SCJA vrs MCPD

david_duckie

Hi all,
With the recession hitting hard, competition has become fierce in my part of the world to get grad development jobs. Of the jobs I've went for so far, they haven't cared if you are Java or C#.net trained as long as you are one. I'm wanting to start certification in one of the above while I have this job hunting time to study like mad. I've looked quickly at SCJA cert for Java and the MCPD cert for .Net.

I was originally leaning towards the microsoft stuff but the first exam "70-536: Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Development Foundation" was somewhat off putting. It looked like it might bore me to death being more designed for a developer with a few years work experience. While the SCJA looked like it had a clearer learning curve beginning from the academic grounding I have from leaving university moving into the more comprehensive later in the cert.

Can anyone tell me if my compass is way off or if I am correct? And which they would advise as best for building on my entry level experience.

Thanks
David

JDMurray

You are right that the Java cert path from Sun Microsystems looks to be clearer in its objectives. Microsoft has so many products and technologies that it's difficult to know the best thing for a softwrae person to get into for a new career.

You really can't go wrong going either the Java or .NET path, and you can expect to really be in demand if you manage to do both. In any case, Web development is a VERY big thing in both worlds. Take a look on dice.com what C#/ASP.NET 3.5 developers with 5+ years of experience are making in places like NY and Los Angeles.

shednik

Do you have a preference in language? Java and C# are both in demand it all depends on what you like...if you think Sun has a better program then go for it. My personal feeling would be to go for Java just because of it being platform independent, but that's just me. I hope this helps...so I guess java would get my vote.

Daniel333

Who is Sun?

The reality is with programmers I have talked to certifications are not even a factor. To the point of that they (hiring managers) have never heard of them. If you really want to get your skills down you are going to need to know it all. C, C++, Java and C#. If you want to get ceritifed from the vendor do it for yourself. Like most things, the effort you put into it is what you get back out of it. Not the paper.

If you really want to increase your employability join up with an OpenSource project or two. ReactOS or any number of the thousands of Linux projects out there.

varelg

Hi David,
The way I read your post, you wonder which test covers the lower ground and if that is the case I would say SCJA is a lower-level cert (serves as an entry point into SCJP but you could go straight for SCJP without having to pass SCJA first) and MCPD is of higher-level equivalent to SCJP.
When Java 1.4 was latest and greatest from Sun, I was preparing for the SCJP exam (there wasn't SCJA at that time) but gave up on it to pursue other interests (and also saw how unecessarily obscure and sadistically complex questions on that test can be- they are not testing you for what you know but for what you don't know).
Daniel333 made a very good point mentioning employers that could care less about the cert you have. At the end it boils down to your motivation for getting a cert- is it to stuff your resume or become more proficient? You become more proficient with expirience, and once you can prove you have expirience (number of projects finished/years spent working in the related field) you don't really need a cert. On the other hand you need to put your foot in the door, and some employers require a cert before putting you on their payroll.
But it definitely helps to be a self- starter...