Sunday Jan 04, 2009
I'm sure many student developers have made New Year resolutions and I'm willing to bet that at least some of them have resolved to become better coders. Check out this great article from the Sun Developer Network (SDN) in which some of the best Java developers offer their advice for students. Here's a summary of their advice:
- Write lots of code. Have fun with it!
- Learn to use your tools.
- Don't put your entire application in one method
- Trust the garbage collector to do its job
- Start simple. Learn the basics of the language
- Don't panic (when you first see the API with thousands of classes)
Read the full article.
Friday Oct 24, 2008
The OpenSolaris Ignite is the new monthly newsletter by, for, and about the OpenSolaris community. OpenSolaris Ignite features news, how-to articles, tech tips and reviews. This is a great resource for students using or developing on OpenSolaris. Check it out.
Thursday Oct 23, 2008
Let's face it. The job market for new college grads is getting tougher by the day. My advice - graduate with a degree from your university and a certification from Sun.
Through the Sun Academic Initiative (SAI), Sun provides students with valuable resources to pursue this career enhancing strategy and get a competitive edge as you enter the workforce. Sun certification is recognized industry-wide and demonstrates competency in high-demand technologies, such as the Java programming language and the Solaris Operating System. In other words, certification is tangible proof to employers of skills and knowledge needed for certain jobs.
Of course, there is this other important benefit - higher pay. According to a Certification Magazine Salary Survey, Sun Certification increases earning power:
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Sun Certified Programmers earn on average 8.3% more than the average programmer
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Sun Certified Developers earn on average 14.3% more than the average developer
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Sun Certified System Administrators earn on average 31% more than system administrators certified on other operating systems
Professional certifications are available to SAI participants in these key areas:
Sun certification exams are heavily discounted for students participating in the SAI program. For example, exams that normally cost $160 for professionals are
$60 in the U.S. and $40 in Latin America and Asia.
The SAI provides access to free web-based courses to learn Sun technologies at your own pace at times that are convenient for you. SAI students also have access to ePractice
Certification Exams. These no-cost web based practice exams include sample test questions, the correct answers with
explanations, and provides the test taker with suggestions for future study.
Click here to register for the SAI. We will email you the information you need to create your personal user account on the SAI Learning Connection, Sun's learning portal for students.
For more information or to join the SAI - visit the SAI Website.
Wednesday Oct 22, 2008
Managing the Sun Campus Ambassador Program is one of the best parts of my job here at Sun. In fact, I'll be devoting much of my blog to all the cool stuff that they do on a day-to-day basis. In case you haven't heard, Campus Ambassadors are student interns that work for Sun and evangelize our Open Source technologies and communities to students at their university. They focus on educating students about the benefits of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and how it is Changing Our World and the particular benefits that it has for students to Change Your World. That's why we say that FOSS will Change (Y) Our World (more on that in a later blog). Since Sun is the FOSS leader, Campus Ambassadors have plenty to talk about.
Today, I'd like to highlight a cool project by Denis Magda, Sun Campus Ambassador from Blagoveschensk State Pedagogical University in Russia. Denis and his fellow students from the Open Source University Meetup (OSUM - pronounced "awesome") at Blagoveschensk State Pedagogical University, just created a remote controlled car using Sun SPOTS. Their car even has headlights that turn on automatically when it gets dark.
Of course, this cool student project is enabled by Sun SPOTs which are Java programmable embedded devices that include an accelerometer, temperature and light sensors,
radio transmitter, eight multicolored LEDs, 2 push-button control switches,
5 digital I/O pins, 6 analog inputs, 4 digital outputs, and a rechargeable battery. Since SPOTs are based on Java, they are easily programmed and much more robust than other embedded devices. They are also a great platform for student innovation as exemplied by the SPOTCar created by Denis and his classmates.
Check out Denis' blog for all the details.
Tuesday Oct 21, 2008
NetBeans is 10 years young and is celebrating with a Decathlon that is of special interest to student developers. The Decathlon consists of ten interactive tasks for the NetBeans community to show and share what the NetBeans Project means to them. These are simple and fun tasks such as writing a Birthday Blog, posting a video or doing a NetBeans Demo. The first 300 participants to complete events that add up to 50 points will receive a limited edition NetBeans 10th Anniversary Shirt. So get started today!
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Indeed, its a great read.. Happy New Year :)