J2EE certification, how to go about?

[music]

Hi folks:

Sorry if this is OT. I hope that it's not. I'm trying to get back into
middle tier development again (for the last year I have been doing
Swing/JFC). I've been doing Java for 5+ years and C++ for 7+ years and
have CORBA and JSP and Struts, etc.. However, many companies don't feel I
am worth interviewing with since I have never had the opportunity to get any
EJB experience. I even took an EJB training course but companies don't
count that as valid. So I'm thinking about getting J2EE certified. I
played around with JBoss at home but companies don't feel that counts
either. They are only talking to those that have been "paid" for this
experience.

For someone thinking about this, what's the best place to start and what is
the typical route for doing the certification?

thanks again...

 

[Tim Jowers]

any

So, isn't Struts still JSP/servlets; meaning it does not leverage the
whole reasons for J2EE (built-in transaction support, pooling,
distributed execution, object system, naming service, and security)?
Don;t you have to manage transactions manually unless you use EJBs?
Please let me know as I know little about Struts.

What is it with companies these days? Most of the offers I see seem to think

Companies do not know the difference between hackers and engineers.
Probably the certification problem is because the Computer Engineers
failed to create a real certification program. Most all states have
"Professional Engineer" licenses and restrict the use of the term
Engineer to those that are licensed. Likewise for Doctors, Attorneys,
and Pharmacists. Since we tried to be inclusive by not doing this, we
failed to reaize some business person who doesn't even have an
engineering degree would stand up and claim to be the certification
authority. Really! As engineers we need to correct this if ever we
expect this to get better. Right now we have the equivalent of witch
doctors as the certifications do not certify understanding but just
experience with a particular product. Just like certifying an
Architect just because he knows how to use autocad!!!
....

or, more specifically,

http://www.jcert.org/jobroles/enterpriseDev.html

The only reason I could see myself trying to complete the program is if I
knew I could pass all the required exams resonably straightforwardly without
having to take the courses that cover the material in the exams.
Unfortunately, the certificate requires knowledge of one of BEA's, IBM's, or
Sun's J2EE servers in significant detail, and either I pick that up on the
job or take a class. So I haven't bothered with this program. (Incidently,
the first exam required for this certification is the same exam for "Sun
Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform.")

Really silly isn't it? Today anyone who knows how to confgure the XML
files is almost a dinosaur since all major tools have wizards for
this. Just like those "makefile" experts from the early 90's. I guess
some folks like working on details even when a simpler way exists.
Truly all that can be said is the XML configuration files are a
shortcut for not having spent the time to make admin GUIs. An excuse
that was acceptable about a decade ago but now just makes one consider
using .Net. BTW, when is Sun going to release their updated Web
Services tutorial (summer of 03 is well underway)? Talk about slack.
One can clickety-click with VB.Net but AFAICT still has to weed
through layers of tutorial to create a web service in Java. Maybe it
is just me but I feel Sun is falling behind M$FT here and that is sad.
The only saving grace is the Open Source movement which promises new
products faster than M$FT. Perhaps it is time for Java to become an
Apache project so it can fly rather than crawl. I'm being extreme but
would like to see Java be the best platform.

My $.02, TimJowers