20 Best Java Certifications Online in 2024

Java is a high level, class-based, object-oriented programming language, which is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible.

It is a general-purpose programming language that produces software for multiple platforms.

What is Java Certification?

Java certifications are certifications that are gotten in Java programs, which equip one with knowledge on the Java programming language, as well as test your knowledge, skill and expertise in using the programming language.

Is there any Java certification?

Yes, there are Java certifications, which are offered by many certification companies.

Is a Java certification worth it?

A Java certification program is worth a whole lot! It gives you opportunities in the programming world, expands your knowledge, skill and expertise.

Below are some of the benefits of a Java certification:

1. Hiring Preference: One of the benefits of enrolling in a Java certification program is the advantage you have, over other programmers, when seeking employment. Most employers have a preference for Java certified programmers, in comparison with other programmers, using other programming language.
2. Boosts your confidence: Another advantage that having a Java certification affords is that it helps to increase your knowledge, skill and expertise in using Java. Hence, boosting your confidence as a programmer in that area.
3. Better Paycheck: Getting a Java certification also affords you the chance to earn well, and be well paid. This is because, it is a great addition to your skillset and resume, hence, giving you the chance to charge more for the value you bring.
4. High in demand: Java certified programmers are high in demand in the industry, hence, you have a great chance of getting a job, after being through the course. And since being high in demand makes it competitive, you have a chance to better working conditions.

How much does the Java certification exam cost?

The Java certification examination requires passing two exams before one can earn the certification.

The first exam is the Java SE 11 Programmer I Exam, and it costs $245

The second exam is the Java SE 11 Programmer II Exam, and it also costs $245

How to prepare for Java certification?

Preparing for your Java certification is unlike how you prepare for every other certification. This is because, it takes more than just reading, you also have to do some practical work, whilst preparing.

Below are some things to do, when preparing for your Java certification:

1. Read a good study book: Asides coding, you need to read a study book, which would expose you to in-depth knowledge about the Java programming language.
2. Code every day: This is non-negotiable! It is very important that while you are preparing for the exam, you get down to the practical and code, in order to look at areas where you need to get better, and areas that need some more reading. Also, this is important so that you can apply everything you have read in the study book.
3. Join an online course: Reading alone can be good, but taking an online course, where you would be led by an instructor is even much better. Online courses afford you the chance to get to know difficult areas that you could not unravel by yourself. It also opens your mind to the programming language, as explained from another person’s perspective.
4. Practice Mock exams: To excel in your Java certification examination, you need to practice mock exam questions that are likely to come out. Test your knowledge and skill, in order to gauge your ability and do not relent your efforts.

What Jobs can I get with a Java certification?

There are series of jobs that can be gotten with a Java certification, they are as follows:

Programmer:

As a Java certified professional, you can work as either an entry level programmer and as time goes on, there is the promotion to the level of a senior programmer.

As an entry level or junior programmer, you would be saddled with various responsibilities, by using your skills and knowledge in Java to carry out tasks like coding, debugging, technical documentation, etc. You would also be required to develop and design user interface, create multimedia application, etc.

Now, in working as a senior programmer, the role becomes upgraded, as well as the responsibilities that would be saddled upon the individual. A senior programmer is responsible for designing and implementing different types of software, training internal and external users of the software, carry out Java servlets, Java Beans, web programming, etc.

Architect:

Another job that can be gotten with a Java certification is that of an architect, where you would be saddled with responsibilities, such as working with software customers, collecting and assessing the structure of the computer system, etc.

Java Developer:

A Java developer is saddled with the responsibility of conceptualizing, designing and testing software throughout the development phase.

Quality Assurance Analyst:

A Quality Assurance Analyst is responsible for testing the software as it is being developed and reporting bugs to the development team, to facilitate correction.

Where can one Get Java Certification?

Several sites offer Java certification courses and examinations. Some of them are:

• Oracle University
• Udemy
• Microsoft (edX)
• Coursera

How to export Java certification from chrome

After getting your certification, you can take the following steps to export your Java certification from Chrome:

To start with, open Google chrome and go to “menu” at the top right side and click on setting.

After “setting” opens, select “Show Advanced Setting = Manage Certificates”, then select the certificate you want to export and click the “Export” button and next.

When you click “next”, you would get a “Certificate Export Wizard” box. Then click next again.

Moving forward, select “No, do not export the private key”, and click next afterwards.

Select “DER encoded binary x.509(.cer), then click next.

Then you would be directed to browse a folder, where you would like to save the certificate, assign a filename to name it, then click “save”.

Finally, click “finish” to complete the work. Now, you can locate the certificate where you saved it on your device.

How do I get Java Certified?

To get a Java certification, below are some steps to take, to get you started from the beginning to the end of the process:

Choose a Java Certificate course:

This is the first step to take towards getting Java certified. You need to decide the Java certification you are interested in, and for a beginner, the first Java certification course is the OCAJP. For an intermediate level individual, who already has his/her OCAJP, the next certification course is the OCPJP.

For each of these certificates, there are different versions and this is because Java certifications are always aligned with newer releases of the Java platform. And the major difference between different versions of the same certificate is the exam topics.

Register for an examination:

After picking the Java certification course you are interested in, the next step is to register for an examination, by buying an exam voucher and scheduling a test date at any location of your choice.

The voucher is what would enable you take the exam at the center, however, it has an expiry date, as it would expire within six months of being bought, if not used. Hence, it is advised that you buy the voucher close to when you are ready to write the exam.

Prepare and study:

This is non-negotiable and very much expected. After registering for your exam, you need to start preparing for it by reading, studying, coding and doing other necessary preparations.

It is also important that you know your exam number, exam duration, exam format, number of questions to be expected, exam topics, passing score, etc. You can decide to study by yourself using videos, books and other resources. You can also sign up unto an online course, to guide you better.

Take the exam:

This is the crucial aspect, to which all your preparations have been geared towards. After preparing and studying hard, you are now to go for your Java Certification Examination at the scheduled date and venue. Yes, you can now access your certificate after getting your result.

20 Best Java Certifications Online

There are many Java certification courses offered online by various learning platforms. However, each of these certification courses focuses on a certain level of expertise of the Java platform, belonging to specific domains.

Below are some of the Java certification courses you can take online:

Oracle Certified Associate Java Programmer (OCAJP) [Java SE 8 Programmer I]:

This is the most basic Java certification, which teaches on the fundamentals of Java programming, foundational understanding of Java, as well as educates one on general programming.

Topics covered in this certification include topics such as: creating and using arrays, handling exceptions, using loop constructs, working with Java Data types, working with methods and encapsulation, etc.

The examination takes a duration of two and half hours, with 70 multiple choice questions, and a passing requirement of 65%.

Oracle Certified Associate Java Programmer (OCAJP) [Java SE 11 Programmer I]:

This is for Java Standard Edition 11. Topics covered under this Java certification include; applying encapsulation, creating and using methods, creating simple Java programs, handling exceptions, programming abstractly through interfaces, understanding modules, working with Java arrays, etc.

The examination takes a duration of three hours, with 80 multiple choice questions, and a passing requirement of 63%.

Oracle Certified Professional Java Programmer (OCPJP) [Java SE 8 Programmer II]:

This is a professional-level certification, which assesses one’s knowledge, skill and expertise of Java code development in Java SE 8.

Topics covered in this certification include topics like advanced class design, concurrency, exceptions and assertions, generics and collections, Java class design, Java stream API, Localization, etc.

The exam lasts for a duration of two and half hours, with 85 multiple choice questions, and a passing requirement of 65%.

Oracle Certified Professional Java Programmer (OCPJP) [Java SE 11 Programmer II]:

This certification validates one’s Java 11 skills.

Topics covered in this course include annotations, concurrency, database applications with JDBC, generics and collection, Java fundamentals, Java interfaces, localization, parallel systems, secure coding in Java SE Application, services in a modular application, etc.

The exam lasts for a duration of 3 hours, with 85 multiple choice questions, and a passing requirement of 63%.

Oracle Certified Professional Java Application Developer (OCPJAD):

This certification validates one’s ability to develop and deploy applications, using the Java expertise Edition 7. It is best for Java frontend and backend application developers and software engineers, with intermediate to top level expertise in using Java EE 7.

Topics covered in the certification include Batch API, CDI Beans, Concurrency, Creating Java applications using websockets, creating Java applications using servlets, etc.

The Complete Java Certification Course:

This is one of the best paid Java certification courses that exposes you to in-depth knowledge in becoming a Java developer.

Topics covered in this course includes development environment setup, understanding methods, understanding object orientation, nested loops and debugging, file processing and exceptional handling, etc.

Object Oriented Programming in Java by Coursera:

This is an intermediate Java course, which exposes you to the fundamentals in object-oriented programming, how to leverage the power of existing libraries, how to build graphical user interfaces, how to use core algorithms for searching and sorting out data.

Skills such as logic programming, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), sorting algorithm etc. would also be acquired.

Java Fundamentals; The Java Language:

This is a beginner level Java programming course, which exposes you to details about the fundamentals of the Java language.

Topics covered in this course include data types and math operators, conditional logic, looping and arrays, class initializers and constructors, class inheritance, exceptions and error handling, variables, etc.

Java Programming Masterclass covering Java 11 and Java 17:

This course is useful for Java developers who want to increase their expertise in Java programming.

The course covers topics such as: software tools setup, expressions, statements, code blocks, control flow statement, composition, encapsulation and polymorphism, arrays Java in built list, auto boxing and unboxing, etc.

Learn to Program in Java by Microsoft:

This is a course which exposes one to the core in Java programming and covers topics, such as: Control structures, data flow, capstone project, foundational data organization and manipulation, code control structures, etc.

The Spring Professional Certification is suitable for Java professionals, who want to undertake spring framework, since Spring is used in almost every Java project.

Spring Professional Certificate:

In taking the course, you would be exposed to core spring framework, spring MVC, Spring Security; including authorization, authentication, role-based access control, etc. LDAP Integration out of the box, Transactions, REST, and other Spring work topics would also be explored.

Oracle Certified Expert- Web Component Developer – OCEWCD:

This course is for Java web developers who specialize in the application of Java server Pages and Servlets Technologies, to develop unique web content.

Topics covered in this certification course include: Servlet, Custom tag, JSTL Tag Library, etc.

Apache Spark Developer Certification- HDPCD:

This is for developers who develop spark core and spark SQL applications in Scala or python. Also, Java developers who are looking to going into Data science and analysis would find it really useful and resourceful for their new path.

The Apache Spark Developer Certification covers topics, such as Introduction to Spark, Resilient Distributed Datasets RDD, Key value store/ Paid RDDs, Accumulators and Broadcastors, etc.

Professional Scrum Master Certification- PSM I:

This is a course that exposes one to the core in becoming a scrum master.

This certification course covers topics, such as scum artifacts, scaling scrum, agile metrics, agile mindset, etc.

Oracle Certified Master Java Enterprise Architect – OCMJEA:

This is a certification course for Java architects, who are saddled with the responsibility of designing Java EE Compliant Applications.

Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization:

This course is designed to equip you to write programs, which would solve complex problems; as well as to solve real-life world problems as a software engineer, from designing algorithm to testing and debugging your programs.

Topics covered in this certification include: HTML, Java Script, Algorithm, problem solving, Hash table, Programming Principles, Data structure, cryptography, etc.

Core Java Specialization:

This course would expose you to learning how to use the Eclipse environment to create Java projects. You would be exposed to courses such as: Computer programming, web development, Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), Java class library, crt0, Recursively Enumerable Set,.

Object Oriented Java Programming: Data Structures and Beyond Specialization by US San Diego:

This certification course covers intermediate topics in software development and exposes you to how to implement data structure and algorithms for organizing large amounts of data in an easy and efficient way.

The course would equip you with skills, such as data structure, problem-solving, Java programming, sorting algorithm, Trees (Data Structure), Linked List, Binary Tree, Graphs, etc.

Parallel, Concurrent and Distributed Programming in Java Specialization Skills:

This course would expose you to topics such as Distributed Computing, Optimistic Concurrency Control, Parallel Computing, Java Concurrency, Data flow, Actor model, Reactive Programming.

Data Structure and Algorithm Specialization by the University of California, San Diego:

In this course, you would be exposed to skills such as: debugging, software testing, priority Queue, List, Graph theory, binary search tree, dynamic programming, data structure.

Conclusion

Java certification courses are high in demand certifications, which would help you stand out as a programmer and expose you to in-depth skills and knowledge in the programming world. It is indeed worth the money, time and commitment are given to gain it.  

References

• https://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-10-it-certifications-for-java-programmers.html#axzz74lCEOFle
• blogs.oracle.com/oracleuniversity/post/what-does-it-cost-to-get-oracle-certified
• javarevisited.blogspot.com/2016/12/5-tips-to-prepare-for-oracle-java-certifications-OCAJP-OCPJP-exams
• dzone.com/articles/how-to-prepare-java-certification-in-7-steps
• tosbourn.com/java-programming-training/
• hackr.io/blog/java-certification-courses

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