Finally I would get a job interview for junior Java developer position. So these days I try to prepare as much as possible for that interview.
Now the question is what a junior Java developer should know? There are some suggestions.
As a junior Java
developer you’d be expected to know the basics of the language.
(Try practice tests for
the Sun Certification exams although I’m not convinced you need to do the exam
itself).
Then you should also
know:
*Basic design patterns,
why you need them and how to implement them in Java.
* MVC framework – know how
Struts works
* XML basics (how to
parse, manipulate and create – SAX/DOM/XSLT)
* JDBC
* Know how to use an IDE
such as Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA (Eclipse is most common)
* Know what Inversion of Control
is and what are its advantages
* Know how to write unit
tests using JUnit
* Know what is Continuous
integration testing
* Know what mock testing
* Familiarize yourself
with different components of J2EE, what they are and what they’re useful for.
* Know Ant
This is a basic list of
what I think would get you through most Junior/entry level Java job interview.
If you have more time, start playing with Spring, Hibernate, JSF etc and spend
some time learning to build/package a WebApp and deploy it to a container.