Advice about learning websphere

[Uma Thomas]

Hello ,
I am sorry if this is a worng place to post this topic, but if it is , moderator please move it to the right location. Hope java ranch can help me with my newbie questions, they might sound a bit stupid but I'd really appreciate your help
I just graduated with a MS in Computer Science and trying to step back again into the Job market.I have about 2 yrs client side Java development experince-I did this till 2001 Dec. I am knowledgeable in server side development, through a few academic projects.
During my studies I did work on some application development but with all different technologies mostly ASP,C,C++, Visual Studio etc.So the problem is that I do not have solid experience in anything. Since I am interested to pursue my career as a server side java programmer, I am planning to learn Websphere and go from there.I passed SCJP yesterday to get me started and I am planning to take Websphere Certification by Sept.
Would anyone please guide me which version of web sphere should I download to start studying and also developing small applications. Also give me some light on how long on an average it would take to learn it, considering that I am a fast learner and also my knowledge on server side Java is not that great.I there any free tutorial that I can download which can help me through the basics. Also any where Ican find small project specs which I can develop to learn...
If my plan is to be proficient in server side programming... what all servlets, EJB, JSP etc in which order should I study, and how proficient I need to be before stepping into Websphere.Will it be advisible to first learn for a J2EE certification and then go for Websphere ? Please help...
Thanks in advance...
Uma

[Vinod Bijlani]

download websphere v5 BEFORE THAT
for serverside (also websphere) u need to get good understanding of Servlets, EJB's. Messaging would be the next step. i would suggest the servlets orielly & ejb orielly for getting started.
sun has a pretty good j2ee tutorial on there website (dont remmbr the author name) but covers in detail abt ejb's. its some examples too.
regards
Vinod

[Uma Thomas]

Thanks...

[Greg Brouelette]

Uma, WSAD ( WebSphere Studio Application Developer) is available from IBM's web site as a free demo. It's a fully functional IDE based on the Eclipse product. It's used to develop products for WebSPhere 5.0. It even has a built in WS 5.0 test server. You can d-load it and play with WS 5.0 code as much as you want.
You should also check out the free Redbook from IBM entitled "WebSphere Studio Application Developer Programming Guide" It's available as a free pdf file on their site. That's where I learned most of what I know about WS 5.0. Also good is the redbook "EJB Development With WSAD". It's also available as a free pdf file from IBM's site.
That will get you a LONG way towards understanding WS 5.0. I hope this helps.
Greg

[Uma Thomas]

Thanks a lot Greg.. I started working on it,... looks like i'll be psoting a lot of questions in the nr future