Category Archives: Java/Java EE

qcon – live blog table of contents

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I’m attending QCon New York which is run by InfoQ.com. At the end, I’ll update this post to be a table of contents of my blog posts from the conference.

My live blog posts

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

That’s 9742 words live blogged not counting this post (which gets it to 10K) and an average blog post size of 487. The “Too Big To Fail” session was an outlier at 827; must have liked it a lot.

My overall impressions
The conference in general seem set up well with 25 minutes between talks along with an open space by area at the end of the day (not presentations; discussions). For lunch they have tables designed for discussion – large normal confernece tables, 4 people discussion tables and “loner” tables. I also like the intro about usbility including the big names on the badge.

The intro also had each track lead give an overview of th talks in their track. This felt like overkill as this was online and most people think about what they want to attend before showing up.

Logistically, I really like that you gave feedback by putting a green, yellow or red paper as you walk out the door of the session. Low overhead; low time commitment and asked while you still remember the details.

How to Study for the Java Foundations Junior Associate exam

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Oracle’s Java Foundations Junior Associate exam is brand new (in beta at the time of this post). Since this isn’t an upgraded version of an existing exam, it’s going to take time for books to come out on the topic. [Update: If they do at all. This isn’t a popular exam]

I took the beta today to see if Scott and my OCA 8 (or 11) book could be used to study. The answer is yes supplemented by a few other things. (In the interest of disclosure, this is true of any OCA book you might have access to as well.)

Before you read any further, see my other post on why I think you shouldn’t take the Junior Associate exam.

Still reading? Ok. If you have your mind set on taking the Junior Associate exam, here’s what you need to know.

Objectives Mapping

This cross references the objectives between the OCA 8 and Junior Associate exam. As you can see, reading an OCA book will put you in good shape. Then there are the “new” objectives. See the table at the bottom of our Java Foundations page for links to blog posts with sample questions.

Jeanne’s impressions of the Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate

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Update: I’ve created a new version of this blog post comparing the Java Foundations exam to the Java 11 OCP.

I took the Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate exam to see how it relates the “regular” OCA (Oracle Certified Associate) exam. The objectives show an interesting mix of conceptual and hands on knowledge. Mostly hands on.

My beta exam was 101 questions in 3 hours. I finished in an hour. I spent another 40 minutes doing a review and fixed one incorrect answer. There were a few questions where the question was wrong, but it is a beta. And they let you report such issues to make the test better.

I’m an experienced Java developer. Why did I take a basic exam you ask? Two reasons.

  1. I was curious who the exam was designed for. This post answers this question.
  2. I wanted to see if Scott and my OCA 8 book could be used by people studying for this exam. The answer is yes with a tiny bit of supplemental material. See this post for details.

I went to a testing center I had disliked in the past because they had a free slot and I figured this test was so easy I wouldn’t need to concentrate. I’m happy to report that the testing center (Horizon of Flushing) fixed its problems. The room was quiet and well ventilated. They still wanted me to empty the tissues from my pockets, but at least had lockers.

The three exams

There are three intro exams right now. Here’s a comparison:

Exam Number Exam Name Allowed as Pre-req to OCP (professional exam) My comments on intended audience
1Z0-850 Java 5 or 6 Associate No This exam was meant for managers to show a working vocabulary and grasp of Java. There was a tiny bit of code, but it was mostly concepts and pseudocode.
1Z0-803 Java 7 OCAJP (associate) Yes, for OCPJP 7 This is the entry level exam for Java 7 to the developer track. It involves lots of code.
1Z0-808 Java 8 OCAJP (associate) Yes, for OCPJP 8 This is the entry level exam for Java 8 to the developer track. It involves lots of code.
1Z0-811 Junior Associate/Java Foundations No Oracle says it is meant for interns or entry level folks. I think they would be better served by taking the actual OCA. It’s within grasp with no experience, shows more knowledge of Java, sounds better and allows an upgrade to the OCP when the candidate is ready.

Quotes from Oracle

According to the Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate exam description, the exam is:

Position yourself to enter the workforce, or get the internship of your dreams with marketable Java skills.

Earning the Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate credential arms you withthe fundamentalsof Java programming,enabling you to demonstrate both conceptual knowledge and skills. Certification alsovalidates your capabilities to a future employer, showing your potential to become an increasingly valuable asset to any company as you progress into OCA level during your early stage of employment, and later to OCP.

This Junior Associate certification is focused on students in secondary schools, two-year colleges and four year colleges and universities who have participated in the Oracle Academy program and/or are studying computer science including relevant Java curricula and faculty members who teach foundational Java and computer science classes.

Though the exam does not assume any hands-on professional experience with Java, tobe successful you will need a basic understanding of Java programming language and concepts and have mathematical, logical, and analytical problem-solving skills. In addition, you must know how to write and execute a Java program and work with the Java Development kit (JDK) and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

Earning this certificationdemonstrates fluency in and a solid understanding of Java SE and the Java programming language, including: data types; operators and strings; decision and looping statements; classes, constructors, and methods; exceptions, ArrayLists and the Math class.

The problem is that the Regular Oracle Certified Associate Java Programmer certification says:

The Java SE 8 Oracle Certified Associate (OCA) certification helps you build a foundational understanding of Java, while expanding your knowledge of general programming.

The ideal candidate who would earn this certification typically has a technical background and wants to improve programming skills, or may be new to object-oriented programming and Java.

And the old Java 5/6 Associate exam says:

The Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE 5/SE 6 certification provides an ideal entry into an application development or a software project management career using Java technologies. This worldwide credential validates basic knowledge of Object-Oriented Concepts, UML representation of OO concepts, the Java programming language, and general knowledge of Java Platforms and Technologies. Candidates for this exam include: entry level Java programmers, students studying to become Java programmers, project or program managers working with Java technology in the software development industry.

The old Java 5/6 associate exam didn’t involve much code so this made sense.