Sun Certification

[Francko]

Spot the certified person desperately trying to justify the cash he placed down to get it

I have never paid a penny. Companies pay for it. And there still seems to be people around who aren't that snob when it comes to studies. You seem a little frustrated by the fact that you are not certified. I am well aware that it only means you have theoretical subject knowledge (which is something in itself) but I don't feel the need to bash it all the time. Perhaps you should go for one and take that weight out of your stomach.

[Cowboy Bob]

My original comment was as much about the number of people who have them as it was about the quality of people who have them.

I have only met 2 people who have the Sun certification out of the hundreds of people I've met in the industry, which effectively makes it useless as a benchmark of development quality regardless of your views on certification as a whole.

[ratewhore]

do any companies run sun hardware these days, sun seem to be really low profile these days, shame really, all projects seem to be on hp or ibm hardware, sun's missed opportunities, they seem to have become a niche supplier to eccentric IT managers running small operations, just my few pence worth

Milan.

I don't think IT managers running small operations could afford sun hardware. It's out there and in use where stability, scalability and performance are required in spades...

[sasguru]

Not this old chestnut of certification again. When I was a techie I did all the certs going (Yes I am Java certified + much more) but ONLY on the back of solid experience. Certainly wouldn't hire a certified person over someone with better, demonstrable hard core experience. If on the other hand they have both, I would be inclined to take them. Certification is like the icing on the cake.

[sunnysan]

Franko

I was looking at the some of the questions for Java Programmers and they are actually quite well set as you really do need to know the nitty gritty and the finer points of the language ie Rule of promotion for ternary operators.

Its not going to make you a good developer if you are sh1te but it appears it will improve the code of an already competent developer.

[sasguru]

Its not going to make you a good developer if you are sh1te but it appears it will improve the code of an already competent developer.

Yes exactly.

[Francko]

I was looking at the some of the questions for Java Programmers and they are actually quite well set as you really do need to know the nitty gritty and the finer points of the language ie Rule of promotion for ternary operators.

Its not going to make you a good developer if you are sh1te but it appears it will improve the code of an already competent developer.

I agree. Java programmer is a good one. And so is the architect too. Surely it doesn't make you an architect if you don't have a long experience but it sets a good standard approach. Same for Solaris, MQ and WebSphere ones. I instead was very disappointed by the Microsoft ones, they are just useful to force you to buy mock exams (and that's the only way you would pass the MS exams).

[sunnysan]

Mcse

I did MCSE way back when and I must say owing to the structure of the certification all you needed to do was learn transcenders and you could pass and know sweet FA about M$ network admin.

Are the Java certs like that too?

[bobhope]

Damn, I have to agree with both Sasguru and Francko.

It's worth doing just for yourself, you do learn a lot and have many moments where you go "ahah". I would also say without study you're unlikely to pass.


Plus you get the little badge and certificate and the logo that you can put on your CV (which looks flash)

Finally, I have met/interviewed so many developers that don't seem to even understand the fundamentals you wonder how they've managed to survive for so long.

For example, I'd say that only about a quarter of java devs know if method parameters are call by reference or call by value in java - it's one of my favourite interview questions.

[milanbenes]

bob I guess if you interviewed me I wouldn't get hired

MB certified blagger with solid rapid application development
experience