SCJP: Is it worth it?

Question

Is the SCJP certification considered to be impressive by most companies?
Can it make the difference between being hired or not?
Thanks

Answer 1

Is the SCJP certification considered to beimpressive
by most companies?Depends on the who and the company and the country.
If a supervisor has taken and passed the exam, they
might be impressed. The exam is very difficult, even
for experience programmers.
The exam is difficult for many people, but NOT because of the topics being covered.
It's difficult because of the way the questions are worded, covering rather basic topics for the most part.
The simple fact that kids fresh out of college who've never programmed before can cram for it for a few weeks and get high scores (in the 90% range) first try says enough.
Now does it matter. Does the company actually check
with Sun to see if a candidate is telling the truth?
Has the company hired phony programmers in the past?
Ah. But a lot of phony programmers are guys having high scores at certification exams without ever having used the knowledge those exams are supposed to test.
>
Can it make the difference between being hired ornot?
I doubt it. Again, it depends on who is making the
decision and the requirements of the position.
Given 2 otherwise equally suitable candidates, it might make a difference.
Otherwise, it might hinder you (personally, and it was that way in several companies I worked in, I'd rather hire someone with more formal education than someone with a lot of certificates, especially if there was no work experience to back up those certs) .
Is it still worth it to take the exam? Yes, it will
be a good excercise. If you pass the exam, then youStudying for the exam can help highlight gaps in your knowledge, having a set date to gain that knowledge can be a good incentive to sit down with those books that you've had sitting in your bookcase but never got around to read.
That, and the satisfaction of a nice score, are the real benefits.
resume will NOT do the trick. There are many
programmers that put SCJP that never get certified
and never take the exam, yet they put it on their
resume and lie about their achievements. When theNever heard of that happening. It's fraud and can get you fired.
tough projects come, they typically fold under
pressure and leave or get their employment contract
axed.
Most people who end up like that DID in fact pass the exam but passed it without actually knowing their stuff.
They crammed for a few weeks, leaving them with short term memory retention of enough data to pass the exam but no real knowledge and long term retention (which comes only from actively using that knowledge for a prolonged period of time).
They then fail under pressure because they've forgotten everything again, just like what happens to many kids in school who don't do their homework but cram for tests.
And that is the Truth Ruth :o)