SCEA certification

1
SCEA certification

• Alain Hsiung, Ideartis
• Java Users Group Switzerland
• Technopark Zurich, 5.12.2003

2
Content

• The exam
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• The schedule framework
• Working in group

3
Motivation

• Highest J2EE certification
• 31 certified SCEA (aka SCJA) in Switzerland
  (22.9.2003)
• 92 succeeded part I, 77 part IIIII

4
The exam

• Part I 48 questions, multiple choice,
  1h1/4,pass score 68.
• Hint 16 questions 20mn, mark unsure questions,
  pass through marked questions 15mn
• Part II project, unlimited time (1 year), pass
  score 70.
• Deliverables 1 class diagram, 1 component
  diagram, sequence diagrams, assumptions.
• Hint use OOA/OOD methodology.Deliver a section
  on design decisions (including the design
  patterns you chose).
• Part III 4 questions, essay, 1h1/2, scored with
  part II.
• Hint anticipate questions concerning your
  architecture.

5
Part I objectives

• Common architectures
• Legacy connectivity
• EJB, EJB container
• Protocols
• Applicability of J2EE technology
• Design Patterns
• Messaging
• Internationalization
• Security

6
Part I preparation

• course Architecting and designing J2EE
  applications, SL-425 Sun Edu
• Book SCEA for J2EE TechnologyStudy Guide, Sun
  Press
• Good overview on the main topics
• But topics missing Common architectures,Legacy
  connectivity and Messaging.
• Not enough details (other readings are necessary)

7
Part I preparation

• More detailed readings
• www.ideartis.ch (under news)
• www.bm-one.com/Se/scea1.htm
• www.leocrawford.org.uk/work/jcea/part1/
• saloon.javaranch.com
• Mock test
• www.whizlabs.com/scea/scea.html
• highly recommended, also poor quality

8
Part II

• Take an OOA/OOD course
• Use OOA/OOD methodology!!
• Continuously write down assumptions
• Look at many hints in my discussion thread on
  javaranch forum
• Think as an architect, not a developer
• Rewrite the use cases in your (better) terms,
  draw an activity diagram, a deployment diagram
  and user interface outputs for yourself it
  helps.
• Take time to make the class diagram solid (most
  failures are there)

9
Part II

• Component diagram for J2EE
• There is almost no litterature
• Use J2EE design patterns
• Read the case study in the SCEA Study Guide
• Make the diagram layout clear and notation
  (stereotype, labels, names, comments) consistent
• Use a real UML tool
• Like Together, Rose and MagicDraw
• Because correct syntax is scored

10
Part III preparation

• Very easy if you have done part II yourself.
• Anticipate a few questions on service-level
  requirements and key design patterns concerning
  your architecture
• scalability
• maintainability
• security
• session handling
• persistence

11
Schedule framework
take exam at IBM, GKN, Migros, etc.
register for exam at prometric
buy voucher at sun
register for exam
download part II
upload part II
receive email
take exam
start
finish
study part I
do part II
prepare part III
4-6W
100h effort
100h effort
2W
1W

• Read 1-3 chapters, take notes meet to discuss
  lessons learned and issues. Iterate.
• Do mock test, take notes discuss lessons
  learned and issues. Iterate.

• Make draft meet to discuss issues.
• Make a version 1.0 meet to discuss issues.

12
Working in group

• Team building
• 2-3 persons
• Start and duration match
• Information platform
• For meetings, documents
• Hint use smartgroups
• Discussion forum
• Worldwide
• Hint use javaranch forum
• Ethic part III assignment is the same for all
  candidates.
• Hint discuss principles and methodology, not
  concrete design and domain details.

duration (days) duration (days) experience experience experience
duration (days) duration (days) very high (50h) high (100h) medium (200h)
effort 2h/d 25 50 100
effort 4h/d 12.5 25 50
effort 8h/d 6.25 12.5 25