Java Certification path

[Mohanraj Ramalingam]

Hello all,
Need a thought process on the Java certification path. I recently cleared Java 8 OCA Z-808 certification and I would like to take it to the next level.

The reason, why I am taking certification is I wanted to be a full-time developer in a year or two years. Which certification should I focus on next? Java 11 Z-816 Programmer or Java 8 OCP Z-809?


Cheers,
Appreciate your inputs

[Campbell Ritchie]

Are you applying for jobs? What sort of cert exam do they request you pass?

[Mohanraj Ramalingam]

Nope, it's not external. I am trying to switch within the projects internally. I don't have dev experience.

[Brecht Geeraerts]

There are pros and cons to both. The 1Z0-809 is older but there is more study material available. 1Z0-816 is more recent but you'll have to assemble your own study material.

If you want to showcase what you can do, try to write as much code as you can and build projects. The certificates will be a nice plus but I believe that showing nice projects can also be a big contributing factor.