Re: help-story of passing OCP in a cheap way

I see the OCP exams as a marketing tool. It makes things easier to happen in terms of money. Courses are absolutely unnecessary, some books and expertise to decode questions are enough.

After getting my DBA "degree", a company considered me "able" to be a consultant, because they needed someone to sign some documents as a legitimate "Oracle DBA". In fact, it was an auditing task.

My experience on the jobs, either implementing datawarehouses or OLTP systems is the main point, but the papers seem to have a magic effect on my contractors' minds.

On Mon, 05 Jul 1999 07:09:15 GMT, "WolfAlpha" <wolfalpha_spamguard_at_home.com> wrote:

>Ahhh...the Chauncey Certification exam. I would like to see the library of
>the person that passed that exam by only reading books...
>
>I have to agree with you on the ease of the OCP exam. It is a revenue
>generator for Oracle like the MS certifications are (what kind of profit
>margin is that...oh I failed? well, I'll just take it again tomorrow...).
>They tend to use some panic methods in marketing it (it's a big deal...you
>probably need to take these $2000 courses to pass the course, and of course,
>the tests are based on a lot of the actual course material from these
>classes). I took and passed the Chauncey and 7.3 OCP exams in the same week
>mostly to just take up space on a resume (it creates a little more negative
>space in that area where my Bachelor's Degree will be next year). If you're
>a good DBA, people are gonna know it. If you are a new or junior DBA and
>you just want some way of getting a position to become really good, the
>certifications help. No flames for OraSaurus here, but in response to the
>minimal skillset comment--it may be so, but it does have the fortunate
>affect of allowing my company to charge more for my services as a
>consultant. It gives the client site a little bit better frame of reference
>for selecting a hire (when I get to interview someone with one of those
>certifications listed, I throw out most of my basic Oracle questions and
>start throwing the experienced-based questions at them--the people that just
>read the books really stand out then...).
>
>Jeff S
>
>
>OraSaurus <granaman_at_not_home.com> wrote in message
>news:SAdf3.1580$4p2.1572_at_news.rdc1.ne.home.com...
>> In article <377c71d6.0_at_145.227.194.253>, "Mark G"
><mgumbs_at_nospam.hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >Manuals may be enough if you are dedicated enough but if you really want
>to
>> >suceed as a DBA, real experience is vital and these exams are based on
>> >experience.
>>
>> Unfortunately, I don't think I buy that anymore. I have seen several
>postings
>> from people who got the OCP DBA certification from reading alone. At
>least
>> two of them even said they had *NEVER* actually connected to Oracle!
>> Another had only used Personal Oracle for Windows 95! (Search DejaNews)
>> I have also worked with a couple of people who had the certification, but
>> weren't really that good. For example, one OCP DBA repeatedly asked very
>> simple questions like how to find duplicate column values in a table, how
>to
>> identify broken (undeclared) foreign key relationships, what an outer join
>is
>> for and how it works, how to disable a constraint, etc. He also paraded
>> around in front of senior management waving the OCP and pounded his chest
>> saying he is, at least, one of the top ten DBAs in town! Jeezz... And, of
>> course, the dummies actually believed it!
>>
>> I am beginning to think that the OCP certification really has only two
>uses:
>>
>> 1) Generate revenue for Oracle Corp.
>> -- The Oracle Press exam guide is full of significant errors and lists
>@$99!
>> -- Remember the previous (expensive, but now obsolete) Chauncey exam?
>> -- How about the Oracle Developers Programme?
>>
>> 2) Provide some assurance of at least a minimal skill set (aka GED)
>> -- Yes, I'm sure that majority of OCP DBAs are very good or exceptional.
>> -- I'm also certain that I wouldn't hire anyone based on that alone.
>> -- I definitely would NEVER hire ANYONE who waved it around like a
>> -- Nobel Prize or certificate of godhood. It ain't. Not even close...
>> -- Its more like a learner's permit! (Let the flames begin!)
>>
>> One great word of mouth recommendation is worth a thousand certificates...
>> Of course, this is just my opinion...
>>
>> -- OraSaurus
>> --
>> -- Remove "not_" to reply...
>> --
>
>

EBR
** Please remove the primes to get my real e-mail Received on Mon Jul 05 1999 - 18:37:37 CDT