Java Certification beginner's questions

[John Losty]

I would like to get Java certification but I don't know which certificate is best to complete? Do you have any suggestions? Are there different companies offering these certificates?
I think I would like to have JAVA SE certification or maybe JAVA EE.
Where should I start, should I attend some online classes and what literature(for practice) I need?

[Pete Letkeman]

Where to start?
I would suggest that you start with the OCA 808 certification for Java 8, unless you have a specific need for a prior version of Java.
In obtaining this you get a decent introduction to the Java language and many of it's concepts.
Plus, I think that this certification is needed for nearly all of certifications.

As for materials/resources:
You could start off here https://coderanch.com/wiki/659980/Ocajp-Wall-Fame and read some of the stories of other people who have passed.
In doing so you can see what resources they used, how they prepared and how long they took to prepare.
This could save you a lot of time, frustration and money in the end.

After the OCA 808 certification many people go for the OCP 809 certification.
You can see the OCP Wall of Fame here https://coderanch.com/wiki/659976/Ocpjp-Wall-Fame

John Losty wrote:Are there different companies offering these certificates?

While there may be others offering certification I would recommend that you stick with Oracle/Pearson VUE http://pearsonvue.com/oracle/

John Losty wrote:I think I would like to have JAVA SE certification or maybe JAVA EE.

I could be wrong, but I think that you need to have the Java OCP 809 certification, or maybe OCA 808 certification, before you can get a Java EE certification.
That is if you use Oracle/Pearson VUE.

[Daniel Demesmaecker]

I think a good place to start is is the ocja. A good book to start is the OCA Java SE8 Programmer 1 study guide and the OCA Java SE 8 Programmer I Certification Guide.
To do mockupexams you can use enthuware. And there's also a pretty good videocourse on the stuff you need to know for the exam.
Not for free, but on safaribooksonline you get a 14 day free trial,in which you can access the full course

[Campbell Ritchie]

Daniel Demesmaecker wrote:. . . OCA Java SE8 Programmer 1 study guide and the OCA Java SE 8 Programmer I Certification Guide. . . .

Please always quote author's/authors' name/names when recommending books (and publisher if possible) because it makes it much easier to locate the book in a library or website.

[John Losty]

If I decided for OCA 808 certification for Java 8 would I need to attend some (online) classes or do you just need to pay for exam?
What if you don't pass the exam?

[Daniel Demesmaecker]

In theory you could just pay, schedule a date and location and take the exam, but it's unlikely you pass.
I would at least train with enthuware on taking the exam, cause the exam is designed in a way that makes the questions verry hard to read.
Don't think that knowing the theoretical stuff is enough to pass.
If you pass the mockexams of enthuware, you can be pretty sure that you pass the real exam to, the mock exams are harder

[Pete Letkeman]

No, you do not have to pay to take any classes so that you can take the exam. You do have to pay to take the exam.
I would recommend at least one study guide, some people use more then one.
To see which resources people have used I suggest that you check out the https://coderanch.com/wiki/659980/Ocajp-Wall-Fame.

I do suggest that before you purchase any mock exam software that you do go through a study guide at least once if not more.
Here is one possible way to use a study guide https://coderanch.com/t/684504/certification/continue-review-chapter-finally#3212329

Enthuware mock exams are a great resource and many people have used them as part of their certification preparations.
However like any resource is can be used incorrectly and in doing so you will not gain the some of the benefits from it.
Please read the Enthuware FAQs on their site before using their software to make sure that you are using it as intended.

The OCA 808 exam can seem a bit intimidating, you can read about it on Oracle's Java site here.
Make no mistake, people do fail the exam and some times they do post their failures on this site as listed here:

Failed OCA Java

Failed Attempt Java OCA Exam

Studying hard fail

Even some seasoned developers struggle with the exam as noted here
https://coderanch.com/t/688492/certification/OCA-Feeling-Inadequate

John Losty wrote:What if you don't pass the exam?

There is an exam retry policy which you can read about here.

Also, while you are preparing for the certification it is highly recommended that you use a simple text editor like NotePad, NotePadd++, VIM, Sublime etc.
Using an IDE like IntelliJ or Eclipse is great for creating production code, but they hide some things from the developer that you may need to know for the exam.
On the exam you will not have any IDE or even text editor so you will need to know the material.