Hi Meng,
I am following the Oracle Jcert track, and have taken 4 out of 5 tests for the Enterprise Developer Title, the only test remaining is the UML test.
For Level 2, I have taken the Oracle JDeveloper 3.0 : Develop Database Applications with
Java test.Have completed both the tests for Level 3.
IMHO, Jcert Initiatve is the best way to learn different products from various vendors.I myself plan to shift to IBM Jcert (probably would start with VA4J Certification and then proceed to WAS, still not decided!!), once I earn the Oracle Jcert title.
Also, I firmly believe that the Jcert certifications are aimed at making you more productive from the commercial point of view.
If you consider taking the Sun Architect Test (or the Sun Developer Test), you would have more or less mastered the Reference Implementation of Sun, but would not have spent sufficient time on the products which are in demand in the market.As the market is becoming tool-based, it makes sense to master the product, which is doing well!!
Hence, I would put my money on tools like IBM VA4J, WAS or OAS and Oracle JDeveloper.
Before I decided to take the JCert tests, I was under the impression that once I master the core concepts of Java (by taking the Sun's track!!), it would not take time for me to learn the specific vendor tools.After having spent some time with these tools, I realized that I was wrong!!Now-a-days tools (not only Application servers, even
IDE's!!) are becoming very complex, and it takes considerable time to master them.I had experienced this with JDeveloper, and am sure people who have worked with VA4J would also agree that learning curve for any production quality tools is significantly steep.
I would suggest you go for the Jcert Certification and select the vendor, which would help you in your present (or future) jobs.
Please let me know, how you had gone about preparing for the UML test.
Regards,
Sandeep Desai vgdesai@bom3.vsnl.net.in
- Sun Certified Java Programmer Scored 93 per cent
- Oracle JDeveloper Rel. 3.0 - Develop Database Applications with Java Scored 56 out of 59
- IBM Enterprise Connectivity with J2EE Scored 72 per cent
- Enterprise Development on the Oracle Internet Platform Scored 44 out of 56
[This message has been edited by Desai Sandeep (edited April 25, 2001).]