Sun Certified Java Programmer : Older Exams

[javaprog200]

Hello,

Are any of the older exams for the Sun Certified Java Programmer certification available online? I was able to find mock exams and other test prep material. Just wondering if earlier exams are available.

Thank you!

[rubberman]

Frankly, we hire a LOT of java programmers (we have over 200 in my department), and certification never comes up, though we will ask the candidate to solve some fundamental programming problems. When I was interviewed, I was asked to write a factorial function in the language of my choice. Why? Because we have found that most of these certifications are kind of like degrees. We all know what BS means. MS? Just More of the Same. PhD? More of the Same, just Piled Higher and Deeper! :-) Anyway, a degree may mean something, but is not always necessary. After all, I am a senior systems engineer at a major international company, was principal engineer and architect at another major company, am a published author of graduate level engineering text books, and have a US patent to my credit as sole inventor (owned by a fortune 50 corporation), yet I am a non-degreed engineer. I am also a member and officer of the IEEE-USA.

So to me, and my team when we are hiring Java developers, what does a "certificate" mean? Not a whole lot, honestly. Write code. Contribute to open source initiatives. Be comfortable with your abilities, yet cognizant of your limitations. When you are interviewed for a position, if you don't know the answer to a question, just say so. No one can know everything, and honesty is a major positive!

[stultuske]

what do you mean: find them online? they're still being used afaik. they changed the name, not the contents, so why would they change the exam?

rubberman: yup, over here, a certificiation is about just that: nice to fill two weeks you have in between jobs, not to have gaps on your resume, but not an alternative to experience. there are, however, countries where trying to get a job without a certificate is an automatical 'no'.

[rotten69]

@rubberman, since you're open about your experiences in life, I want to ask you a question. How did you become an engineer without having a tertiary degree? Because there're things that we learn from life but we dont get them taught at uni and vice-versa. I guess Uni is a way of introducing things to us then we do the hard work to build up our knowledge!