Know Your Java History
09/04/2004
It happens a few times a year – talking to a Java developer about his/her background and profile and asking the usual questions, when suddenly…
Question: “How many years of experience do you have with EJB?”
Answer: “Well, I guess it’s been about twelve years.”
If you know your history, you know that this is impossible (EJB was announced in 1997) – but knowing your history is important for more than just a Java trivia contest at the water cooler. When you are interviewing with a possible employer or even a knowledgeable recruiter, answers like those given above can take away something that is tough to get back – credibility. Although it could just be an honest mistake, interviewers will often assume that candidates who overstate how much experience they have with a technology are trying to compensate for actually NOT having much experience with that particular technology.
If you have worked with a technology since the beta release or the first version but are unsure of the dates, it would be better to say ‘since beta’ or ‘since version 1’ than to guess arbitrarily at a year and potentially risk the appearance of exaggeration.
For your own reference, here are just a few important dates in Java history:
May 23, 1995 – the launch of Java technology (Java was previously named ‘Oak’)
January 23, 1996 – JDK 1.0 released
April 2, 1997 – EJB announced
December 8, 1997 – Java 2 platform ships
June 2, 1999 – JSP announced
September 30, 1999 – J2EE beta released
archives
06/11/08: "Four Years of Columns, Condensed"
05/11/08: "What Every Manager DOESN'T Want"
05/10/08: Tech Tips from May 2008 Newsletter
04/09/08: "Bookmarks of the Java Pros"
04/09/08: Tech Tips from April 2008 Newsletter
03/12/08: "Suggestions to Make Your Java Career Recession-Proof"
03/12/08: Tech Tips from March 2008 mailer
02/06/08: JSync Client Survey Results
01/09/08: "New Year's Resolutions for Java Pros"
01/09/08: Tech Tips from January 2008 Mailer