Re: Is Sr. DBAs afraid of not be able to pass cert exam ??

From the standpoint of organized tests I agree with you. Which is why the questions I ask, and I'm sure others ask, during interviews relate to how someone would approach problems we have encountered, usually in the last 90 days. And where they think the answer might be.

I mean would you really learn anything from a candidate if you asked them how to run EXP or SQLLDR?

Daniel Morgan

Keith Boulton wrote:

> Being an old ex-mainframe systems programmer myself, I can understand some
> of your references, but my question was more to do with how you could define
> a test to evaluate the skill/talent/knowledge of someone. I tend towards the
> heres the software, hardware and manuals and here are <n> test scenarios to
> work through e.g. user reports bad response time in ..., or disks containing
> control files have been destroyed....
>
> It seems to me that such a test would take days to run and require a large
> number of scenarios if simple luck wasn't to play a big part.
>
> Nuno Souto <nsouto_at_optushome.com.au.nospam> wrote in message
> news:3c592b97.2605889_at_news-vip.optusnet.com.au...
> > Keith Boulton doodled thusly:
> >
> > >
> > >> The solution is to make those certificates true tests of DB knowledge
> > >> and reasoning. But that requires a somewhat more sophisticated
> > >> "evaluation facility" than a template for filtering multiple choices!
> > >
> > >I wonder where one would start?
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > well, many moons ago when IT was an industry where people aimed for
> > careers as opposed to software versions, there was a thing called
> > Education Services.
> >
> > Provided in the most part by the s/w or h/w makers. Usually of very
> > high quality and highly respected in the industry.
> >
> > Back in those days these services were recognized of tertiary level by
> > the industry and treated as such by its users and managers. Ie, you
> > wouldn't get to be a teacher in one of these services unless you were
> > very, very experienced or you had tremendous research and tertiary
> > education qualifications.
> >
> > In some advanced cases, entire OS and DBMS source codes were analyzed
> > in these courses, as well as the principles of database design.
> > Minor things such as lock detection algorithms, cache algorithms, data
> > access path lengths (logical and physical), optimization techniques to
> > minimize various aspects of the prior, etcetc, were analyzed IN DEPTH.
> >
> > Enormous $$$$ were made by the Education Services, but they were
> > considered worth spending on by the clients: usually they ended up
> > with near-zero staff rotation and people who really could handle just
> > about any problem.
> >
> > There are plenty of more recent examples. Notably, Cisco and Netware
> > certified network engineers are among the most respected in the
> > industry.
> >
> >
> > Then M$ started the MCSE crud.
> > Then someone from M$ left and joined Oracle...
> > Now everybody with half a brain just laughs at OCPs, MCSEs, and their
> > ilk.
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> > Nuno Souto
> > nsouto_at_optushome.com.au.nospam
Received on Thu Jan 31 2002 - 14:53:39 CST