Re: How to confirm someone is an OCP?

"Howard J. Rogers" wrote:
>
> >*Oracle Certified
> > Professional" strongly implies you are more than a possible new comer to
> > Oracle.
>
> It implies you are a P-plater, with no more right to drive on God's good
> earth than an earthworm with wings. It implies you had more money than
> sense, or a generous and short-sighted employer.
>
> OK, sarcasm mode off. I truly wish we could put this one to bed.
>
> So, OK here goes for nothing.
>
> No-one who values their professional reputation would bother doing OCP, and
> if they did it for the purposes of job hunting (where it might prove useful,
> because as we all know, there's one born every minute, and they're usually
> in HR), they'd keep very quiet about it when it comes to the business of
> exchanging technical know-how amongst other competent DBAs. There are
> members of this very group who fit that pattern rather well, in fact.

<begin 12-step program background music>

Hello, my name is Sean, and I am an Oracle Certified Professional DBA.

<after all, the first step is admitting you have a problem over which you have no control, right? ;) >

I bothered doing OCP. I was young, I needed the money. No, seriously, my employer 1) paid for the courses, 2) paid for the tests, 3) heavily encouraged me to study and pass it. Why? Partly because they got a good deal on the courses/tests. But I think mostly because I was in the Consulting arm of the company at the time and they liked to have X number of resumes plastered w/OCP at the top to show prospective clients, presumably to impress (no comment). Seemed like a OK deal to me at the time (this was shortly after the OCP program was announced... 4 or so years ago?).

Do I typically announce my OCP-ness in dealings with other Oracle professionals? No. ("Hi, I'm Sean, did I mention I'm OCP?" - yeah, that'd go over real well.) But that doesn't mean I'm embarrassed by it either. If it comes up in conversation, I don't deny it. I still have it on my resume (but not highlighted at the top, mind you). I've never felt it has made me a black sheep in the DBA community (though reading this newsgroup has got me wondering...), nor do I feel it has helped me much job hunting. I don't think it's quite so terrible as many in this group make it out to be. It's just a test. I took it and passed it. Others didn't take it. Still others took it and failed. That's all, nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't mean I'm an expert at anything. But here's the real question: Did the process make me a better DBA? Yes. Yes it did. A *much* better DBA? No. But a little better, yes. Sitting through the classes and forcing myself to study the material surely did no harm, and definitely exposed me to some features and ideas I would have otherwise not been exposed to in my daily work (at least not right away). OK, more correctly - the classes exposed me to the new features/techniques/ideas, while studying for the tests meant I actually *remembered* some of what I was taught.

So. There it is. It's not so bad. But no, if it hadn't been free, I wouldn't have done it.

Regards,
Sean "P-plater" M Received on Wed Jul 10 2002 - 23:49:57 CDT