Which of these cert is the easiest to get?

zackmax

hi guys,

Trying to get Script and Programming courses waived at WGU.
scripting and programming - foundations
scripting and programming - applications


Which of these is the easiest cert to get?

• Sun for the Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (CX-310-065) or Edition 5 (CX-310-055) or Edition 1.4 (CX-310-035)
• Oracle Certified Associate (OCA, Java SE 7 Programmer (Programmer I exam: 1Z0-803 Java SE 7 Programmer I and/or 1Z0-804 Java SE 7 Programmer II)
• MCSD for Microsoft .NET
• MCAD
• MCPD Windows
• MCPD Enterprise
• Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD)
• Sun Certified Developer for Java Web Services (SCDJWS)
• Sun Certified Developer (SCJD)
• Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer (SCMAD)
• Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD)
• Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA)

Thanks!

Danielm7

Whichever one most closely gels with your past experience and abilities? If you're trying to get a basic scripting and programming class waived you might find that a bunch/most/all of those certs are going to be even harder than the class.

zackmax

any of these certs waives both courses
scripting and programming - foundations
scripting and programming - applications


If I went for the class
intro to algorithms (for scripting and programming - foundations)
Object Oriented Development (for scripting and programming - applications)


I don't have a programming bg but a sysadmin one.


Thanks!

Danielm7

Right, as did I, my point was learning .net development or passing a cert on mobile app development without any programming background is going to be very hard/impossible. You'd be better off working on the intro classes @ WGU and passing those, probably less frustrating and you might actually learn something you can use going forward.

zackmax

Thanks. How long did it take you to complete each of those classes?
Were you f/t or p/t ?

OctalDump

Probably a few of those can be crossed off the list since they are no longer offered.
Pretty sure the first two are all just different versions of the same thing.

The Sun ones might all be dead, too. I'd google to see what is there.
Or have a look at Oracle's current certs:
Java and Middleware | Certification | Oracle

MCPD is essentially deprecated, and I think those specific MCPDs are retired. MCAD is retired.

So, really the choice is probably just MCSD .Net or Oracle OCA Java 7. Both are relatively challenging.

Danielm7

zackmax wrote: »

Thanks. How long did it take you to complete each of those classes?
Were you f/t or p/t ?

FT at work, if you meant full or part time @ WGU I don't think there is even an option. I didn't take all the same classes, we had more java classes than the security program needs to take today, so it's not really a valid comparison. As for how quickly anyone else learned something, it's just not relevant to how quickly someone else did. You'll find people online who took 6 years to finish a BS in business there, others did it in 4 months.

Don't get hung up on whether something will take you an extra week or two, focus on the end goal and learning what you need to learn. As OctalDump pointed out, a lot of those certs aren't even available anymore, and looking over the MCSD requirements you wouldn't stand a chance of passing the (3?) exams without significant programming experience and study.

I wish we had a scripting option when I went to WGU, I mentioned it to my mentor repeatedly that I would have rather had a scripting class and a python class than a bunch of web design ones and Java when really I don't use any of that in security.

OctalDump

Danielm7 wrote: »

I wish we had a scripting option when I went to WGU, I mentioned it to my mentor repeatedly that I would have rather had a scripting class and a python class than a bunch of web design ones and Java when really I don't use any of that in security.

I'm not WGU alumnus, but I found the same thing with course I looked at. You can do course is Java and C, you can do courses in web programming - PHP, javascript etc. But good courses on just scripting and system programming with scripting - near impossible to find. Even within programs that are about Linux/Unix admin, where you will script all day long in the real world, and it's treated as a triviality, like "Don't worry. It's easy, you'll pick it up." Which you do, after putting in all the effort to teach yourself and reading other people's code and buying half a dozen books.

It's probably why scripting is such a mess.

It's really screaming out for some good structure courses. Maybe even things that teach you stuff like "This is a good use case for python, this is easier with perl. These are 12 common problems, and these are 12 common solutions. This is what a good script looks like. This is a mess that should be sent to /dev/null". There is some art to it. I guess because it's not "real programming" it doesn't appeal to the comp sci types that run some of these programs.

zackmax

ok thanks. I guess I gotta go with the courses then.

cloudyknight

It will be alot more effort and money to figure out which study materials to use, buy them, buy an exam voucher, and drive to a testing center for a certification. WGU has everything laid out for you. All you have to do is dig in and get it done.

iBrokeIT

cloudyknight wrote: »

It will be alot more effort and money to figure out which study materials to use, buy them, buy an exam voucher, and drive to a testing center for a certification. WGU has everything laid out for you. All you have to do is dig in and get it done.

Agree 100%, scripting and programming are under rated skills you should not be looking to skip out on