How to become a J2EE architect in web development?

[Eqbal Z]

Hello,

So I have been learning Java for the past 1 year. I have had no formal
training in Java. I have taken a graduate level class in object
oriented analysis and design, but you know how those classes are,
basically rushed through stuff and didn't feel like I got down and get
my hands dirty in it. We used the book by Craig Larman. I have
basically learned all that I know from seeing example codes of what
other people wrote on a project, reading up stuff on the web,
sometimes picking up a book, searching newsgroups and my basic
approach so far has been, I need to get this stuff work in a
particular way, how do I do it in Java. And the drawback of that
approach is that sometimes I just think of ways I used to do that same
stuff in a scripting language and I basically convert that idea into
JSP/Java (I am a web developer) and it ends up being a procedural code
in Java. Anyways, so I know a lot of the buzzwords and stuff,
JavaBeans (never really figured why we ever need get and set methods
if all we are doing is setting/returning a variable without much
processing, instead of just using public variables), EJBs (I don't
know what these are yet), Servlets (all I know is that JSPs get
compiled into Servlets by the app server), JDBC, Web Services, Apache
tomcat (played with it a little, but at my work we use websphere),
Struts framework (Just read the introduction chapter on apache's
website), patterns and I can perhaps write some more names/words.
I don't really see the whole big picture yet and that always bothers
me. Something that I would like to be able to do is given a
problem/requirement I would want light bulbs to go on in my mind
saying, oh there is this API in Java that would be good for this kind
of thing, or there is this open source package available that might
work nice, or I could apply this pattern here, or maybe this problem
fits that thing avaiable about 85% and I could tweak it a little and
it would work well.
Am I making any sense? How do I see the forest among the trees? and
how do I recognize all the different trees even. I am lost in the maze
of all things J2EE/Java. I would like to stay focussed on the web side
of Java ( I guess Java stand alone application programming might be a
whole another realm ).
So what should I do, pick up a book that would help me get certified?
Go take classes in Java (I don't have good experience with this, I
come back unsatisfied that we didn't go deep enough), Get lots of
books and start reading (which ones?), Start installing stuff on my
slow computer at home and start to play with them, anything else?
Help me!

 

[perry]

well it's pretty impressive that you've gone thru the trouble of
graduating from a university and have been exposed to the latest a
greatest, even the works of Craig Larman. I used to mentor his work as a
consultant back in the dot-com days before the anti-christ came and
thru a 1/2 trillion dollars and 3/4 of a million $50-$100 dollar and
hour jobs into the f%$#ing wind...

nevertheless, with any luck John Kerry will turn all that around. in the
last 6 months there's been a 20% increase in the number of jobs
available and it seems to be steady....

so within 6 to 12 months, you'll be in the right place at the right
time. now had i taken the advice of all my degree holding friends and
had gone back to school when i started to see all these jobs
disappearing rather than waiting for what we thought was a minor hiccup
to "rebound"....

anyway enough about me, back to you....

what you now need is some diehard experience.... i could say, go read
this or go read that but that's not going to give you the grass roots
that your busy schedule at school didn't give you time to do.
unfortunately, your going to have to wait till things pick up before
your job arrives. however you can "vote" to help your situation and go
out and campaign but this is a technical area of the newsgroups so i'll
spare you the politics....

in the meantime, what you can do is basically, offer to work for free.
someone, somewhere in your neighbourhood needs a J2EE server setup for
some reason. go and apply what you have been introduced to and see it
all start to come together....

i envy you...!

nevertheless one of your most valuable skills besides your Java exposure
will be a good understanding of Use Cases. they can be applied in a
number of ways, pay no attention to "formal" methods, Mr. Larmon will be
the first to tell you that. but as far as saving you and your customer
time, money and a whole lot of confusion, make an investment in reading
the beginning parts of his book "UML Design Patterns"... the more
advanced, or should say "specialized" material will show up at a later
date. just read thru it for reference material right now.

cheer up, you got your degree and pending the results of next election
we'll see a return to the good old dot-com days... your in a good place
to be!

- perry
ps.
feel free to email me directly to let me know how you are doing
(e-mail address removed)