RE: Certification

Any "What a DBA Should Know" list generates argument. Having the Oracle stamp on it doesn't make it any more authoritative and the members of this list are notably irreverent when it comes to pronouncements that can't be objectively measured.

Oracle does publish the syllabi for the DBA course material and some free sample tests. The certification program makes money for Oracle and that's enough reason for them to market it. Creating an online tutorial and testing system that doesn't directly return something to the bottom line is wasted effort.

Obviously all the material you need to train yourself as a DBA is online. What makes you read one thing and not another? I don't' fill all my free time reading Oracle material although I have 20 feet of shelf space filled with Oracle reference books (most of them) written by members of this list.

I got motivated to take the certification because I was on probation and felt I wasn't up to the job I had gotten and had damn well better study. The cert gave me an organized way to do it. I had to pay a nominal amount to do it and everybody knows that nothing worth doing is free. To my organization my effort to attain the certification was noted. It seems to mean more to say that somebody sitting in the corner reading is, "studying for certification" than, "He is sitting in the corner reading." One effort seems focused and one effort does not. The perception of what you are doing can be important.

Oracle does publish the syllabi for the DBA course material and some free sample tests.

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Booth Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 7:25 AM
To: dlordster_at_gmail.com
Cc: Yavor_Ivanov_at_stemo.bg; oracle-l_at_freelists.org Subject: Re: Certification

On 30/05/07, David Lord <dlordster_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree. I've been a DBA for 10 years but have only recently got OCP.
> I mainly work on 9i, so it helped me enormously to get to grips with
> the new features in 10g. Okay, I could have taken a new features
> course, but I don't think I would have learnt nearly as much falling
> asleep at the back of a 5 day course as I did in the two months of
> swatting that I did for the exams.

Maybe I'm bweing picky but what you both seem to really be saying is that it was the studying for the OCP that was useful, not the OCP itself. If Oracle just published each year a list of topics (possibly along with links to online tutorials and reference texts) saying something like "We think this is what a DBA should know.", maybe include some 'Test you knowledge' quizes, wouldn't that be as useful?

Stephen

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