the other versions may not.

Given all of this it is reasonable to think that a Oracle is looking into the possibility of certification of LTS versions of Java.
Oracle recently stated that they are retiring some exams as noted in this posting https://coderanch.com/t/691480/certification/Java-exam-retirements.
So they are evaluating Java certifications however as far as I know Oracle has yet to announce any certifications for Java versions 9 or greater.

The best advice that I've come across on Java certification is to get your Java OCP 809 certification.
After which learn and explore new features like Project Jigsaw. Both of these will help with the next part of certification.
Oracle may even setup a certification path to go from Java OCP 8 to Java OCP X with one exam.
In the past you could do with with different versions of Java to get to the OCP 8 level.

Thank a lot for your answer an your time.
consider the amount of differences between versions of Java, can give an idea of whether a version of Java X will be LTS.
If Java 11 is LTS and is released in December 2018, then we can think that we have OCA / OCP 8 until mid 2019 at least, before released new OCA/OCP?

[Pete Letkeman]

Sorry, in my previous post I used states "Java X" which could be interpenetrated as Java 10, that was not my intention.
I intended Java X to be a place holder value where X is a value greater then 9.

If you look at the historical record provided by Jeanne Boyarsky

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:March 18, 2014 - Java8 released
August 31, 2014 - OCA 8 beta opens
April 28, 2015 - OCP 8 beta opens

If Oracle continues with this type of time frame then we could see something like this:

Month Day, Year - Java XYZ released

(Month + 5) Day, Year - Java OCA XYZ beta opens

(Month + 8) Day, Year - Java OCA XYZ regular opens

(Month + 1) Day, (Year + 1) - Java OCP XYZ beta opens

(Month + 4) Day, (Year + 1) - Java OCP XYZ regular opens

Oracle generally has the beta exams for two to three months, and any one can take the beta exams.
Only after the beta exam period has ended the regular exams are released.
Beta exams can have anywhere from one point five to two times the amount of regular exams on them and you can only take a beta exam once.
Not only that you will not know you beta exam score until after the beta exam period has been completed.

I believe that Oracle has released a tentative time table for future versions of Java and they may even have hinted at which version would get LTS.
However there has not been any official announcements by anyone at Oracle regarding new Java certifications at this time.

[Julius Sandi]

Pete Letkeman wrote:Sorry, in my previous post I used states "Java X" which could be interpenetrated as Java 10, that was not my intention.
I intended Java X to be a place holder value where X is a value greater then 9.

If you look at the historical record provided by Jeanne Boyarsky

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:March 18, 2014 - Java8 released
August 31, 2014 - OCA 8 beta opens
April 28, 2015 - OCP 8 beta opens

If Oracle continues with this type of time frame then we could see something like this:

Month Day, Year - Java XYZ released

(Month + 5) Day, Year - Java OCA XYZ beta opens

(Month + 8) Day, Year - Java OCA XYZ regular opens

(Month + 1) Day, (Year + 1) - Java OCP XYZ beta opens

(Month + 4) Day, (Year + 1) - Java OCP XYZ regular opens

Oracle generally has the beta exams for two to three months, and any one can take the beta exams.
Only after the beta exam period has ended the regular exams are released.
Beta exams can have anywhere from one point five to two times the amount of regular exams on them and you can only take a beta exam once.
Not only that you will not know you beta exam score until after the beta exam period has been completed.



I believe that Oracle has released a tentative time table for future versions of Java and they may even have hinted at which version would get LTS.
However there has not been any official announcements by anyone at Oracle regarding new Java certifications at this time.

Ok Pete, I appreciate your detailed explanation

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Pete Letkeman wrote:I believe that Oracle has released a tentative time table for future versions of Java and they may even have hinted at which version would get LTS.
However there has not been any official announcements by anyone at Oracle regarding new Java certifications at this time.

To make this really clear, Oracle has stated that Java 11 (and 17) will be LTS. They have not stated which version of Java will have the updated cert. I think it will be Java 11 as that makes sense, but it hasn't been stated by Oracle.