Value of 287/ICED?

[Ben Ritchie]

I'm thinking about going for the ICED (287, 484, 486) exams, but while many employers know Sun's SCJP/SCJD, not many seem to be aware of IBM developer certifications. ICED looks much harder than Sun's certification, so is it worth the work needed to pass or will nobody know what that line on my CV is...?

Ben.

[Nicholas Cheung]

I'm thinking about going for the ICED (287, 484, 486) exams, but while many employers know Sun's SCJP/SCJD, not many seem to be aware of IBM developer certifications.

Because they are based on different aspects. SUN's exams focus on knowledge and concepts of the technologies, while IBM's exams focus on how we develop applications using those technologies under IBM's specific products, like WAS or WSAD.

Thus, they are totally different.

ICED looks much harder than Sun's certification, so is it worth the work needed to pass or will nobody know what that line on my CV is...?

ICED is difficult because it covers lots of aspects.

It really depends on the employers. My company loves certification much, no matter it is SUN or IBM, or others. Just the projects required those technoglogies, she will then ask us to get certify.

Nick

[Ko Ko Naing]

Like Nick has just mentioned, if you are not using IBM's products, then it would not be that useful for you.... But UML, 484 and SCJP are not specific to WSAD... Even if we get those three, if we don't have 287, we can't get a cert...

So that's up to the current job we are doing... Or will we be using WSAD in the near future? Then go ahead with ICED...

[Vijay S. Rathore]

Hi Ben Ritchie

As far as job concern is there I do see lots of Websphere jobs in the market right now, and have couple of consulting companies looking for IBM certified professionals also.

My personal opinion about certifications goes as follows:

They help me to upgrade to any technical area I need detailed explanation.
They force me to study and thus I get detailed knowledge about the subject (Provided I plan and study sincerely).
They help me to get jobs at times as not all of the companies are against certifications.
Sometimes I use them to negotiate the salary.
I am able to complete my assigned work up to every ones satisfaction.

If we see pros and cons of certification, then I see more pros than cons of certification.

[Ben Ritchie]

I agree completely about the benefits of certification, but there are so many options and little time Ideally i'd like to do SCEA + ICED, however I work with WebSphere and see demand for certification in WAS admin, WebSphere MQ etc., but I'm not so sure about WAS development.

Any plans for a 296/299 simulator?

[Marcelo Sousa Ancelmo]

I think that 484 (J2EE) and 486 (UML) are great exams, and if you just wanna test your knowledge in these areas then go for it, the ugly thins is the no cert .

287 looks very good, but only for the ones who works whit WSAD, I'm thinking if it was of some value for me right now (Working whit JBuilder and Eclipse, palying whit WSAD sometimes).

Just my two cents

Regards,

[Vijay S. Rathore]

IBM 287, even though its WSAD exam, tests more of your knowledge of J2EE components. As I mentioned already in one of the threads the percentage of WSAD questions relative to conceptual questions are very less.

[Nicholas Cheung]

So that's up to the current job we are doing... Or will we be using WSAD in the near future?

Honestly, before IBM's WSAD 4.0, BEA's WebLogic really dominates the market, but now, IBM gets the greatest portion of coverage. Thus, learning WSAD and WAS will definitely receive advantages.

Nick

[Nicholas Cheung]

I agree completely about the benefits of certification, but there are so many options and little time

It depends on how you put in your time.

Ideally i'd like to do SCEA + ICED, however I work with WebSphere and see demand for certification in WAS admin, WebSphere MQ etc., but I'm not so sure about WAS development.

My final goal is also be SCEA, and thus, I am waiting for the beta exam of part I of the revised SCEA exam. Hopefully it will come out this yr.

Any plans for a 296/299 simulator?

Honestly, for MQ, I dont think it is really that popular in the cert world, although many big firms using it. Even my company does not send us to get MQ certs, and thus, I guess it may not be too worth to put in too much time. But if it is really useful for your job, it is no harm for you to get it.

Nick

[Ben Ritchie]

I was going to wait for the new SCEA beta, but looking back over the SCEA forum people have thought that it was coming "real soon now" for a year or more, and it still isn't here. Maybe next month but I thought why wait?

Long term I'd like to work as an architect, but my company runs an internal architect training and certification program which takes several years to complete. SCEA is just a step at the start of that, and i'll still be working as a developer for a couple of years so ICED wouldn't hurt either. However, if I had to leave for any reason then I'd like to make sure the skills I have are useful - I know that MQ is always in demand because few people have the skills, so are WAS, DB2 admin etc. ICED I don't know about, but, as you say, it's not going to do me any harm

[Nicholas Cheung]

However, back to the beginning, for me, even I have worked with MQ projects, what we need to know is how to start the server, maybe do some parameters tuning, and setup queues for messages. That's it.

When it comes to API stuffs, just refer to Javadoc as what we do in normal Java coding. Hence, I really dont find any difficulty of working with WebSphereMQ.

Of course, if you need advanced or complicated configuration, that's another story, but so far, I still not encounter with these issues, even I have worked on a project with a bank.

Nick

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Vijay Rathore:
IBM 287, even though its WSAD exam, tests more of your knowledge of J2EE components. As I mentioned already in one of the threads the percentage of WSAD questions relative to conceptual questions are very less.

That's kinda of words of encouragement for me, who is not currently using WSAD in the work... Well, I do believe that it is worthful to learn WSAD... Since I am an outsourced employee, I may have a chance to join a company using WSAD in the future...

[Nicholas Cheung]

More and more companies use WAS and WSAD, and thus, you will definitely gain advantages for going for ICED.

Nick