Java certificate, will it help?

[jminsy]

I'm junior software programmer.

I've been doing 1.5 years of PHP, and 0.5 years of Java with Eclipse.
I want to become Java Programmer,

Will getting java certificate help to get java jobs?

If so, what java certificates should I get?

Where, and how do I get these?

Thanks!

[world25]

I'm junior software programmer.

I've been doing 1.5 years of PHP, and 0.5 years of Java with Eclipse.
I want to become Java Programmer,

Will getting java certificate help to get java jobs?

If so, what java certificates should I get?

Where, and how do I get these?

Thanks!

Getting a java certificate will definitely help you land a few job interviews.

What will get you the job offer is being able to answer tough Java questions during the interview.

At the end of the course: my professor e-mailed everyone and recommended to purchase this book: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/usedbooks/Java-J2ee-Job-Interview-Companion-Arulkumaran-Kumaraswamipillai-Sivayini-Arulkumaran/grp10170428-1411668243-rare.html?ikwid=java%2fj2ee+job+interview+companio n&ikwsec=Books

Good luck!

[evanx]

Go for the OCJP and OCJD certs. They help in landing an interview but like the other poster pointed out, solving the problems in the technical interview is another story.

With only 6 months of Java experience, you will need to brush up on JEE concepts to help bolster weak areas. Try projects at home with spring, a popular platform. Many enterprise software firms are working with that.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[damnos]

In my personal opinion: no, at least not much.

Having certifications only show that you can memorize stuff and write the exam, at least that's the case with the programmer level one, SCJP if I am not mistaken. So I wouldn't value it much if at all

Certificate doesn't show whether or not you can actually write a good code, whether you can design, and whether or not you understand the fundamentals of programming and Java itself

Best way is to get real experiences, get projects or if needed, get a new job that will get you relevant experiences. No amount of certificates will make up for experiences.

I am a developer primarily in Java and I don't have a single certificate.

[yads12]

Getting a java certificate will definitely help you land a few job interviews.

What will get you the job offer is being able to answer tough Java questions during the interview.

At the end of the course: my professor e-mailed everyone and recommended to purchase this book: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/usedbooks/Java-J2ee-Job-Interview-Companion-Arulkumaran-Kumaraswamipillai-Sivayini-Arulkumaran/grp10170428-1411668243-rare.html?ikwid=java%2fj2ee+job+interview+companio n&ikwsec=Books

Good luck!

Can't speak about the book, but this is the correct answer. Having the certification will help you land the interviews, but will not land you the job.

[Biff88]

jminsy, go for a Java certification. Since you only have .5 years of experience with Java, studying/preparing for the exam(s) will accelerate your learning of the language.
This in itself will help you get a job in the future and while the certification itself may not help you attain a job, it certainly will not hurt and would probably look good on a candidates resume who may be a bit short on experience.
One caveat, it won't put you equal footing with experienced developers with say 5 years experience or anything like that, but your knowledge base of the language will increase.

I did Oracle developer certification while I was learning years back and found that it helped me learn content that I had never used in my first job.

[testinz]

Learn Spring, it will help you getting a job.

[jminsy]

thanks for great advices.

I will study Spring, seems like it's used very commonly, and study for Java certificate.

Anyone know where I can apply? or good websites to look at?

[mikeydavison]

With your limited experience the certificate certainly won't hurt. If anything it'll show some initiative on your part. Beyond the core language stuff you'll come across in the exam prep I'd consider taking a look at Spring and/or Java EE. One of those will give you a sense of what most professional Java work actually looks like.

I'd also recommend taking a look at the books Effective Java by Joshua Bloch and Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel. Both are a bit outdated but are excellent references.

[vero95]

not really important. an employer usually looks at what you were using at your previous position and not what certificate you have
it may help a bit but if this is a big effort, it's not worth it