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Today I received the notification from Oracle about successful pass of the JEE5 Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA) certification. The certification is given after passing three exams: a basic online multiple-choice exam on JEE Technologies and design patterns, an assignment with an architecture of a sample use-case and, finally, an online exam with questions about the assignment.

In comparison to other Sun Certifications, this one is not focusing on a test of how good you learn the API of a JEE Specification. The theory questions aim to test a general understanding of the JEE technologies, their usage areas and their purpose. There are also some questions testing your understanding of the advantages and caveats of JEE Stack. In general it was not very difficult – I spend several days on preparation and got my 89% (you only need 57% to pass).

The assignment part is pretty interesting. You have to submit a document describing the architecture of the system under development, which contains a set of UML 2 diagrams (class, sequence, deployment, use case). This part is a good excersize for any architect. In addition, you have to identify the main three threats and describe mitigation strategies for them. I found this part interesting, since I noticed that I’m usually not doing it on such level of detail, but judge about the risks based on my own experience. The second and the third parts are evaluated together. You can get at most 160 points and need 114 to pass (71%). I spend almost a week every evening for creation of the assignment and was happy of getting 140 point (87%).

You are among the elite 1% of certified Java professionals who have gone on to achieve the Java Enterprise Architect certification.”

That’s really funny.

At any rate, I enjoyed the preparation time, the exams and I’m glad about the result.