Enthuware

Hi,

I was thinking of taking up the 1Z0-817 exam, but came across a news that it will be discontinued from Nov 2021. I had passed the SCJP 6 exam years ago, and was looking to upgrade. What would be the best path to take now? If 1Z0-817 is discontinued, would there be any upgrade from Java 6 to Java 17 introduced? I am not sure what certification to prepare for, now. Any suggestions, please.

Thanks
Preethi

First thing is that no one except Oracle can tell what they will do and as of now, they haven't disclosed any plans.

Based on what we have seen in the past, there is a good chance that they will come up with a new Java certification exam based on Java 17 because Java 17 is an LTS release. (The current version on the exam is based on Java 11, which is also an LTS release.)

We do expect them to release an upgrade exam as well for Java 17 but we don't know which version of the past certifications will be eligible for it. We hope that it will be just like the current one i.e. SCJP 6 onwards will be allowed but can't say that for sure. They might allow only OCP Java 8 onwards to take the new upgrade exam.

Thank you for the reply. What would you suggest as a good path to take? I just started my preparation, and am confused between 1z0-819 and 1z0-817. Given the history of certifications, would there be any issue if I went ahead with the upgrade exam? Is upgrade exam any better or worse than the actual full fledged exam?

Java 11 upgrade exam 1z0-817 is definitely easier than regular OCP Java 11 exam 1z0-819 because of less number of topics and also because there are no tricky questions on Java language fundamentals (operators, arrays, etc.) . So, if you have already passed SCJP 6, we suggest that you go for 1z0-817. Two months are sufficient to prepare for it. If, for any reason, you are not able to complete your preparation, you can always take few extra months to study more and take 819 or which ever new certification exam is released. Your preparation for 1z0-817 will not go to waste anyway.

Thanks a lot for the guidance!