Alfred Jayaprakash

Ajay Chowdary Kandula wrote:I would like to know the prerequisites for taking up the IBM SOA CERTIFICATION TEST 665

Thanks in advance

665 is retired. You should rather look at IBM 667 http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/tests/obj667.shtml

Why are all Pro JavaFX examples are webstart applications? Does it mean JavaFX applications cannot be run as an Applet? Do you have some samples in your book that can demonstrate the same?

Not completely true. There are two kinds of IBM Solution Designer certifications. Ones that are bound to a specific IBM product (like DB2, Websphere etc) and another that are quasi-general topics like SOA, RUP etc.

Now, my answer to the original question on SCEA or Solution Designer would be that the strength of these certifications would depend on where and how you want to position yourself. For example, if you were to position yourself towards SOA projects, SOA Solution Designer is certainly a good bet. SCEA is good if you still want to be on the Java/J2EE development as SCEA is not really directed towards SOA although J2EE deals with a bit of webservices. RUP Solution Designer is more a process oriented certification and certainly some companies look for RUP experts and this certification will really be useful for a prospective candidate. But RUP Solution Designer cannot stand by itself and needs to be complemented by another certification like SCEA or SOA Soln Designer.

To cut this lengthy mail short, i will say that SCEA + SOA Solution Designer + RUP Solution Designer (plus other things like Scrum Practioner or ITIL certifications) is a very good package for an architect to be and anyone looking for those juicy architect jobs. But as always, a certificate itself does not make you an architect; A Certificate can just complement your skills and experience that you have acquired over years. This is my own thoughts on your question.

[ September 28, 2008: Message edited by: Alfred Jayaprakash ]
[ September 30, 2008: Message edited by: Alfred Jayaprakash ]

Hi Bala,
You can check out some questions in the files section in this Yahoo group.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ibmsoacert/files/

Additionally you can google for Test 667 sample questions, which may take you some exam prep sites (Mentioning the URL is banned in JavaRanch) that provides a PDF containing 10-20 questions.
[ August 21, 2008: Message edited by: Alfred Jayaprakash ]

Any 667s yet? The prep material for this exam has been completely remaining under the wraps.

Unfortunately limited to only Lotus and Power Systems exams

Binildas,
I am unclear of the role of JBI specification itself (Possibly i am too lazy to read up the JSR spec ). If Service Integration in a SOA itself is based on the Webservices standards what is the role played by JBI? Is JBI trying to sum up Webservices standards and SOA Service integration principles and trys to extend it to Java/J2EE containers? Per my understanding, Webservices standards support in J2EE container plus ESB support added is a rough equivalent of JBI?

Being myself an IBM SOA Test-667 aspirant, these are the materials i have consolidated and I believe should be used in that order,

1. These are the introductory material on SOA. Maybe some one who has already gone through these material can comment on this
a. SOA Redbooks => Try in IBM Website. You can find them here http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/tests/edu667.shtml
b. SOA for Dummies

2. From exam point of view the following are very important and should not be missed as these are the recommended IBM Course material for the actual exam topics. You will get some study material PDFs here corresponding to SW717,SW718 and SW719 (MUST READ)
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/education/enablement/wbt/sw717.html
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/education/enablement/wbt/sw718.html
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/education/enablement/wbt/sw719.html

3. Finally, the brush-up material on SOA for the exam. Although you can consider using (a) below for introductory preparation as well.
a. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ws-dw-ws-soacert1.html
b. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/architecture/kits/archkit2/index.html
c. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ibmsoatech/ (Go through some of the Exam Eexperience messages by other people who have already taken it plus see the Files section)

4. From what i saw in the other messages in JavaRanch and IBMSOA Yahoo groups, looks like in addition to the material above we have to read and be informed about upcoming SOA Initiatives e.g SIMM. I am trying to hit upon the IBM page which highlights some of the new initiatives in SOA that will be spearheaded by IBM. Please note that this is an IBM exam and therefore we will be tested on SOA from IBM point of view and what initiatives/standards IBM supports (through its products). Knowing this, certainly helps.

If we read all these, we still may not be able to get 100%, as the complete list of topics that are sufficient for the exam is still unclear. However we may pass the exam with scores around 80-85%. This is my personal opinion . While I believe I am correct for the most part of it, someone who has already cleared the exam would be the best bet to comment on it.
[ February 14, 2008: Message edited by: Alfred Jayaprakash ]

I always found Segment -> Flight, Flight -> Equipment as controversial requirements. While the bad news is that they have multiple interpretations, the good news is that all these interpretations are treated by SUN as correct, provided we choose a particular interpretation and stick to it throughout the assignment.
My interpretation was to choose Segment as a line-item in the Customer's itenary. In other words, Segment was defined as a trip to a destination that the customer wishes to travel. Meaning, if a customer wants to fly from NY to LA. NY-LA is treated as a segment. Note that NY-LA may have more than one Legs including either a Stopover(Intermediate flight stop, where the customer does not change the flight) or a Changeover(Intermediate flight stop, where the customer needs to get out of the flight to board another). Example, the flight from NY-LA may have a changeover flight at Atlanta. This still doesn't change my definition of Segment because LA is the destination that customer wishes to travel to and not Atlanta(See my definition above). So NY-LA is 1 segment which composes of 2 legs; NY-Atlanta and Atlanta-LA containing two different flights for each Legs(Since i mentioned it was a Changeover). My definition is consistent with Lufthansa Airlines (www.lufthansa.com)
Finally, as i mentioned earlier still there are multiple interpretations. It is up to you to choose one interpretation and stick it throughout the assignment. I suggest you to pick any Airlines website of your choice and run through how the whole thing works and how different terminologies are interpreted. Its a must before starting the assignment. Remember to ensure that your Assumptions, BDOM and Class Diagrams are consistent with your definitions and you are good to go .