What should I learn next? Please help.

[Anks]

hi,

Last week I cleared SCJP 1.4 cert. But apart from that I know nothing
abt Java (i.e. J2EE/ swing etc). I am a fresher and would like to have
knowledge before going for a job hunt. I am having abt 3-4 months in
my hands for studies. I am confused as what to do next. Should I learn
Servlet/JSP/EJB or swing or ???. I am also thinking to take another
Java cert. So please suggest the area that can help me to get job.

Thank You.

 

[Jacob]

Last week I cleared SCJP 1.4 cert. But apart from that I know nothing
abt Java (i.e. J2EE/ swing etc). I am a fresher and would like to have
knowledge before going for a job hunt. I am having abt 3-4 months in
my hands for studies. I am confused as what to do next. Should I learn
Servlet/JSP/EJB or swing or ???. I am also thinking to take another
Java cert. So please suggest the area that can help me to get job.

Mathematics

 

[kaeli]

hi,

Last week I cleared SCJP 1.4 cert. But apart from that I know nothing
abt Java (i.e. J2EE/ swing etc). I am a fresher and would like to have
knowledge before going for a job hunt. I am having abt 3-4 months in
my hands for studies. I am confused as what to do next. Should I learn
Servlet/JSP/EJB or swing or ???. I am also thinking to take another
Java cert. So please suggest the area that can help me to get job.

Thank You.

Look at the job postings for your area.
See some you might like?
Learn whatever they all ask for.


--

 

[kevin]

Look at the job postings for your area.
See some you might like?
Learn whatever they all ask for.

learn whatever they ask for is good advice, but be warned, that many
employers want experience that you will not have if you are new. You
will need to find an employer that will accept your lack of practical
experience and this might be the *big* problem for you. I would look
for jobs advertised as suiting a graduate, or a starter first, then
look for what they want in addition, and learn that. Some employers
are willing to let you "cross train". ie if you have 2 yrs access vba
or COBOL, then they want you *bad* as they are moving Access or COBOL
systems to java ( get the idea? ). You seem keen, and eager to learn.
An employer reading this would be impressed, so put that forward. The
ability to learn fast can compensate for a lack of direct experience.
Good luck.

 

[Alan Meyer]

hi,

Last week I cleared SCJP 1.4 cert. But apart from that I know nothing
abt Java (i.e. J2EE/ swing etc). I am a fresher and would like to have
knowledge before going for a job hunt. I am having abt 3-4 months in
my hands for studies. I am confused as what to do next. Should I learn
Servlet/JSP/EJB or swing or ???. I am also thinking to take another
Java cert. So please suggest the area that can help me to get job.

Thank You.

Learning specific skills is great, but personally, I think
it's even more important to learn general computer science.
Too many young programmers (and, unfortunately, too
many old ones too) are proficient at specific tools
but don't really understand how a computer works.

Studying a book on algorithms and data structures is
fundamental. Other useful subjects are computer
organization, operating systems, compilers, networking,
and data base management systems.

Some programmers think, Why do I need to study that
stuff? I'm not going to design a computer, OS, compiler,
or DBMS, and the algorithms and data structures I'll use
are all in the Java API.

But deeper understanding informs all of your programming,
makes all of it better, and gives you a far better
understanding of how to solve difficult problems. It
also makes it easier to talk intelligently to an employer.

That's my two cents anyway.

Alan

 

[Dave Glasser]

(e-mail address removed) (Anks) wrote on 1 Oct 2004 02:54:47 -0700 in
comp.lang.java.programmer:

hi,

Last week I cleared SCJP 1.4 cert. But apart from that I know nothing
abt Java (i.e. J2EE/ swing etc). I am a fresher and would like to have
knowledge before going for a job hunt. I am having abt 3-4 months in
my hands for studies. I am confused as what to do next. Should I learn
Servlet/JSP/EJB or swing or ???. I am also thinking to take another
Java cert. So please suggest the area that can help me to get job.

My sense of the Java job market (in the eastern US) is that
Servlets/JSP is still one of the most common requirements, as it has
been for a few years. EJB demand has been slacking off, although
learning the basics would not be a waste of your time, and Struts is
starting to appear more and more frequently in job advertisements.

I also think that the SCJP cert was a good move, given your lack of
professional experience. But I think one of the best things you could
do to give yourself a competitive edge in the job market would be to
write some non-trivial, production quality code that you could show
prospective employers. Here's a list of project ideas:

http://mindprod.com/projects/projects.html

I don't know if any of those ideas are for web-based projects,
however, and I think your time would be better invested in a web-based
project. Think of something that involves Servlets, JSPs and and a
relational database (which you might use EJB to access) and write it,
improve it, and perhaps release it as an open source project. Maybe a
blog server, or something along those lines. This project:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/itracker

was done by a guy for the purpose of learning J2EE technologies, and
he has a decent-sized user base now.



--
Check out QueryForm, a free, open source, Java/Swing-based
front end for relational databases.

http://qform.sourceforge.net

If you're a musician, check out RPitch Relative Pitch
Ear Training Software.

http://rpitch.sourceforge.net

 

[Hal Rosser]

hi,

Last week I cleared SCJP 1.4 cert. But apart from that I know nothing
abt Java (i.e. J2EE/ swing etc). I am a fresher and would like to have
knowledge before going for a job hunt. I am having abt 3-4 months in
my hands for studies. I am confused as what to do next. Should I learn
Servlet/JSP/EJB or swing or ???. I am also thinking to take another
Java cert. So please suggest the area that can help me to get job.

Thank You.

Servlets and JSP is good, AND
A few courses in Accounting won't hurt
when Writing code for business processes it helps a lot to understand the
process

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

kaeli coughed up:

....[thwack]...

I agree with one of the images in your web site. Don't declaw your cat.
And don't believe that "it can still climb trees" with 2.

 

[Anks]

Thank you very much friends.

I have done Masters in Computer Application so I have knowledge of all
the fundamentals (DBMS/Compiler/Data Structures/OS/etc..etc...). In
fact I have topped my country in Data Structures through C paper.

I know its very difficult to get a job without experience but still I
think some small s/w firm might take me (Everybody has to start from
low level).

I have also done C# (although not very extensively) and created a s/w
(Email address Extractor from web and local files) which I have
submitted to be included in an IT magazine. If they include my s/w in
their CD/DVD I guess it will also help me to get initial job.

I guess creating a web based project is very good idea. A few more
question, please help me on them too. I shall be pleased:

1. Can you guys suggest me some topic on those web based project. I am
a beginner in this so at this level I cannot think abt it, as I don't
know Servlet/JSP.

2. Will it be worth to take SCWCD cert along with making the project,
because I have to learn Servlet/JSP from scratch.

A big thanks to all of you.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

I have also .. created a s/w
(Email address Extractor from web and local files)

Have you considered using your powers, ..for *good*?

--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology
http://www.lensescapes.com/ Images that escape the mundane

 

[Anks]

Have you considered using your powers, ..for *good*?

Mr. Andrew Thompson it was a hobby project not something for
commercial use. BTW you didn't guide me either by replying properly to
what I had asked. Just by pulling someone's leg is by no means good.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Mr. Andrew Thompson it was a hobby project not something for
commercial use.

M. Anks, whether it is for commercial use is an inconsequential detail,
the important thing is whether you intend to distribute or allow it to
be used *at* *all*. (And ..if not, it is hardly suitable as a showcase
of your programming talents)

If your hobby was genetically engineering ebola variants, or playing
with thermonuclear weapons, it is little comfort after the genie escapes
that you were not 'doing it for profit'.

..BTW you didn't guide me either by replying properly to
what I had asked.

BTW - You have a well developed sense of self-entitlement.

That might go well when you are paying for consultancy, but this is
neither a consultancy nor a 'help-desk', it is a discussion forum.

..Just by pulling someone's leg is by no means good.

Ahhh grass-hopper.
"Evil will indeed triumph if good men remain silent"

--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology
http://www.lensescapes.com/ Images that escape the mundane

 

[Anks]

BTW - You have a well developed sense of self-entitlement.

That might go well when you are paying for consultancy, but this is
neither a consultancy nor a 'help-desk', it is a discussion forum.

Ah, I guess those who tried to help me are either dumb or insane. Look
guys, we have an intellectual *at last* who thinks that discussion
forums are not meant to help/guide anyone.

 

[Chris Uppal]

Ah, I guess those who tried to help me are either dumb or insane. Look
guys, we have an intellectual *at last* who thinks that discussion
forums are not meant to help/guide anyone.

There are at least three reasons for replying to a post.

1) that there is something interesting in it that I (or whoever) want to
discuss (whether OT for this newsgroup or not -- e.q. humour is not entirely
missing).

2) that there is something interesting about the topic that I want to discuss,
and which -- as it happens -- will give you a solution or lead to a problem you
may have.

3) I wish to try to help a fellow programmer.

The first two are common. The third is common enough too, but could be
considered off-topic for this group (by a purist, anyway -- and purists are no
rarer around here than humour). That's what Andrew was trying to tell you:
this is /not/ a help-desk.

You seem to be making the mistake of thinking that only (3) applies. (And
further, that (3) applies even when the poster assumes an attitude of priggish
self-satisfaction. I don't know whether that's really what you are like, but
that's the way your requests have sounded to me -- perhaps it's just a
culture/language difference.)

-- chris