Re: Outrage that OCP exams are now unproctored - Comments?

Let's face it guys OCP is worthless to employers and does a disservice to those who think of it as a qualification.

Speaking as one who is in the process of doing the OCP, I believe it's only value is as a curriculum for a foundation course. In current times, I'd need an Uzi as a negotating tool to extract training from my current employer so this provides me with a predefined structure for self study.

Personally, I don't intend to advertise the "credential" unless a post specifically requires it and even then I'd be asking some pretty searching questions as to why the employer considers it so vital.

I certainly will not be taken any upgrades to the certification (unless an employer pays for it and gives study leave... beach days :-)). I consider it utterly reprehensible but commercially understandable of Oracle to tout the certification as a method of "establishing a standard of competence" and that "hiring certified professionals has a direct impact on a company's bottom line". Give me a break! In the UK, they should be sued under the Trades Description Act.

Happy New year

Nick

Tim X <timx_at_spamto.devnul.com> wrote in message news:<87vg1dkzqy.fsf_at_tiger.rapttech.com.au>...
>
> while personally, I don't have any opinion on the worth of OCP in
> itself, there is one way in which I do think it is useful. I've only
> been working with Oracle (as a developer) for about 18 months. We have
> 1 DBA. One complaint he has is he does not have enough time to learn
> about and get up to speed with respect to new features etc in later
> versions of Oracle. this has been further complicated by the fact he
> was out of the DBA business for some time and because we have been
> replacing 3 of our major systems with new ones, so things have been
> very very flat out for the last 12 months.
>
> He has managed to get an agreement from management that part of my
> time will now be devoted to DBA training and that time is to be
> allocated for both of us to study for and sit for the OCP exams. To
> me, this is probably the biggest advantage of getting OCP status - the
> employer providing the time to learn and experiment with new
> features and at the end, they will "feel" they have got something
> more. While I do believe as professionals it is our responsibility to
> keep current in our own time, it is nice to have support from your
> employer in providing time to do this, if for no other reason than it
> gets you to your end goal faster.
>
> However, the bottom line is that there is no piece of paper which can
> replace experience and something like OCP status does not really
> guarantee anything - like any degree or other piece of paper, some of
> those who have it will be good and others will be hopeless.
>
> Tim
Received on Mon Dec 30 2002 - 05:55:12 CST