With limited skill, they claim to be Java gurus. If you want to demonstrate your competency, consider studying for the Sun Certification exams. Regardless of the industry or field, these two things help to protect the interests of employers, and the customers who rely on sufficiently trained employees. Virtually anyone can claim to program, even if they only learned it from a Dummies TM book they finished the week before. Virtually anyone can claim to program.
Certification proves it.
The software industry does, however, recognize certification. The reputation, for example, of the Microsoft Certification exams is high. This is due in part to the demanding nature of the exams, and the small number of people who become certified. Sun Microsystems, in an effort to provide a certification path for the Java language, established the Sun Certification Exams. Despite the existence of third party certification , passing the Sun Certification Exam remains the best way of verifying an individual's proficiency with the Java language.