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I'm looking to take the Java 2 Certified Programmer exam sometime in late January or early February, and I would appreciate any advice on the test, and recommendations for study guides as well. I'm specifically trying to decide if I should take the 1.4 test directly, or take the 1.2 test first then the update test.

Why do you need to take a test conducted by someone else to show that you know Java?
Any particular reason? (I sure your good at it anyway)

I'd suggest to take 1.4 straight away, since 1.2 and 1.4 pretty much overlap. Not to mention it would be a lot more expensive to take 1.2 and upgrade later. Good luck anyway!

Neo: Just knowing Java (or whatever language, or skill) doesn't get you a job, a certificate will help you greatly when you're looking for one.

Neo wrote: Why do you need to take a test conducted by someone else to show that you know Java?
Any particular reason? (I sure your good at it anyway)

I may have convinced you, but convincing a prospective employer is another matter.

Even then, they'll probably underpay you, as they tend to pay by paper. If you only have a paper from highschool, yet you can design and build Hoover Dam from scratch again, they'll still pay you as if you were somebody with only a paper from highschool. In those cases, getting a reputation's the thing to do... that they'll pay for your name, not for a scrap of paper.

I took the 1.4 Certification Exam about 3 months ago. It's actually very easy *IF* you study, because it's a bunch of multiple choice questions...

If you don't study because you think you know Java, then you will fail miserably. 100% guaranteed. You NEED a study guide.

The book I used was: Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide by Philip Heller and Simon Roberts - two guys who worked for Sun and designed the original test. It contains the programmer and developer chapters for both tests. It took me about 3 weeks to study for it and I got 78% ... I thought I would get full marks. It's a picky, nuisance of a test.

After you pass, you'll receive a really bad print out of a certificate a few weeks later along with a cool little badge and card saying that you're certified. It's a disappointment.

However, my certification did get me hired for a new job a few days later. So time spent is worth it - if only in the eyes of employers and managers.

There are lots of free mock exams on the internet (try google for them). Take as many as you can before you take the real test and you'll get a good indication of how well you know your stuff.

@kon-tiki: it can be even worse. In Austrian Social Security, you don't get paid for your "papers", no matter how many of them you have (and I have two of them - one from a commercial academy, and another one from a rather sophisticated and difficult higher technical academy), but for kinda time you are already in the house and for the "position" you take - not as if it represents what you are doing - for they consider us computing engineers to be kinda overpaid, so they keep us down.

But in general it is: the more and better you can prove your knowledge, the better. As durand f. ex. shows: having some certificate in hand can open doors - if you are selling your knowledge good.

Also having any handicap isn't good for searching employment - here in Austria f. ex. Me has bad ears, so no matter how good my exams are, most of the bosses seek "young, good educated lads with *team work skills*" They consider being able to communicate by speech flawless a High Important thing for *team work skills*. (Pah, morons.Team work=one does the grunt work and others brag around with it.) They ask you: Why haven't you been in military service? You tell them and watch their faces getting longer and longer and you know by then: this won't work out.

I fall throu any crappy assessment center tests for I canna discuss with others - I simply don't understand them. *shrugs* That's for job hunting in our modern times.

stay safe.