I am an unemployed web developer with php, perl, and asp programming
experience and in order to be able to widen my job search I am
considering getting some formal training in Java. I am looking for
training recommendations in order to be able to do Java web development.
Also will this training be appealing to prospective employers or just
a waste of my time and money. Any feedback I get will be greatly
appreciated.
I wouldn't say the training would be a waste of time and money, if it
gives you a firm foundation in Java, but I doubt that the training
alone would make you competitive in the current Java job market. There
are too many Java developers available with RW experience. My own
opinion of most formal technical training is that if it's not followed
up with a significant amount of applying what you've learned to actual
projects, then it will be mostly forgotten, and in that case it would
be a waste of time and money. It'd be kind of like taking piano
lessions but never actually practicing on the piano.
I would advise you to spend the money you would otherwise spend on
training on a collection of books on the core Java language and its
related technololgies-- Servlets, JSP, EJB, Swing, etc. etc.--and then
get busy reading the books and writing real code. Fortunately,
virtually all of the development tools you'll need can be had for
free. Write actual, useful applications after you've mastered the
basic Hello World stuff. If you want to learn Java web stuff (which is
probably where most of the opportunities still are) write something
useful and challenging like a bugtracker, or a web front-end for CVS,
or a threaded discussion forum.
By doing what I described above, the knowledge you would gain would
stay with you, rather than be forgotten in a few weeks. You would
(presumably) be able to handle any technical interviews well.
Moreover, having real code to show to prospective employers would make
you a known, proven quantity, which would give you an edge (assuming
the code is well-crafted) even over those experienced developers who
could only talk about the work they've done for previous employers.
And it would show them evidence of a certain drive and self-direction
that should appeal to most programming managers.