Re: How to confirm someone is an OCP?

Andy wrote:

> I am going to be looking for a DBA soon, and it's occurred to me that
> if someone tells me they are an Oracle Certified Professional I think
> I'll want to confirm it.
>
> Do the Oracle Education people keep a record, and would they tell me
> if someone was an OCP if I asked, or would that come under some Data
> Protection Act (I'm in Australia)?
>
> Is there a certificate or letter I can ask to see?
>
> Not being an OCP myself, I don't know what to look for.
>
> Thanks.

I would urge you to consider the OCP to be as valuable as the paper it is printed on. Here (I'm in Seattle, WA, USA) we don't even ask about OCP and other certifications as we have found out long ago that lots of people can read a book, pass a test, and not necessarily have any actual ability to do the job. Ask yourself, for example, would you want a surgeon that had never had an internship? An MD has meaning. An OCP, unfortunately, does not.

Far better, when interviewing a DBA candidate, to have a clear understanding of what responsibilities you expect them to perform (strict production DBA), advisor to development and testing groups, lead code reviews, advise on architecture, etc. Then have a half-dozen good questions related to each proposed aspect of the job.

There is nothing in the OCP that will teach the skills necessary to track down scalability and security problems. There is nothing in the OCP that will tell you that backup tapes should be tested regularly to see if they actually work. Practical experience is the only thing that really matters.

Daniel Morgan Received on Wed Jul 10 2002 - 13:31:43 CDT