Difference between Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate 1Z0-811 and Oracle Certified Associate Java Programmer 1Z0-808
JFC JA 1Z0-811
As per Oracle's official 1Z0-811 exam page, the Junior Associate certification is focused on students in secondary schools, two-year colleges and four year colleges and universities who are studying computer science including relevant Java curricula and faculty members who teach foundational Java and computer science classes.The exam does not assume any hands-on professional experience with Java, but to pass this exam you will need a basic understanding of Java programming language and concepts and have mathematical, logical, and analytical problem-solving skills. In addition, you must know how to write and execute a Java program and work with the Java Development kit (JDK) and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Once you pass this exam, you get a Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate Certificate from Oracle. This exam is cheaper to take than the other certification exams and you should take this exam if you want to gain confidence and to check whether you are going on the right track with respect to learning Java.
OCA JP 1Z0-808
The OCA JP exam, on the other hand is meant for new Java developers who are seriously pursuing a Java programming career and looking to become proficient in Java programming in a professional working environment. Although real life programming experience is not manadatory, it will be better if you have 1 or more years of Java programming experience.This exam is subtantially tougher than the 1Z0-811 exam not just because the questions are harder but also because it covers a lot more topics. The skills that you acquire while studying for this exam will be used in real life. Another important point about this exam is that, it makes you eligible for taking the Oracle Certified Professional Java Certification (OCP-JP) exam.
Technical interviews for a Java developer tend to cover the topics that are not on the JFCJA but are on the OCAJP. Therefore, if you have time and if you are willing to put in more efforts, you should go for the OCAJP exam instead of the JFC-JA exam.