Become a Java Black Belt

I thought I would write a blog entry to big up the Java black belt. I passed my yellow belt the other day and you can choose to send the congratulations email to other people, so I sent it to my fellow developers.

If you want to know what Java black belt is, well a proper description rather than just my blog entry, they have a presentation here

http://www.javalobby.org/eps/javablackbelt/

but to be honest I think you can pretty much guess what it’s about. You have a load of tests and the more your pass the higher belt you get. They have recently been expanding the things you can test yourself with, Ant, JDBC, Struts, Spring and loads more.

For people studying for the SCJP 5 exam there actually have some beta tests on the Java 5 features as well as an exam on OO and your basic Java features. Which all add up to some good exam practise. I don’t think the level of difficulty is not as high as the proper Java 5 exam, so maybe it’s a good place to start.

http://www.javablackbelt.com/

The site says it’s

“With JavaBlackBelt, we want to give each Java developer an alternate way to measure and demonstrate his/her technical skills.”

Personally I see it as an interesting way to test your knowledge and get one over your fellow developers by being a higher grade. I don’t really see the belt grade as much value, I won’t be putting it on my CV (well I am only a lowly yellow belt). The other frustrating thing is that you have to contribute to gain points so you can take the tests. I know this isn’t in the spirit of things but I just want to take the tests, I don’t want to mark and suggest improvements, I’m sure there are many people who don’t mind helping, this is probably mean spirited of me but bah humbug

I have noticed that recently they have been putting a lot more adverts on the site but they are tucked away and quite a few for Amazon which has me tempted to click on them and buy those lovely developer books in a Homer Simpson after a donut way.

Anyway go and check them out and start getting your Java belts.

Another reason it appeals to me is because I attend a Taekwondo class (when not hung over) at Aston science university (no I’m not a student) like all things martial arts watching and doing. I am currently a red belt, which means

“danger – to myself and others”

This also probably sums up my coding style :-)