Long before I got my foot in the door as a "real" developer, I'd always had a desire to get a passing mark on the Java Sun certification (SCJP). I even picked up a monstrous tome for Java 5 to help prep, but never made much progress through it. Now that I've been looking at the transition from Flex to a more java-centric approach, I'm finding the fires rekindled. Now that Oracle has taken the reins from Sun, I've started looking into the updated Java certification requirements. It looks like they've split the cert into at least two levels, with an Associate and Professional, respectively.
I've started compiling some resources that may prove useful:
Oracle certifaction
Certification tracks
I can live with the fact that the cert exam will cost a bit. At $350, it's expensive enough that I'd not approach the exam lightly, which I'm sure is the intention. However, I find it a bit chafing that the prep materials are also fairly steep, so it's obvious that there is a bit of an economy built up around these certifications, which I guess should come as no surprise.
The one bone they've thrown is a small set of sample questions:
Sample questions
I suppose now I'll have to start hunting down some free resources, as I doubt my employer will be buying me the required training materials.
Luckily for me, our parent company SAS does provide access to a Safari books subscription, where I did find a couple titles.
This one seemed promising - however, Amazon reviews did not have the kindest words for it.
Oracle Certified Associate Programmer Study Guide
While looking on Amazon, I did recognize this title, which their readers do review well. Sounds like a title that does cover the topic well - also sounds like it does a fair job of preparing readers for the certification.
Java 7 SE Programming Essentials, John Wiley
Digging some more into their results turned up this interesting title, which seems right up my alley. However, I'm not sure if it would be quite as beneficial for the certification prep.
The Well-Grounded Java Developer: Vital techniques of Java 7 and polyglot programming
I'll try and give some feedback on whichever titles or resources I may find valuable in this process.
Followup:
I've started compiling some resources that may prove useful:
Oracle certifaction
Certification tracks
I can live with the fact that the cert exam will cost a bit. At $350, it's expensive enough that I'd not approach the exam lightly, which I'm sure is the intention. However, I find it a bit chafing that the prep materials are also fairly steep, so it's obvious that there is a bit of an economy built up around these certifications, which I guess should come as no surprise.
The one bone they've thrown is a small set of sample questions:
Sample questions
I suppose now I'll have to start hunting down some free resources, as I doubt my employer will be buying me the required training materials.
Luckily for me, our parent company SAS does provide access to a Safari books subscription, where I did find a couple titles.
This one seemed promising - however, Amazon reviews did not have the kindest words for it.
Oracle Certified Associate Programmer Study Guide
While looking on Amazon, I did recognize this title, which their readers do review well. Sounds like a title that does cover the topic well - also sounds like it does a fair job of preparing readers for the certification.
Java 7 SE Programming Essentials, John Wiley
Digging some more into their results turned up this interesting title, which seems right up my alley. However, I'm not sure if it would be quite as beneficial for the certification prep.
The Well-Grounded Java Developer: Vital techniques of Java 7 and polyglot programming
I'll try and give some feedback on whichever titles or resources I may find valuable in this process.
Followup:
While looking for code samples for the Programming Essentials book, I did run across Oracles own tutorial resources for both Exam I & II:
Tutorials: Programmer Level I Exam
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