For those of you who haven’t heard of JavaBlackBelt, it’s an e-learning community site. Once registered, users can use the site in a variety of ways:
- First, one can take courses on a variety of programming-related subjects.
- Then, one can pass exams on these subjects. Each exam is made of questions one has to anwser in a limited time frame. Passing an exam gives you knowledge points; with enough knowledge points, you get the next belt, until the fabled black belt!
- One can also contribute to the questions pool. Questions give you contribution points: after a certain belt, one needs paying a certain amount of contribution points in order to pass an exam, thus ensuring you give back to the community.
- Finally, the last version of JavaBlackBelt - also known as BlackBeltFactory - brings the notion of coach: one can offer and/or receive individual mentoring.
I’m a JavaBlackBelt user since a couple of years. At first, it was in order to get my black belt (boys and their toys). Then, recently, my interest in it was renewed, primarly due to two things:
- BlackBeltFactory was remade using the Vaadin framework. At this time, it was the biggest reference for Vaadin.
- Given their freshly acquired Vaadin skills, the BlackBelt team created a new subject for the community to work on, Vaadin.
Since Vaadin is becoming more and more an option for the presentation layer, at the beginning of the month, JavaBlackBelt announced the addition of Vaadin Advanced Core, in order for the existing Vaadin Fundamentals not to become bloated.
People interested in the effort of creating and reviewing both courses and questions are welcomed (and encouraged) to do so!
PS: remember JavaBlackBelt is first and foremost fun. Don’t take your belts (however high they are) too seriously. John Rizzo, the site’s founder, is only a blue belt while Marko Grönroos, a Vaadin Fundamental leader is white belt. Be humble…