Java Career Advice required

Hello Every one,

I wanted to build my career in Java Programming/Development but never got a chance to do so. Now, I am very serious to get into Java development as I think with the time passing my chances are getting less and less.

I have Software Engineering degree (2005) (2.1) and have achieved SCJP certification (2004). I worked as a J2EE developer for about 10 months after my graduation but since then I have worked as a PHP Developer. I am currently working as a Senior PHP Developer and mainly develop in Object Oriented PHP and I am familiar with OOP concepts. I want to now get into Java Development and seek your advice.

I tried applying for few jobs recently but didn't have any luck as I do not have any recent Java experience. Can any one please guide me what would be the best path which would lead to the Java Development job or do I need to approach employers differently?

I am planning to do Sun Certified Web Component Developer and wondering if that will help?

Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

This is a good questions really, I'm not sure what the right answer would be but my guess is that these companies should take another look at you, what kind of roles are you looking for? Is it senior, junior or somewhere in between?

Most companies I guess are looking for someone with at least a year of experience so it might be handy to change your CV slightly to at least get an interview.

I would have thought that companies would take your current occupation into account as well, you can learn an API fairly quick if you already know programming and problem solving.

Not sure I've been of any help to you but when I was looking around for a developer position I managed to get lots of responses but I only had a handful of interviews. At that time I only had 12 months of experience but it was the last 12 months so to speak.

Also, what version of Java is your SCJP certificate for? Maybe you can take an upgrade exam.

// Json