One Idea For a Plan

I don't know the official timelines, but I think it's safe to assume at least, but probably not much more than, a month. A job description needs to be assembled, other candidates will be probably be brought in for interviews -- the entire HR process can be slow moving. So I would target mid march, and if more time works out, all the better.

I don't want to sugar coat this at all -- studying the language cold with the aim of getting certified within a month is probably unrealistic. I think the best way to proceed is to keep certification in the back of your mind, but not have it as the short term goal, and rather start with a highly interactive quiz/assignment/reading cycle with me (hence this blog). I would say, consider me your personal tutor; I imagine we'll be corresponding even multiple times a day in a back and forth, answering questions, etc.

So I think the best use of your time will be to devote full attention to the programming exercises that I'll give you to work on. These will be taylored toward exposing you to different parts of the language, and will require research, but hopefully won't be too far off of the previous assignment. Imagine it as me leading you through the language highlights -- the more we can hit in our limited time, the better.

So that's where I think we should start. I think certification should be your ultimate goal -- and maybe even a condition of hire (that you would be hired uncertified, for example, but on the condition that you did within a month or two). But right now, I think that just reading cold through a book without context wouldn't be the best use of what little time there is.

If the ultimate goal is to hire someone whose abilities I feel comfortable working with, then I think the best thing to do is start that relationship now. If in a month you've made good progress, but certification is still a ways off, at least we'll have a working relationship to some extent, and that is the ultimate goal in this situation.

So having said all that, I would say try to write that "counting program" I gave you (I'll write it again as a separate post so you can post quetsions/your answer). If you're stumped on a part, or don't know where to begin, go ahead and ask. We'll keep the channels nice and open.