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Re: any certified ORACLE DBAs?

From: Gaja K. Vaidyanatha <gvaidyan_at_us.oracle.com>
Date: 1997/05/09
Message-ID: <33735250.6361@us.oracle.com>#1/1

Michael Nolan wrote:
>
> "Cleve" <cleve_at_cbcsf.org: writes:
>
> :Oleg Dimerman <olegd_at_oeonline.com> wrote in article
> :<3370B5C1.73A1_at_oeonline.com>...
> :> I am looking into ORACLE DBA certification - could you please
> :> share your experiences?
> :>
> :> how difficult is it?
> :I believe that in order to gain your Oracle DBA Masters Certification:
> : (1) You need to have a lot of money (for classes)
> : (2) You need to take 5+ classes totalling about 18 days
> : (3) Then get yourself a DBA job.
> :That may be relatively difficult.
>
> I believe that this is confusing the DBA certification exam with the
> Oracle Education Master's certificate.
>
> However, I would be interested in anecdotal evidence as to which is more
> respected in the field these days.
> --
> Mike Nolan

Friends,

        As an instructor teaching the DBA classes I can tell you that the certification is a very good exam, with a good degree of difficulty. It not only tests about your theoritical knowledge of Oracle, but also the applied knowledge that you possess, if you are a full-time DBA. I am not so sure whether reading the manuals alone will give you enough to pass the exam, because that makes the exam a very easy task.

        People have over the past year and a half often confused the Oracle Masters Program with the DBA certification. They are 2 disjoint entities. The Oracle Masters Program is a set of classes that you take, and the end of it, Oracle Education gives you a certificate that you have completed the requirements of the Masters Program, namely gone through 20 days of training, and thereby hopefully acquired the skills required to start as a DBA. If you have completed the Oracle DBA Masters, when you go for a job interview, it tells your employer that you have been trained(not certified).

        The DBA certification is an examination offered by Chauncey International(a fully owned subsidiary of the Education Testing Service, ETS, the folks go offer SAT, GRE, GMAT and the like), and is administered at Sylvan Prometric Learning Centers(the location where you actually take the test). There are Sylvan Centers nationwide and you can take it at any center. Point your favorite web-browser to www.chauncey.com, and follow the links to get more information about this exam.

        The exam costs $195 per attempt and I believe you are allowed 3 attempts, which are spaced out with a mandatory waiting period, if you do not pass the exam in the first attempt. It is important to note that Oracle Corp. is not the one offering the exam and therefore Oracle Corp. is not the one who is certifying individuals passing the exam. Oracle involvement in the exam is that we helped with the contents of the exam.

        The Oracle DBA Masters is not a pre-requisite for the DBA Certification Exam. However, if you do go through the 20 days of training, that will give you a headstart, and real life production experience will actually teach you the nuances of being a DBA. The certification is not a push-over exam, and requires good applied knowledge as to how Oracle works. Right now the pass rate is about 50%.

        The DBA Certification is well recognized and some employers today require that you are certified, if you are a candidate for a DBA position in their organization. The Oracle Masters is respected in that, it tells employers that they do not need to invest in Oracle training(at least for now) the people that they hire. The achieve 2 different goals and are not meant to be compared. Hope this clarifies the two entities.

Regards,

-- 
Gaja K. Vaidyanatha		       	|	222 West Las Colinas Blvd., 
Principal Instructor, Core Technologies |	Suite 1000, Irving, TX 75039. 
Oracle Education, Oracle Corporation	|	E-mail:	gvaidyan_at_us.oracle.com 
Disclaimer : Opinions and views expressed are not that of Oracle Corp.
Received on Fri May 09 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT

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