Re: Here we go again...OCP

Lisa_Koivu_at_gelco.com wrote:

> I am wondering now about what OCP is really good for then. I do not have a
> bachelor's degree so I want to complete OCP anyway. It will make job hunting in
> Florida with less than one year experience as a DBA a bit easier. Does anyone
> else feel that this certification is worthless?

Well, let me tell you a story. Way, way back when, there was a file/print server called NetWarez. (Names changes to protect the innocent). Now, NetWarez wasn't terribly difficult to use, and it did only two things (filin' and printin') but it did them rather well. One day, Corporate America (tm) woke up and said to itself, "hmm, gotta get me some of that". So, pretty soon, NetWarez is installed everywhere, and everyone's relying on it. Lots of people suddenly decide they want to be NetWarez administrators, because these are relied on and well rewarded within the corporate environment. Soon, the situation gets out of hand: people who've barely any experience are passing themselves off as NetWarez gurus, and the only time their employers find out is when Something Goes Wrong.

So the Navel Corporation, vendors of NetWarez, create a certification programme, to ensure that NetWarez admins have a certain baseline of skill. This programme was aggressively marketed, and within not very much time at all, no-one will hire anyone who doesn't have the certificate - in fact, they won't even bother to interview them. It is practically impossible to get a NetWarez job today without a CNE.

Roll forward a few years, and Navel's arch-rival M1<r0$oF+ roll out their own certification programme, Must Consult Someone Experienced. They too aggressively promote certification, and industry is in the process now of employers making it a prerequisite for an interview. No-one takes it particularly seriously (at least, I hope not) but in this age of high staff turnover and long hours, anything that cuts down the shortlist quickly is welcomed. And more and more, a M1<r0$oF+ certificate is asked for in job adverts. Other corporations, such as Sin Microsystems, are now pushing their own certificates, and so are 'Orrible.

So, anyway, I'm both an OCP and an MCSE. Both were easy, and I passed 'em over lunch breaks. They add buzzwords to the CV, and these days, that's sometimes called for. I don't expect either of them to actually influence an interviewer, but I do expect them to make me stand out on a shortlist this year, and get me on the shortlist in the first place next year.

So, from that perspective, if you can get a certificate without too spending too much of your own time and money on it, then you might as well. And, for the reasons above, it's not worthless.

Cheers,

g

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