Alan Phillips

I'm from Calgary, where the economy is the hottest in Canada right now, but IT is really suffering. It seems that there's alot more respect and value given to the project management side of things than the development. In my co., they get paid a lot more and have a lot more clout than the programmers. The project management is really driving the IT decisions. I do Application support, so I get to talk to both. The view is that since we're not a software development company, we shouldn't develop software. But, we've got some really smart programmers and can't seem to buy what we need, but the 'business unit' keeps saying "but, we're not a software company.'
I think minimum wage is between $5 and $6 Cad per hour here. McDonalds + Starbucks emplyoees clear $7, so it's possible. Below is a copy and paste of the ad. Okay, so I left out the high end, but, let's face it, $25 000 in Canada still bites! I just couldn't believe this salary range. And you're right John, why would you learn it if that's the range? To give you an idea, a 1 room small bedroom appt is around $800 a month and a starter home in the far out burbs will run $200-250K.
Professional- Computer/ Technical (10/16/02)
PROGRAMMER & MEDIA DEVELOPER Full-time, salary $15,000 to $25,000/year Min. 3 years experience in the following areas: UNIX, LINUX, Windows NT, Java & Oracle in a UNIX environment. Trouble shoot complex web sites.
[ October 22, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]

Just saw an ad in the paper:
Media Devloper: 3 years experience Java, Unix, Oracle, Linux, Windows NT required. Trouble shoot complex web sites. Salary $15,000.
Now, if that ain't bad enough, I'm Canadian, so that works out to $9600 US PER YEAR
Hey Maybe I should apply for it. If I don't count taxes, I'll get $10 a month left after my rent!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Alan Phillips
Future Coffee artist
SCJP 2
[ October 21, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]

I don't know about .net. I was going to do the microsoft certs, but I can't find any jobs for .net in my area at all. Except for an idiot who wanted 5 years exp with .net!!! There's all sorts of mudslinging back and forth on different message boards, but I'm going to keep an eye on the job boards. XML+SQL+???. The ??? seems to be either .net or java. I don't know which way to go!!
Alan Phillips
SCJP 2

Congratulations! I agree with you on the Threads!
Alan Phillips
SCJP 2

Thanks An! Appreciate the info.

Hey Chris,
Don't worry, just try again. I barely made it through! I thought it was a difficult exam. Sun doesn't release the pass/fail rates, but I bet many people fail. Plus, it's also difficult that there were some surprises on the exam, had I known, I would have read up on some of the methods. Go through the sections you had most difficulty with and give them another shot!
Alan Phillips
[ September 19, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]

Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone has could tell me how the scjp and the ms c++, vb exams how they compare?
thanks

Alan Phillips
SCJP 2

Hey Guys,
Dan don't change around the mocks at all, the topic forms are excellent!!!
I just meant that an individual should swap things around for themselves using their own collection or something!!!
I was more surprised at some of the methods and the depth for collections. Assertions and hashcode were easy q's, Sun's docs are good here!
It might be good to add a full section on String methods, I had 10+ questions with different string methods!

if (Alan'sBrainisFull) && (AlanMakesnosense)
{
System.out.println("AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!");
}

Alright let me try that again
The exam is MORE difficult than Marcus' (and pretty close to Dan's more difficult questions. Take Dan's q's mix up the answers ie take them from different topics but so they still make sense then that's pretty close. Now, experienced Java and OO programmers may have a different take as you'd probably run into these methods by trying to figure things out. I'm really serious when it says in a 1.2 book that it will not be tested on the exam it's on 1.4, it seems like the 1.4 writers read them and purposefully put them on the exam. I could see the words from the textbook in my head ... this is not required but is just used to illustrate....WARNING!
Memorize ALL the methods of Object, String, Thread, all methods of all members of collections. (knowing just set,map and list won't get you anywhere, you need to know specifics about subinterfaces).
While I'm really relieved I passed, I'm but I'm still kinda annoyed that Sun doesn't publish a proper guide. With a proper text, it would have been much easier
[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]

Also, you can create a macro to drop that file onto your template. I export a table of prices(Natural Gas at different locations accross NA) from a database and check it back to the originals to make sure everything is up-to date before the stuff runs at night.
For some weird reason excel read all my dates as the year 2002, so I surrounded them in quotes on my export, then use Lookups to match everthing. So, I have a template Sheet 1 which is formated the way I want, Sheet 2 looks all nice for anyone to check. I've got a macro that copies the daily csv file onto Sheet 1, paste values, so all the formats stay the same. Works great!

Dan thanks for all the work on the exams it really helped me a lot!
Alan Phillips
SCJP 2

If you call run() you are calling the run() method, but not in a Thread. If you call start() then a thread is created.
With Threads, it's a good idea to narrow down the rest, think about what type of Thread you create with a Runnable and what type you create by extending a Thread. That ought to help a bit... Then, see if you need what kind of target(t or T or both?) you've got and you should get an
answer(s).
They will all compile, but which will give you a new thread! Try using some of the methods of thread like currentThread etc to see what is really happening behind the scenes too.
Alan Phillips
SCJP 2
[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]
[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]

Hi Barkat! Thanks for your posts, check out my post under results!

Hi Ron,
There were lots that I've only seen in the API. String methods were really tested heavily. Threads were tested heavily, but also intermixed with other kinds of questions (is it a gc question or a thread question???). As far as Collections go, you need to know ALL sub and subinterfaces. Really, really far down the tree here. There were many questions with several levels here, very few simply tested one part of the API, most were combinations where the output has been run through many methods and tests. RHE(the 1.2 version, I here the 1.4 version has been recalled) is no where near enough to pass, nor are any of the other books I used. Using JLS + the API is essential (unless you've done lots in which case you might run accross these methods when you're trying to do stuff).
The exam is easier than Marcus' exams (although, they're so good and really worthwhile), I average high 80's and low 90s on the three and I thought even more difficult than Dan's. I would take the exam questions and randomly mix up the answers, even if they seem unrelated to get a better picture.
[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: Alan Phillips ]

I'm still shaking!! Okay, I should confess that my mark was low (60%) but, some of the questions are really tough.
First off, thanks to everyone here for all their help and to Dan and Marcus for the mocks. I'm new to OO and Java (<4months) so I had a lot to learn!
Many, Many questions combine topics. Also one thing that is a problem for 1.4 is that there were several methods/classes that in 1.2 sources say "....will not be covered on the exam". Lots of these you'd come by with experience but, if you come accross this, learn it inside and out. I think Sun should publish "official" books that cover what you need to know. There were some methods that I've only seen in the API, and not in any of the 1.2 books.
I can see why they dropped the %, it reflects just about what I would expect if I added in difficult awt and io questions.
Alan Phillips
SCJP 2 !!!