Re: Wondering about certification

>- Is it worth it? I have little Oracle experience but lots of DB
>experience with MS products. Used Oracle as the DB but I always felt
>that my applications were not taking advantage of the DB power. This
>is actually my main reason for certification...

I achieved Developer 6i certification at the beginning of the year, and yes, its worth it. I was actually halfway through certification when I got made redundant and it was a major factor in getting employers to look at me. I had been funding it myself but my new employer paid for my remaining exams and gave me study time.

>- Is the certification relevant for employment? I know from experience
>that the MS certifications lost a lot of the value they had when I got
>my first MCP (1997). Now they're mostly useless logos on my resume.
>Some MCSP still hire for the points they get from MS but that's a
>small market nowadays.

Thorny issue. When I took certifiaction, all the pass marks were up around 75%. People around me now doing it report pass marks down in the low 60's. This can only be damaging to the credibility of certification.

>- In my opinion the MS certifications are too comercial, lots of
>companies make money from selling real exam questions. Is there a
>similar trend in the OCP world? I heard Oracle is a lot better at
>updating their questions to fight against this. I am also imppressed
>by the knowledge detail required by each exam, way to go, Oracle!!

You don't need to buy any questions to pass the Oracle exams. I simply made sure I knew the contents of the Oracle-sponsored certification study guide from Osborne. The question style is a little strange - just download the samples from Oracle Education

On balance I'd say that certification - off your own back - would help you sharpen and migrate your skills as well as providing a small but significant boost to your CV. Oracle certification may in the long term end up getting a similar reputation to Microsoft, but right now that aint so!

Phil Haigh
Oracle Certified Professional - Developer 6i Received on Tue May 22 2001 - 16:29:29 CDT