The point of Oracle certification

To All

What is the point of Oracle certifications? lets face it, they are expensive and will become redundant in years. For example, a person who is Oracle 8i certified is now out of date because of the release of Oracle 9i. Why would someone pay to get re-certified to keep in tune with Oracle technology? My reasoning is that people get certified and recertified because their company pays them to get certified (i.e. they already have a job).

Comments welcomed, by all means.

Regards
Sted

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