After getting 90% in the SCJP certificate, I was more hungry for Java certifications, so I decided to take both the SCWCD and SCBCD exams, yes I prepared for both exams in parallel. Why? because my company offered to pay for the SCWCD, and I wanted to get certified as fast as possible and it seemed a bit strange to ask for the SCBCD in the same time, so I decided to buy it by my own, and ask for a refund later (which I didn’t have because I changed company after one week of my certification).
Since I work in the web development field, preparing for the SCWCD was not from zero, I already worked intensively with Servlets, JSPs, JSTL, and other stuff. For the SCBCD I already had a good experience with Hibernate and ORM technologies which helped a bit, but almost zero experience in EJB3 session beans, so preparing for the SCBCD required more time and attention.
Preparation
Again the first thing to do before starting your study is to know what is the exam about by reading the exam objectives, for both the SCWCD and SCBCD. Pay attention to the business component objectives because there is no complete book that will cover the whole exam material, so you will need to know what stuff to learn, from different sources.
Books to Read
The best book for the SCWCD exam is Head First Servlets & JSP known as HFSJ by Brayan Bashman, Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. This book is really amazing, it introduces the material in a unique and entertaining way that will make you very enthusiast to read and learn more and more (In this book, Servlets talk with Application Servers, very funny and interesting conversations). There is a mock exam at the end of the book DON’T DO IT before reading the book once or twice, this mock exam is very close to the real one.
For the SCBCD the situation is different, When I did it there was no book dedicated for the exam, so I had to check more carefully the exam objectives and select appropriate chapters from different books, the books I studied for the exam are:
1. Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0.
2. Manning: EJB3 in Action.
3. Pro EJB3.
The first two books would be enough (I just skimmed the Pro EJB3), in addition to these books its highly recommended to read the Mikalai Zaikin study notes, read them after you finished reading at least one book.
Mockup questions
For the SCWCD the mock questions at the end of the HFSJ book are enough, but to get more confidence here are some links:
1. JavaRanch Mock Exam
2. JDiscuss
3. Marcus Green Exam
for the SCBCD exam, I bought the EnthuWare exam simulator, I bought it because there was no complete book that covered the whole material (like the HFSJ for the SCWCD), so I wanted to be more confident. This simulator have something around 400 questions, do them all and you will pass the exam without problems.
Finally as the Java Programmer certification, if you have any question or any doubt just post it on the JavaRanch, there are dedicated forums for each exam.
What You Learned?
After getting certified what changed? the nice thing is that now I better know how to use the technology. But something more important is that now I know how it works from the inside, I know how the Application Server works with those J2EE components. In addition I got stronger web development architecting skills, I can build better and robust architectures for web applications, in addition to portable and distributable applications.
And finally as I mentioned they are other two lines in your CV that will help making you pass recruiters quality filter.
Whats Next?
I didn’t decided yet, but I was thinking of one or two Oracle certifications, but not right now. For now I just want to relax and have fun, no more certifications for 6 months :-)
Next: Worst 5 Code Snippets Till Now
Preparation
Again the first thing to do before starting your study is to know what is the exam about by reading the exam objectives, for both the SCWCD and SCBCD. Pay attention to the business component objectives because there is no complete book that will cover the whole exam material, so you will need to know what stuff to learn, from different sources.
Books to Read
The best book for the SCWCD exam is Head First Servlets & JSP known as HFSJ by Brayan Bashman, Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. This book is really amazing, it introduces the material in a unique and entertaining way that will make you very enthusiast to read and learn more and more (In this book, Servlets talk with Application Servers, very funny and interesting conversations). There is a mock exam at the end of the book DON’T DO IT before reading the book once or twice, this mock exam is very close to the real one.
For the SCBCD the situation is different, When I did it there was no book dedicated for the exam, so I had to check more carefully the exam objectives and select appropriate chapters from different books, the books I studied for the exam are:
1. Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0.
2. Manning: EJB3 in Action.
3. Pro EJB3.
The first two books would be enough (I just skimmed the Pro EJB3), in addition to these books its highly recommended to read the Mikalai Zaikin study notes, read them after you finished reading at least one book.
Mockup questions
For the SCWCD the mock questions at the end of the HFSJ book are enough, but to get more confidence here are some links:
1. JavaRanch Mock Exam
2. JDiscuss
3. Marcus Green Exam
for the SCBCD exam, I bought the EnthuWare exam simulator, I bought it because there was no complete book that covered the whole material (like the HFSJ for the SCWCD), so I wanted to be more confident. This simulator have something around 400 questions, do them all and you will pass the exam without problems.
Finally as the Java Programmer certification, if you have any question or any doubt just post it on the JavaRanch, there are dedicated forums for each exam.
What You Learned?
After getting certified what changed? the nice thing is that now I better know how to use the technology. But something more important is that now I know how it works from the inside, I know how the Application Server works with those J2EE components. In addition I got stronger web development architecting skills, I can build better and robust architectures for web applications, in addition to portable and distributable applications.
And finally as I mentioned they are other two lines in your CV that will help making you pass recruiters quality filter.
Whats Next?
I didn’t decided yet, but I was thinking of one or two Oracle certifications, but not right now. For now I just want to relax and have fun, no more certifications for 6 months :-)
Next: Worst 5 Code Snippets Till Now
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