2006-12-20
Even though we weren't handing out fun swag, like free beer (Sun and BEA), we enjoyed constant attention. Over 300 "watchers and/or "takers" of the contest continually lined up behind our 3 laptops. (Note to ourselves for Javapolis 2007: bring 5+ laptops.) One of the highlights was meeting David Michiels, a Java developer at Certipost.be
Read this...
2006-11-13
Brown Belt Nicolas Duran, released the Hibernate 3 Core exam, which gives you 5 knowledge points.
You may also want to try the Entity Relationships exam that we'll be releasing soon ...
2006-10-25
Moderators Serkan Guler (pictured), from the UK and Vitaly Logvynchuk, from the Ukraine released the Java Collections exam.
The Java SE Base API - Basic exam is released by moderators Thomas Schroeder, based in Australia and Jonhnny Weslley, from Brazil.
We thank each of them for dedicated, hard work to make these exams possible.
2006-10-20
John Rizzo, from Belgium, released the Spring Core (non basic at all) exam, which gives you 9 knowledge points.
It requires 50 contribution points. In the near future, and we might temporarily lower this to 0.
2006-10-18
We migrated the platform to a new server.
It's more reliable. The server cash disk of July 17 2006, lead us to a slow and painful recovery process. We are based in Brussels (Europe) and Javalobby in North Carolina. Their hosting provider is in California. So, we had one intermediary and 2 time shifts. I skip all the troubles we run into, despite the great help of Matt (Javalobby). We finally lost valuable images associated to Swing questions, which we had to put back to Beta.
The new server has raid, mirroring and daily disk backup, additionnaly to ftp data backups. It's also in a datacenter from our city: if it burns, we just take the car and throw water on it. The mass of accumulated data (questions) and the new Corporate Edition (more on this soon), made the reliability a much more critical need.
There are 2 servers in fact. No that we need more power: 1% of the CPU is used by this great JavaBlackBelt software - thank you team! But we plan to provide a killer feature: programming (non multiple choice) questions, where your answers will compile and run on the other server (end 2006).
You probably noticed the improved speed, probably caused of the larger bandwidth.
Since May 2005, the guys behind JavaLobby.org generously paid to host JavaBlackBelt. We'd like to shout out a huge thanks to Rick Ross and Matt Schmidt for supporting us!
2006-09-18
Chris Cooper
, from the United Kingdom, released the Java SE Reflection exam.
It's worth 3 knowledge points.
2006-09-11
| We looking for people to lead the Hibernate exams. Get involved and get your points.
Conditions are perfect, so come out of the cave!
Go here How to Moderate for all of the details.Or e-mail us ( trish [at> javablackbelt |dot| com ) !
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2006-09-10
Sunny Wear
, from the United States, released the EJB Intermediate exam.
It's worth 4 knowledge points.
2006-08-25
EuroOSCON, the O'Reilly European Open Source Convention, 18-21 September 2006 in Brussels, Belgium is an opportunity to immerse yourself in all that open source technology has to offer, from a practical perspective as well as a creative one. It's the place to be (or to become) a part of the growing free and open source community that is equipped with the skills to meet computing challenges, both today and tomorrow.
There is a 20% discount off registration fees - just use code euos0620ms.
Visit the registration information page for more details:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/48/register.html
2006-08-18
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Thomas and Chris started a discussion about splitting up the Java SE Base API exam.
The idea is to have basic and intermediate exams that cover a variety of topics to guarantee that examinees are well rounded.
The result of this can be seen on this wiki page. We encourage everyone to read through it and give your comments.
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2006-08-17
Denis Yudin, from Moscow earned his orange belt in one day.
An interview with the Community Editor and Animator
As I get to know the multitude of developers in the JavaBlackBelt community, I recently discovered someone that I have categorized as a fast-tracker. Denis Yudin, who joined on 07-24-2006, earned both his yellow and oranges belts in one day, succeeding the required exams at the first attempt.
I decided contact Denis, to ask more about him and get his thoughts on JavaBlackBeltDOTcom.
(We'd like to continue to profile community members to raise awareness about their hard work and passion for Java and related technologies. . .)
Read the interview...
2006-08-03
Due to the crash disk some of the images attached to the Swing exam questions were lost causing server errors while taking the exam.
We wait for the crashed disk to be sent to our office to recover datas. In the meantime the exam is not available.
This is discussed in this thread
2006-08-03
Since Friday, July 28, this exam is more difficult. We've noticed that there are less yellow belts being earned because of the switch to YAMP.We apologize (see the forum thread) and plan to take action about this.
The task is quite detailed. We need to sort through 137 intricate questions... if you'd like to help us out...
A first action is refactoring the exam to clarify the objectives and reduce the amount of asked questions from 40 to 20.
It's a swift opportunity to rack up some contribution points.
2006-07-17
Due to a hardware failure (a disk crashed) JBB was down this Monday. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience.
For internal technical reasons last wikipages versions are temporarly lost, we ask you not to update any wiki page till the end of the week where recovery should occurs.
Thank you for your comprehension.
This subject is discussed in this thread
Sorryfor the inconvenience ...
2006-06-21
JavaBlackBelt development team deployed the WebWork version of the platform Monday night.
It was previously based on Struts 1.3. WebWork is the successor of Struts. The Struts framework splits to SAF (Struts Action Framework) and Shale (JSF). We feel JSF innappropriate for JavaBlackBelt. We are very happy with WebWork (that is the fundation code for SAF). It is powerful, easy, consistant, and is a very natural evolution (from Struts 1.x), lowering the learning curve and developement length in our case, compared to other solutions.
You will probably notice small differences with some pages. Please report bugs and problems in the forum. The fixes will be redeployed this week.
I'd like to thank Aymeric, Nadege and Lionel for this 5 week refactoring effort, converting the 100+ pages and actions.
The development team will now focus on YAMP: switch some exams to YAMP for questions selection, and give new screens to moderators to have a better view/control on what happen to the exam they lead. After YAMP, they will focus on the coproporate platform.
2006-05-23
I've been to The Server Side Java Symposium conference, June 21-23, Barcelona.
Aymeric (the Architect behind JavaBlackBelt).
2006-05-03
When Dmitry Buzdin, from Latvia, proposed us to develop a Ruby - basic exam and we welcomed the initiative warmly. The objectives are ready and you can start filling it with questions.
We've had some reactions from the Ruby and the JavaBlackBelt communities already.
To the Ruby community, we say: Yes, we know the well-known SCJP certification suffers problems, and it's partially why we made JavaBlackBelt. It's up to you to help defining this basic level exam, fill it with no-nonsense no-trick questions, and make it the way you like. It can be one more great tool for Ruby new learners.
To the JavaBlackBelt community, we say: We understand that JavaBlackBelt is not RubyBlackBelt. Let's host our guest at JavaBlackBelt for the moment and we'll program the necessary healthy separation as needed (e.g.: Ruby knowledge points not counting for Java belt track; RubyBlackBelt.com ?).
Welcome to this Ruby - basic exam and let's see what happen :-)
2006-04-23
Maarten Volders, from Belgium puts objectives for a Spring MVC exam on-line.
You are welcome to add questions.
2006-04-18
Sunny Wear, from Florida made the EJB - Intermed exam ready for beta tests with more than 70 questions.
She sorted many questions we had from the SCBCD and SCEA categories to include the most appropriate in this EJB - Intermed exam (double categories / question).
These questions just wait for your votes to migrate to the exam zone (or to the freezer) before we release the exam.
2006-04-13
Ronald Wildenberg
, from the Netherlands, released the Spring Core - basic exam.
It's 3 knowledge points worth and having a brown belt is nearly possible.
2006-03-24
Daniel Oliva Bianco
from Argentina released the Web Services - Basic exam.
Take it to accumulate knowlege points for your green belt.
2006-03-23
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Jeanne Boyarsky from New-York released both Ant Basic and JUnit Basic exams.
Take them to accumulate knowlege points for your orange or green belt!
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2006-03-23
JavaBlackBelt is
a community for Java & open source skills assessment.
This is the place where Java developers get recognized for their technology knowledge and development abilities. It is dedicated to
technical exams about Java and related technologies that are mass- authored and filtered by the community.
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Read more about
JavaBlackBelt... |
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2006-11-23
Brown Belt Eric Wendelin, released the Java SE Networking exam, which gives you 3 knowledge points.
2006-11-03
The procedure is to send an auction item using the delivery address
provided by the user. The publisher or distributor handles delivery. The only tracking we have is
an email stating the date it was sent. In particular countries we don't have access to additional
information even when we send it personally.
We know this is frustrating. It is for us too: we have to pay for packages that never reach their
destination. What's more, Café Press told us, "We don't guarantee shipping fulfillment."
Starting today there will be concurrent auctions: electronic Amazon gift certificates (Amazon
guarantees orders) and books/T-shirts (fulfilled by publishers/Café Press.)
If you live in a place where the postal service isn't reliable, bidding for a book/T-shirt is at your
own (points) risk. If you would like to suggest other types of gift certificates that can be used in
your home country, please let us know.
For users who have won a recent T-shirt auction that live in countries that have delivery issues
your points will be returned.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
2006-10-24
A new feature is active on JavaBlackBelt, to help focus contributions.
You probably noticed that when adding a question to the Java SE - Basic exam, you get a discouraging message. This exam contains too many hard questions and we need to slow down the contributions there to ease the manual filtering (question moving).
We also bring a motivating way to focus question authors where it's the most useful: a bonus factor associated with some exams.
For example, most Hibernate exams now have a x2.0 factor to double your contribution points.
Check the last column in the exam list.
2006-10-19
Last week we gave a talk at J-Fall, organised by the Netherlands Java User Group.
Our contact with the group was Bert Ertman. (Thanks for getting us involved, Bert!)
We are pleased to report it was a great conference - and experience.
More than 600 Java developers attended the event.
Our Hibernate 3 session was a big success. Nicolas, who led the session using his TechAnims, delivered the presentation to a room filled with attentive, enthusiastic developers -- who were mainly Dutch nationals. (Our talk was given in English, but there were several sessions available in Dutch.)
We set up a booth with our Netherlands partner Finalist to present the community and our services.
We organised a contest promoted by our Black-Belted Bella who "Hai yah'd" attendees into taking the exam challenge.
The winning challenger was Peter Doornbosch who received two books for passing the exam first.
We got to meet JavaBlackBelt community member and brown belt Mario Klaver. We heard another community member was there, blue belt, Jettro Coenradie. Unfortunately, we didn't end up meeting him. (We'll catch you next time, Jettro! ;-))
2006-10-12
Nicolas and I were given the opportunity to speak at the JAOO conference in Denmark. It was the first time we attended this conference - a memorable experience for us that went beyond that "newcomer" sensation.
The organizers impressed us. JAOO, created ten years ago by Danish company EOS, is a popular conference. Its success goes beyond its employees. An entire community is centered on JAOO. The feeling this gives is difficult to put into words - to experience it is really incredible.
The company and community dedicated to the conference amazed us. It was evident that everyone involved put forth a great deal of leisure time into it. The commitment of students from Danish universities, a.k.a. "The Crew" volunteered every type of assistance wherever they could. It was inspiring to see every person involved in the conference was also integrated into their city and their national culture: health. Each year the JAOO-IT Run, a sporting event, is organized around the conference to encourage attendees to get more exercise.
The level of dedication and community efforts made me think of this group as a Small Giant, which refers to a book I am reading. A Small Giant is a company (or organization) that has opportunities to grow but chooses deliberately to remain small (in the numbers sense) with the goal to maintain excellence. The main principle is harmonious integration of a community centered on a company.
Our own sessions at the JAOO were successful - another reason we had a memorable experience. Every seat in our sessions was filled. We presented a dozen TechAnims about Spring and Hibernate technologies called Extreme Visual Learning. (A similar example, the Jasper Reports TechAnim was published recently on the web in cooperation with TheServerSide.com.) Feedback from the attendees was very positive. Talking about Spring with .NET developers is refreshing and rare - an experience that is difficult to find at many conferences.
That leads to the last point: JAOO is about developers as a community. It's not only for Java developers (like us), for .NET developers, and the rest. We are developers — FIRST. Sure, some topics and technologies will attract more interest from Java-focused programmers. But, many topics go beyond technologies (concurrency, DSL, methodology...)
Next up for Nicolas and I:
The J-Fall conference in the Netherlands.
John Rizzo
Co-founder of JavaBlackBelt
October 9, 2006
Brussels
2006-09-28
Chris Cooper -- one of our very serious moderators and part-time Fortune Teller -- has written the objectives for 2 concurrency exams. They are ready to accept your questions:
These exam objectives were been kindly reviewed/improved by a well-known author of programming books (eg, Concurrency) and a member of the concerned JSR.
2006-09-14
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We've added intro text to the wiki page How to Write A Quality Question.
It was time to point out that our high-quality collaborative content should be written by the community itself. Please take a moment to read the updated page.
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2006-09-11
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Take a look at the testimonial by Vikram Goyal, author of Pro Java ME MMAPI.
Firstly, Vikram was kind enough to review the objectives by exam leader, Jim McLachlan, a green belt from the UK.
When that was done Vikram offered us a few copies of his book for the auctions from his personal stash. (We decided to offer the books to let Vikram keep his copies.) Then Vikram graced us with a testimonial that is snappy and adept.
Go here to read more about Vikram Goyal.
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2006-09-04
Amzad Basha, a Green Belt based in India, is a Top Contributor with well over 1400 contribution points.
Amzad has authored over 240 exam questions that average 4.2 stars each. He holds second place as Top Contributor - ever. He's got plenty of points left to spend - particularly in the auction room!
To all you contenders: contributing = points = Top of the List.
2006-08-18
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We've noticed that many of you have been steadily earning more belts.
We are looking for exam leaders to build an all new "EJB 3 Basic" exam. So, anyone who is up for the challenge to build this exam, we'd like to hear from you!
Go here How to Moderate for all of the details.Or e-mail us ( trish [at> javablackbelt |dot| com ) !
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2006-08-17
Morten Lauritsen, from Switzerland, proposes the PMD Basic exam.
Feel free to add your questions.
Thanks for your efforts, Morten!
2006-08-03
Guillermo Schwarz, from Chile, is now one of the Top 3 Contributors (EVER) with 1000 contribution points (which increased to 1006 points, only 1 day after we posted this.)
He's also one of the Top Contributor of the past 7 days. Thing is, Guillermo spends a lot of his points in the auction room. Currently, he's running low. So step up contenders! Moderate exam questions, get your contribution points and take your place at the Top - of the Contributor's List.
2006-07-28
Thomas Schroeder, from Australia released the Java 5 New Language Features exam.
This is the first exam using YAMP for questions selection. With its 3 knowledge points, this exam should enable more people to get their brown belt.
Thank you Thomas for this effort.
2006-07-03
Wiley publishers cover JavaBlackBelt contributors with great Java books for the summer !
They will ship you one book a week. Let's start with a book about trains.
2006-06-14
Javier Diaz, from Spain released the Swing - Basic exam.
This exam required to add image support to the questions.
Thank you Javier for this effort.
Special thanks to Romain Guy who reviewed the objectives.
2006-05-11
We've been to JavaOne, San Francisco.
We've seen very few sessions, met plenty of people and slept few. Interesting things will soon come up from this, on JavaBlackBelt.
John (left) and Nicolas (right).
2006-04-26
Ronald Wildenberg, from the Netherlands, finalized objectives for the JSF - 1.1 basic exam.
Your new questions are welcome. You can also take the beta and vote for the existing questions to make them move to the exam zone (or to the feezer).
2006-04-19
The splitting of the Java SE - Intermed exam is underway.
The old exam will be set back in writing objectives stage during the construction of the new exams, corresponding categories and the transfer of questions.
2006-04-13
Guillermo Schwarz, from Chile released the OO - Intermed exam.
Thank you Guillermo, for letting us to get a green (and then blue) belt.
2006-03-29
Premanand Chandrasekaran
from the United States has written objectives for a JUnit - Intermed exam.
You are welcome to add questions!
2006-03-23
Serkan Guler
from the United Kingdom has written objectives for a JDBC - Intermed exam.
There are already beta questions and you are invited to add yours.
2006-03-23
Moandji Ezana from Belgium, has written objectives for the Tiles (Struts) exam.
Your "Tiles" questions are welcome.
2006-03-23
The auction room is a success and the bids let me think that you like the stuff we put there. We asked Chris Richardson from California, to offer his book POJOs in Action to JavaBlackBelt's contributors.
The publisher of Chris's book, Manning Publications will ship 5 copies (1 for each auction winner).
Thank you both for this concrete contribution to JavaBlackBelt community :-)
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