IBM, Novell, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Netscape Communications announced today they are working together to develop a common certification program for Java developers.
The Java Technology Developer Certification Initiative, which is open to any company, is working toward establishing an educational program that teaches a common set of skills for enterprise development on the Java platform.
"The goals are to provide a certification road map that will track Java technology," said Steve Holbrook, Novell's chief Java strategist, during a teleconference Monday with reporters.
The program, which will be completed in the fall, will be made up of a total of five exams for three progressive certification credentials: Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform, Certified Solution Developer and Certified Enterprise Developer. Each exam will cost about US$125 in the United States.
The certification program for Java developer is currently available.
The first credential reflects skill in Java programming; the second, competency in application development for the Java platform, object-oriented analysis and design with Unified Modeling Language; and the third, enterprise connectivity with Java technology and enterprise development with an application server.
A developer must pass each certification program before moving on to the next one.
Quoting from industry surveys, Sundar Nagarathnam, director of Oracle's education program, said employers would quickly recoup the cost of the certification program through higher employee productivity and loyalty.
"Employers claimed their employees were about 40 percent more efficient in handling support calls, experienced fewer server outages and incurred significantly less downtime costs than a non-certified workforce," Nagarathnam said, quoting from a survey by International Data.
Information on the initiative can be found at java.sun.com/cert-initiative.
