Re: becoming a Sun Certified Java Programmer?

In the end, I guess I would ask myself how much time and money it's  
going to take and what the opportunity cost of that is in comparison  
to other ways you might strengthen yourself.   For instance, suppose  
it takes you 6 months to study for it (I don't know, I haven't taken  
it).  In that time, you could join an open source project you like and  
start making significant contributions that show you know how to code/ 
communicate in real life.  If you pick a good project and prove  
yourself, in all likelihood, people will start asking you to work for  
them, instead of you asking them if they have work.

I personally would rather see a candidate with a solid track record of  
contributions to an open source project that is used in production by  
a decent number of people, but that may be beside the point.  Why?   
This allows me to quickly establish:
1. How well they communicate
2. They can work distributed/independently, but still interact with  
others
3.  If they are self starters
4. If they really know how to code or just live off of their co-workers

I think the other factor for certification is how much work experience  
you have and how up to speed you are on a good breadth/depth of  
technologies.  If you are relatively inexperienced, the cert. probably  
can't hurt and might give you a little extra edge.  If you've been  
around the block and have proven yourself in the past, it probably  
won't matter as much.

Just my two cents,
Grant

On Mar 12, 2009, at 5:53 PM, Wayne Unruh wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I am thinking about investing some time and money into becoming a  
> Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP) and I have some questions.
>
> Has anybody in the group taken the SCJP exam?
> If you have one of Sun Certification's, did it add value to your  
> resume and salary?
>
> Can anybody recommend any good study guides for the SCJP exam?   
> People online seem to recommend "SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for  
> Java 6 Study Guide (Exam 310-065)"
> by Katherine Sierra and Bert Bates.
>
> Thanks in advance for your input.
>
>
> Wayne Unruh
>
> (919) 802-1244
> [email protected]
>
>
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