August 21, 2000

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Online Courses Make Java Certification Easier To Achieve

Online courses make Java certification easier to achieve

By Sandra Swanson

More on certification:

IT Certification Moves To Intranets (7/17/00)

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vendor-neutral Java certification organization called jCert is gaining momentum. SmartForce Inc. last week joined jCert and agreed to develop its online Java education courses based on the company's certification requirements.

JCert was formed last year by BEA Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and Sybase, with the mission to establish global standards for Java certification. JCert's eight board members are employees of the participating companies. In addition to developing certification requirements, jCert manages financial backing for the initiative and promotes the group's goals at industry conferences.

JCert designates three levels of certification: programmer, solution developer, and enterprise developer. Annie Colvin, senior manager for education services at Sun, says "tens of thousands" of IT workers have already received certification from jCert as Java programmers. She says the addition of an E-learning vendor provides a boost to jCert's mission. "Developers tend to train themselves and are reluctant to take days off to be in a classroom," Colvin says. "It's in our interest to have training they can easily access."

JCert's first level of testing, certified programmer, requires competency with the Java programming language. The certified solution-developer level indicates proficiency in Java application development tools; the certified enterprise-developer level requires competency with enterprise connectivity. Certification is about $150 per level; testing is administered by Sylvan Prometric from more than 2,000 sites worldwide.

Ernst & Young will use jCert certification as a differentiator in the IT consulting market. Chetan Phadnis, Java technology service line leader, says jCert "will be a necessity, rather than a nice-to-have."

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