Here is one of the most blunt and most honest articles on IT management - https://plus.google.com/112678702228711889851/posts/eVeouesvaVX

I really enjoyed reading it for its simplicity and frankness.

About Passing OCMJEA 5 Part 1

I passed OCMJEA 5 Part 1(1Z0-864) on Aug 2 2011. This is my journey of making it through this exam.

Profile and Intent :

When I started thinking about this exam(sometime around mid 2010), I was wondering if this exam was for me or not. So I am giving a brief profile of myself so that it might help someone else in a similar position. I have been around in software development and Java/J2EE(backthen) or JEE(now) since 2003. I have a solid background in full life-cycle of software development including requirements gathering, design, coding, testing, debugging and maintenance. Certification was a way to see where I am and what I needed to do to polish my skills. For me, certification was a journey not my ultimate goal. Because I was keen on the breadth and high level JEE rather than the depth, I chose OCMJEA instead of others like OCEJ6EJBD or OCEJWSD etc. 

Study plan : 

First of all, I checked up to see if the exam was retiring anytime soon. It was not. What I did find out was that the certification requirements were changing from a no mandatory coursework(meaning less money) to a mandatory coursework(meaning astronomically more money) from October 1st 2011. I found this out on July 7th 2011. I had approximately 3 months to get certified. I decided to take the plunge and ordered the book Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java EE Study Guide by Humphrey Sheil and Mark Cade right away.

While I was waiting for the book to arrive, I did some research on the internet to learn from others' experiences. The following blog posts helped me a lot -

1. http://www.selikoff.net/2010/07/16/jeannes-scea-5-part-1-experiences/
2. http://scea5-passingpart2and3.blogspot.com/
3. http://java.dzone.com/articles/my-path-scea-5?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+javalobby%2Ffrontpage+%28Javalobby+%2F+Java+Zone%29

CodeRanch is another invaluable place for anybody preparing for java certification. I love StackOverflow for finding answers to subjective kind of questions. 

My study resources consisted of the following -
1. Core J2EE patterns by John Crupi, Deepak Allur and Dan Malks
2. Head First Design Patterns
3. Real World Java EE Patterns by Adam Bien
4. EJB 3 in Action by Debu Panda, Reza Rahman and Derek Lane
5. Java EE 5 tutorial
6. Mikalai Zaikin's SCEA 5 study guide
7. Java Web Services Up and Running
8. Humphrey Sheil's SCEA presentation

I had read some of them earlier. I just upped the throttle a little bit when I decided on the dates. With precise dates, I was able to spend 4-5 hrs(a couple of hours in the morning and about a couple in the evening) per week day and 6-8 hrs on weekends for studying for the exam. 

My plan was to take the Step 1 exam in the first week of August and booked the date for August 2nd. I booked the exam and paid for it directly at http://www.pearsonvue.com/oracle/.

A few days before my exam I bought Whizlabs scea mock tests. There is an offer for buying discounted exam voucher when you buy whizlabs scea mock tests. This exam voucher is valid till December 2011. Unfortunately I did not know about it when I had booked my exam. I liked taking the mock tests. They helped me identify my weak areas and to concentrate on improving them.

I also found some free SCEA Step 1(1Z0-864) questions -
1. http://certification.about.com/od/freequestions/a/blscea_intro.htm
2. http://www.coderanch.com/how-to/java/SceaMockTests - Many of the links are no longer valid. It is still helpful though.
3. Gof Design patterns practice
4. http://mycollectivematerial.blogspot.com/2009/02/scea15-my-experience.html
5. http://reddymails.blogspot.com/2011/07/scea-part1-questions.html

The day before my exam, I skimmed through Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java EE Study Guide by Humphrey Sheil and Mark Cade and that was it.

The certification requirements have changed since October 1st with the inclusion of mandatory coursework but the general format of the exam otherwise remains the same. I hope my experience helps someone else preparing for the exam. Good luck.