Re: Q: Oracle Training for DBA

Greg Parsons wrote:
>
> Hi,
> The following comments are regardless of budget.
> 'Oracle Masters' is a set of courses constructed and administered by
> Oracle. If you take the courses (passively or actively) you get a
> paper.
> 'Oracle Certified Professional' is a test. I don't know the current
> disposition, but it was administered by an outside firm and lately
> Oracle wants to take that over. From what I've heard, Oracle will
> expand it to 4 tests at $125, instead of the previous single test at
> $100. Before, the test was good for a particular version of Oracle.
> Now, the tests are good for certification for one year.
> Philosophy: Anyone working with Oracle server on a regular basis should
> know all the concepts on that test(s). However, if you need the test to
> verify that you know it, then you're probably inexperienced with
> Oracle. If you have the experience, you should be able to demonstrate
> it directly - in which case, why do you need the test? Novell and MS do
> it, why not Oracle? I don't understand the benefit of these
> certifications, though it looks like they will continue as revenue
> streams.
> It would be more helpful I've deduced to have (and have started
> constructing for myself) an Oracle server study-guide to cover all
> aspects of the test. The goal being to reduce the manuals necessary
> down to less than 100 pages of text with all references back to the
> original manuals. Anyone want to help?
> So, while I'm unsure about taking a test to verify knowledge, I think
> the information it purports to verify is worth knowing.
>
> Greg
>

I agree with Greg. (and am interested in your guide, by the way.)
If you have the budget, take the training. They are a good start. Don't expect to be a "master" after taking the Oracle Masters course - do expect to get a good basis to proceed further on your own.
There are many sample Oracle tests available to help you evaluate yourself. The problem with the tests are the usual ones - they tend to favour ones ability to recall versus an ability to apply knowledge, they tend to highlight issues that are answered completely from a small multiple choice list as opposed to the issues that require days of digging that can often be the reality of DBA work.
Here's a tip I received and that I can vouch for - study the server concepts manual, then study it again. It helps a lot.

Cheers,
Terry Received on Thu Nov 06 1997 - 00:00:00 CST