Java Certification
I've been meaning to get certified in J2EE for a while to help out my slowly deteriorating resume. 'A while' means since January of this year... going on 10 months now. I thought at first that I was going to do the Sun Certified Enterprise Architect test, because it was from Sun and seemed more generic. But now I'm questioning that idea for that exact reason. Companies want certifications in actual programs they're using - so I think I'm going to go with more specific certifications instead. Besides, the SCEA seems quite impossible: three tests - 1 multiple choice, 1 written and a submitted J2EE project. Ugh. I'd never get that all done. Especially not for a certification with dubious benefits. I've yet to see a job on Dice with SCEA as a requirement.
So instead, I'm going to go along this track... Check out this JCert Roadmap. It's not particularly clear, but the idea is that you choose one test from each column going from left to right. Basically that means, IBM tests - since the other companies don't really have anything in most columns. That's fine. IBM looks like it's going to be the 800lb gorilla in the J2EE space for a while (and BEA, sadly, looks like it's fading - though I could opt for their tests in the last column when I get there). The cool thing is that I already have the first test - the Sun Certified Java Programmer - out of the way, so I can just take 4 more tests and be a Certified Enterprise Developer.
I think this, combined with some neat examples of my work in the form of open source code should give me a buffer in the job market for now. But we'll see. The demand for J2EE stuff could disappear tomorrow. You never know.
-Russ