I got word that the Oracle Java certification exam is pretty cheap to take for the next four weeks ($25 as opposed to almost ten times that). What's the chance that a junior dev working currently with Java (aka me) can learn enough from the official Java certification course in the evenings until then and pass the exam?

Hi everyone! I'm in need of some help regarding the approach to my bachelor thesis.

The practical stuff is basically clickstream/task and usability analysis on an existing platform and creating mockup improvements for some processes. I was thinking about using a spider to generate a tree (or another datastructure) regarding all the different tasks available and then trying to optimise said tree, thus automatically optimising the processes within. I'm having however issues imagining how this optimisation might be generalised for more than this one platform.

Basically, I'm a bit lost and grasping for any pointers in any direction regarding these ideas.

I'm thinking of writing a personal website for fun and as a portfolio for my IT projects and hobbies, eg photography.
Currently I'm working with C# and have some Java and Python knowledge, besides meddling here and there with other languages. I've recently started looking into architectures and other stuff.
Do you have any recommendations for into which language and technology I could look into for this project?

Thoughts about the strangler pattern?
I just came across it today and it sounds like a neat thing.

My main concern is with redundancy and the risk that old classes or methods would further be used and expanded. I've come across enough obsolete classes which have been further expanded because the dev ignored the flag and didn't want to search further or create new implementations. I wonder how this could be avoided.

Worst: Writing a quick thing in Python, debugging endlessly because some class I created wasn't being instantiated properly and then realising that I haven't added the holy "()" while creating the object and before using methods in my unit tests.

Best: Creating some pretty sweet algorithms because I was thinking more out of the box and trying things out just for the lulz.

Client: $importantThing is a go live feature now.
Me: Okay, but it would considerably postpone the release date.
Client: Oh well, then maybe after release. However, do $lessImportantThing for go live, no matter how long it takes.

Opinion question: When is one prepared to freelance?

Tomorrow I'll finally start working on a new part of my company's current project from scratch after loads of frustration in the past 1 1/2 months! Not a rant, just a lil bit of hope that it'll get better :)

Client: "Something is missing, like a type of BOOM or some fancy stuff, but I can't pinpoint what exactly. Do you know what I mean?"

Me: "Sure, give me one sec."
Changes font of a single word on a Web page to italic.

Client: "Perfect!"

My face: Priceless and trying not to laugh out loud.

Just woke up dreaming of designing and coding a portfolio website for my hobby photography with a simple GUI and a powerful automated backend. I guess I know what I'll do the next few days :D