by John Turner
Posted on October 28, 2009
Having used the Spring Framework for several years and having taken other Java certifications I decided that it would be worthwhile to take the Spring Source Certified Spring Professional certification. Demand for Spring knowledge and experience has increased over the years and more and more development roles require a background in Spring.
In order to be eligible to take the certification exam you have to be able to demonstrate that you have made a contribution to the Spring community (forum posts, articles, raised JIRA or submitted patches) or have taken the Spring Source Core Spring course. Given that I had taken the Core Spring course I was eligible and received an exam voucher to take the exam.
To prepare for the exam I decided that I would read through the reference documentation and work through the slides and practicals provided at the Core Spring course. I felt that this, along with my previous experience with Spring would suffice. In hindsight, I felt the review of the slides and practicals from the Core Spring course was most helpful and the material was easier to recall because the practicals reinforced the slide material.
The exam itself was reasonably tricky. I think the main reason for this was the scope of material covered which was quite extensive. That said, the questions fell within the syllabus and all the material was covered by the Core Spring course material. Thankfully I passed and am now a Spring Source Certified Spring Professional so await a deluge of job offers!!
NOTE: I cannot provide copies of the course material and will ignore any requests for same.