Passed SCJP 6.0

I took the exam on Monday and passed with 86%. I wish the score were a tad higher, but I took the risk and went for the 6.0 version not knowing exactly how the questions changed from the last version. In my case it meant I lost a lot of points in concurrency. This exam area has been tightened and the questions have become more difficult than the ones I found in Whizlab mock exams. They still covered the same methods, but the questions were presenting really sophisticated situations with several threads running in different configurations. So, if you're preparing for the new version, I'd make sure you study this area throughly and go through a lot of code.

Exceopt for concurrency, the exam was fairly easy, I scored 100% in several areas. There were a lot of questions on Exceptions, but they were fairly easy. The rest was more or less similar to the Whizlab questions. I find the real exam was less "tricky" than Whizlab (they were less questions asking for something else than you initially think they are asking for), just a bit more straight forward.

All in all I am really happy to have passed the exam and the result is still fairly OK. I am now moving to learning for the SCWCD exam and hope to take the exam on April, 10th. I know I may not achieve this goal, because the time is really tight, but I'll try.

I'll be using Head First Servlets and JSP as my main source, along with Marcus Green notes, Marc Peabody notes on design patterns and most probabely Enthuware simulator. I'll try to update here how I am progressing.

Goals for the Year

I need to think about the goals I'd like to achieve within one year and prirotize them. It's not easy, as at the moment I seem to need everything at once, but I need to start somewhere. Some goals are obvious, whereas some result from previous goals.

Let's try to list the goals at first:

1. Workflow Process Design and Control
My Master thesis theme is: "Business Process Automation using Workflow technolgies - considering Recruitment Process as example". My thesis is due in mid-September, so this goals is obvious. I already have a plan and gathered most of the literature I'm going to need. There's still a lot to do, as I haven't even started working on the model or actual writing of the thesis. I need to have 80-90% finished and approved before we go on holiday mid-July.
I am going to start with lit review.
I've also found that design patterns find use in workflow modelling, so I definitely need to research this.
Linky link:
http://is.tm.tue.nl/research/patterns/

2. Java Swing
I am on a team that's responisble for the client programming so Swing is the most needed technology for me. I have already grasped the basics, but I need to dig much deeper, including synth.
Some linky links:
http://www.developertutorials.com/tutorials/java/advanced-synth-050416/page1.html
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-synth/
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/javax/swing/plaf/synth/doc-files/componentProperties.html
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/javax/swing/plaf/synth/doc-files/synthFileFormat.html
http://www.javapassion.com/planning/handsonbyol/swingsynth/

3. Design patterns
I have a good understanding what petterns are and how they work, buit I need to be familiar with the basic set of patterns as published by the Gang of Four.
Linky links:
http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/tutorials-patterns.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four_(software)
http://www.fluffycat.com/java-design-patterns/

4. J2EE and J2EE design patterns
Next step in researching design patterns will be digging into the J2EE design patterns box, obviosuly after I've got a better grip on the whole J2EE thing. I already get the basics, but I need to know more about it, if I want to understand our software.

5. Refactoring
Refactoring is important.
Linky links:
http://www.objectmentor.com/resources/listArticles?key=topic&topic=Craftsman

6. Java Developer Certification
As I don't need to worry about the MCSD cram, I might pursue the Java certification path. It's easier for me to learn either things that directly need for my everyday work, or for a specific exam. I have much more motivation then and can work in a more structured manner. Still, the certification is not a priority at the moment and I'm going to take my time to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

Obviosuly my Master Thesis has very high priority. When I'm done with it, I'm done with school and frankly, I can't wait.

Goals 2-5 will be worked at simultaneously, depending on what I need for my work at the moment. J2EE has slightly lower priority as I do not need it for work. But still I'd like to get a grasp on it.

Any comments on my plan? Anything I've forgotten??

Change of plans...

I haven't updated this blog for a very long time, in spite of going back to work last October. Shame on me ;)

I must admit that the learning curve after two years of motherhood is very steep. Many things have changed completely and I am entering unknown landscape... Especially as in February I was put in a project based solely on Java technologies. It makes the learning curve even steeper, as I've never really worked with Java before.

This also means that I'm going to abandon following any Microsoft paths and switch solely to Java. I mean there's enough to learn there, right? I am going make a new list of goals very soon and try to prioritize. It's not going to be easy, there's so much I'll need to know, but I need to tame the chaos. I'm also going to keep this blog up to date from now on and update regularly. I guess it's help me to stay on path with my learning.

My main areas

Time for some work here to be done. It's already April, the exams are coming sooner then I wish, so at first here comes a quick summary of what I'm going to work on this year:

1. OOAD - Object Oriented Analysis and Design
I have an exam in Software Engineering II in June and two projects to hand in until then. On is an analysis and design of a system, the second one is a 15 pages long paper on Design Patterns. Both will be actually fun to do and I'm looking forward to getting things done. So my key words here are: OOA, OOD, UML, Design Patterns

2. MCSD - Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
I have one of the five exams passed in 2002 and haven't done anything about it since then really. It's actually sad to admit how much the pregnancy and maternity leave have set me off in achieving this goal. I would like at least 2, if not all 4 exams passed until the end of this year. I'm going to start with C# in Web Applications and follow with with the other C# exam.

3. Workflow Process Design and Control
My Master thesis theme is: "Business Process Automation using Workflow technolgies - considering Recruitment Process as example". I want to have a model finished until June if possible. I am going to start with drafting it and move on from there. I am still in serach of good literature and reading my way through what I've found.

Today I've found a great website:
http://www.objectmentor.com
There are a lot of resources about OOAD there, including a wonderful fiction story "Craftsmanship" about an OOAD apprentice. I really lernt a lot from it already and I'm going to go back to it, part by part to learn the details. I can't wait to see what's going to happen next (the chapters are released monthly).

First post

This is going to be an off-spring of my main blog "On the Amber Route" dealing with geekdom. I don't want to bore my regular readers to death with the things I do for school or work, but I want to keep track of certain links, articles, books, bits of information, whatever. I don't plan on updating this blog too often, just when I have something to say.

See you!