Oracle doesn't make it easy to figure out what is the current certification path regarding java language or is there any to begin with. If you made a break like me (maybe not as long as mine) and was not paying attention for a while it might be hard to catch up. Normally there was SCJA -> SCJP -> SCJD if you are old enough to remember those. OK there was some more stuff going on like SCJP into SCWCD etc. but the path was clear and stable (for the most part at least, it was expected but not mandatory to have SCJP and SCJD to take SCEA for example but I digress). Now, when there is no S in the acronym anymore and new java version pops out twice a year this might be harder to grasp.
TL;DR
Plain and simple, there is only one: Java SE 11 Developer - 1Z0-819.
Wait, what? No certification path?
Theoretically you can lean towards Java EE 7 Application Developer - 1Z0-900 but you do so at your own risk. Based on official Oracle description of the exam it looks like is bundled with (I still hope that this is a typo):
- Create Java Web Applications using Servlets and JSPs
- Develop Web Applications using JSFs
While this is (not) a great piece of IT history, in 2022 it looks like waste of time. Even an official Oracle java training admits - in the introduction of the course - that web based front end is not something java does exceptionally well (to put it mildly). Quote from transcript:
Also, for user interface, you can also create servlets, Java server pages, and Java server faces applications, although we're seeing that being used less and less.
Of course you can do it if you are workin in a museum of technology and/or maintaining some old internal piece of... software. I would expect that in neither of those cases investing in certification would be done for any other reason than just out of pure curiosity.
But there are other options right?
Right. Surprise, surprise there might be fewer than you thought:
| Certification | Comment |
|---|---|
| Java SE 8 Programmer I (1Z0-808) | |
| Java SE 8 Programmer II (1Z0-809) | 1Z0-808 required |
| Java SE 11: Upgrade Developer (1Z0-817) | retired 30.11.2021 |
| Java SE 11 Developer (1Z0-819) | |
| Java SE 17 Developer (1Z0-829) | coming soon |
| Java EE 7 Application Developer (1Z0-900) |
On one hand it makes certification simpler, finally when eclipse foundation have taken over all EE components in 2018 it looks like 1Z0-900 is probably the last EE certification exam provided by Oracle. On the other hand if you like collecting badges then in the world of Java there would be only one badge to collect - the SE one (in the free introduction you can hear something about Java Card or ME but I don't know who are they trying to fool). Last opportunity for badge collectors would be 1Z0-900 but you have to be quick as the offer is most probably valid while stocks last and can be terminated any time soon.
But why to focus on certification in the first place
For me it was sort of lesser driving force. Some would say that it is good to have a certification not only to show it during interview but to be able to organize and memorize stuff better. I wouldn't have been aware of finalize method if I hadn't studied to the SCJP exam. If that awareness helped me in anything is a totally different story and that leads to another issue with certificates especially those related to Java realm.
I've heard (more than once), about S/OCJP that it is a bad practice exam and I couldn't agree more. For me though it was quite fun to deep dive into the syntax, compilation and classloader related issues that I was asked to solve during exam grade tasks. It helped a lot and even if I have learnt something I would never use, I would never us it intentionally and would be ready to point it out during review of my colleagues' code. This is quite important, especially in case of mission critical systems which operates under heavy peak load 24/7 and there are a lot of those implemented in Java I can assure you.
That said, plan for 2022 looks simple, there is only one Java certification exam worth to be taken and just after that it might be great time for trying something completely different ;)