I recently passed the SCJP exam after years of telling my self I should. I have written code in Java for a few years and thought I really knew my stuff, but studying for the exam made me realize that I didn't know as much as I thought i did. I'm a better developer now that I've done the study needed for the exam, and I think it will show in my work.
As I look for different employment, one company actually had boxes to check for SCJP and SCJD certifications! It felt good to actually check one of the boxes.
And as I interview (both as interviewer and interviewee) I now have better questions to ask, and better answers to give. From what I have seen, interviews have become more like oral defenses for a Ph.D. and every right answer counts. To help with that, I have this idea in my head about gettting *all* of the Sun Java certs. Only this time, I am actually studying for the exams rather than just planning to take action someday.
I did notice one curiosity. Sun exams were listed in Certifcation Magazine's
2003 Salary Survey and people with had the Web Developer certification actually made
less than people who just had SCJP! How one makes less for passing a second cert exam is beyond me. But people who passed the Developer exam made almost 10k more, according to the survey. That said, I wonder how accurate the exam is...
I have to decide what my next exam will be. Right now, I'm studying for all three J2EE exams at once. My brain hurts. Any suggestions to help me decide on which one of the four certs to pursue next? I appreciate your help. You'll keep my sane and my asprin bottle full.