Is the effort you expend on Java certification worth the results?

The answer depends on the individual circumstances.

Who can benefit from certifications?

Those who might really benefit from certifications are those who have no experience and are looking for an entry-level position in the industry. If they are competing against newbies who have no certifications, that might give them an edge in getting that first job. Beyond that ...

If you are job hunting

-- Experience and how well you perform in your pre-interview written tests and job interviews are going to carry far more weight in making hiring decisions than some test result.

If you are working as a Java developer:

-- How well you translate your "knowledge" to skills in "getting things done" and "solving problems" is what matters than some test results.


Employers do look for your soft skills and personal attributes that add value to them

More than the certificate you receive, the real value is in the

• Learning process that disciplines you to sit and learn the core concepts. For example, prepare, learn, research, and practice.
• Qualities you exhibit like setting goals, commitment, and taking pride in your accomplishments.

So, just one certification would do, unless you are such an individual who lacks motivation and drive to study without a certificate. In general, talented developers are self-taught and constantly educate themselves to keep relevant with the changes. Employers love these so called on-going learners and ask the following question in the job interviews.

• Which sites do you frequent to get your technological updates?
• Who are your industry role models?
• What was the last article or book you read? When did you read that?
• Why do you like software development?
• How do you review quality of others' code?

Compliment your certification with the evidence of hands-on experience acquired via voluntary work, self taught projects, and open-source contribution. This will make you stand-out from other beginners who also happen to have certification.

Another differentiating factor is to prepare prior to your job interviews. Employers love good communicators. Unlike a test preparation where you work hard as an individual, in a real work environment you need to  interact with the multi-disciplinary teams and personalities to get the job done. So, you need to be a good communicator and have "can do" positive attitude to get things done.


Certified or not, you will be grilled in job interviews?

Prospective employers understand that lots of great Java professionals are not certified, and also not all certified professionals are good at getting things done. In interviews, your technical skills, experience, achievements, passion, confidence, soft skills, and personal attributes will be under scrutiny. So, it really pays to apply what you learn technically and non-technically to acquire the much needed hands-on experience. Some candidates look great on paper but are terrible at conveying ideas in the job interviews or team meetings. Prospective employers, especially the larger organizations with multidisciplinary teams favor hiring clear communicators with decent programming skills than hiring a superb programmer with terrible communication skills.


Do you talk up your on the job accomplishments or academic accomplishments?

Employers are after one thing -- "your ability to get the job done".  How do employers determine your ability to get the job done.

• Pre-interview  phone interview screening.
• Pre-interview coding and technical tests.
• Job interview performance -- both technical and soft skills will be under scrutiny.
• Once you get hired, you might be on probation and your ability to get the job done independently as well as in a team will be closely monitored.

 If you are an experienced professional, and try to talk up your academic achievements, your prospective employers will be concerned about your practical ability to get things done.

When technology is evolving at a rapid pace, can you afford to tinkering with the certification preparation?

When I changed my career from Mechanical engineering to Java in 1999, I had the same dilemma of preparing for Java certification (e.g. spend 3 to 6 months), or press ahead with  learning the sought-after technologies and frameworks. I opted for the second option.

1. Researched online job advertisements and Google trends to short list the technologies/frameworks in demand to get some hands-on experience via tutorials and self-taught projects.
2. Prepared for job interviews on the same topics via good books, online articles, and blog posts.

It did pay off for me. I always favor the path less traveled.

Do what works for you.  At the end of the day the most important thing is to get there and how you get there is up to you. So, ask yourself a few questions to determine what will keep you focused on your goals. Knowing and doing are 2 different things. So, become a doer. Start asking questions and writing code. Solve industrial challenges to succeed in your career.


What defines success?

Success means different things to different people. Failing is a life experience. Not getting that top grade on the exam you spent all night studying for, is an experience. Life experiences are a composite of all the skills necessary to get along in the real world. In college, it’s all about grades. In the real world, it’s about passion, action and experience. Once you get past the first job, no one is ever going to ask you about your grades. 

Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are men of tremendous achievement. Both of them did not succeed in a classroom.

Success isn't defined by what we manage to get, but rather by what we are able to give.

So, know your industry, be passionate, ask the right questions, and solve problems through innovative ideas.


Certification has its place, but enjoy it in moderation. There are other avenues like open-source contribution, learn-apply-let the world know, and self-taught projects to develop yourself as a well rounded professional, and I have covered them in detail in my book entitled "How to open more doors as a software engineer".

Take away point is this:

The least important thing is what you have like certificate, brainbench test score, or 1 year experience. The most important thing is what you have become like ability to solve business problems, dedication for ongoing learning, ability to communicate your thoughts, ability to work individually as well as a team, ability to market your skills, disciplining yourself to set goals and act on it, etc.


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Why Java certification alone not enough?

Why Java certifications are alone not enough? Is Java certification for beginners only or both beginners and experienced professionals?

Certifications are a great personal achievement. But the true value of a certification to a prospective employer is not the certificate you receive, but your ability to apply what you had learned and the steps you take to achieve your certification(s) -- set goals, learn, research, and practice and the qualities you exhibit like commitment, motivation, and taking pride in your accomplishments.

For Beginners

Certification may be a good start for beginners,  but at the end of the day, it is what you know and not what some documents declare you to know is what matters.. If you think that obtaining a certification will automatically get you a job, then it's not so. Certifications are alone not enough for you to do well in your career or stand out from your competition. If certification is the only stand out item in your resume/CV, the prospective employers won't be interested.

How to get an entry level Java developer role? 

For Experienced Professionals

There is no substitute for hands-on experience. The prospective employers are interested in hiring candidates who can get the job done by assessing his/her past achievements, experience, technical skills, soft skills, and personal attributes. Certified or not, you will be grilled in job interviews. Prospective employers understand that lots of great Java professionals are not certified, and also not all certified professionals are good at getting things done. In interviews, your technical skills, experience, achievements, passion, confidence, soft skills, and personal attributes will be under scrutiny. So, it really pays to apply what you learn technically and non-technically to acquire the much needed hands-on experience. Some candidates look great on paper but are terrible at conveying ideas in the job interviews or team meetings. Prospective employers, especially the larger organizations with multi-disciplinary teams favor hiring clear communicators with decent programming skills than hiring a superb programmer with terrible communication and interpersonal skills.

Technical skills, experience, education, and certifications are of no use, if you can't sell yourself better than your competitors by citing how you added value in the past, and convincing how you can contribute and add value in the future by solving business problems with your technical skills, soft skills, and personal attributes. Employers value your past on the job accomplishments. Primary focus of job interviews is not to ascertain if you can arrive at a perfect solution or memorize answers to the technical questions, but to ferret out

-- how you would go about solving problems
-- how you would go about engineering a solution
-- if you can think logically
-- if you can code
-- if you can communicate your ideas effectively
-- if you can work independently as well as a team
-- if you know the core concepts and key areas of software development
-- if you can learn quickly and passionate about what you do
-- if you can lead, mentor, take inititives, facilitate, organize, influence, and motivate
-- overall if you have the right skills, experience, and attitude to get the job done.

There are so many paths to succeed in your career, and what ever path you take, you must truthfully apply and experience what you learn with passion. If you can't decide what certification to do next, it might be a wrong choice. In my view, just one certification will do, unless you find yourself more disciplined and motivated to learn when there is a prospect of acquiring a certificate. Piling up on certifications might not be the best choice, when there are other better alternatives to boost your career like

• Participating in open source contribution and taking up a self-taught project to acquire the much needed hands-on experience. There is no substitute for hands-on experience as it not only increases your confidence, but also looks good on your resume/CV.
• Learning a new piece of sought-after technology/framework or  a soft skill that can help you sell yourself better.
• Picking up a key area like design concepts, design patterns, concurrency management, transaction management, performance considerations, or memory/resource management, and enhance your knowldege and skills on it. Good understanding of these key areas can help you standout in your resume/CVs and job interviews. 
• Taking up a voluntary work to acquire some hands-on experience in addition to above alternatives, especially if you are a beginner or finding it difficult to make a break.
• Taking the time to improve your resume/CV, interviewing skills, job hunting skills, and networking skills to be able to open more doors for you by understanding what the prospective employers are looking for and presenting yourself in a better light.

Your focus should be on selling yourself as a well balanced professional who can provide technical solutions to business problems. It doesn't matter how you get to where you want to be, as long as you get there by understanding what your prospective employers are looking for -- "getting the job done well" and "adding value to their business".

So, before going ahead and spending your valuable time and money on acquiring certification(s),  see if you can take an alternative path of acquiring much needed skills and experience in sought-after technologies, frameworks, and tools will make more sense.


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