As I was crafting this question, I included "(Apologies for fanning the flames of get-rich-quick/impatience/tiny-training-big-promises.)" To shorten it, I took that out. I love Norvig's "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years" http://norvig.com/21-days.html. I doubt I'll be able to do this with enough people to have any noticeable impact on the programming world. I'm not seeing much in the way of scaling (or monetization) anytime soon.

Oracle's Java SE certification exams are actually quite hard.

Passing an exam means you're a good exam taker, not a good programmer.

Nah, this exam actually means you have an abnormal understanding of Java and a good understanding of how OOP works. It also means you can read and understand code fast. It does not mean you are a good team player or have experience in building things. To say that the code in the exams are not clean code is an understatement though. The questions usually grab all clean code practices by the neck and murder it violently then asks questions about the output. So there's that.

True. And and exam does not mean you'll be able to get past the interview questions. But does the Java cert get you the interview?

Yes. I've heard that. I'm guessing that hiring managers/HR is aware of that, and that the qualification makes a difference. Does that seem right?

I'm aware because I tried the exams. I also happen to sometimes interview people and for me a fresh certificate of this exam means I'm immediately satisfied with the basic programming skills of that person and can tackle other topics. But I don't know how common this knowledge is among recruiters.

Thanks!