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

Pete Sharman <peter.sharman_at_oracle.com> wrote in news:auq0so0a9n_at_drn.newsguy.com and I quote:

> Nuno, or is it Noons now? :)

Nuno is the name, Noons is the handle. At least until I can re-learn this darn Usenet program! Registry meltdown followed by loss of program functionality... Not important, you can use whatever! :D

>

>>We all know of the guys with 5 years "certified training and experience"
>>in Forms V4.1, available on the market 6 months before that
>>product reached production status...

Extreme? It is in the Australian of the time (1996 IIRC), an add asking for them and answered shortly after. I called in just to find out what the heck it was all about. Only to be told the "positions had been taken by people with the requested experience"! I'd love to know how the heck did they get that experience or how the heck was it checked...

> friend of mine was beaten for a job by someone who had more experience
> with Oracle7, when that version had just come out. I was rather

Well, it's happening again with 9i. But that's normal. The bit about Forms I found just w-a-a-a-y over the top!

> I had almost a year's experience before 9i went Production. Unusual, I
> admit, but it can happen.

Sure. Just not EVERYTIME there is a new release of Oracle. That was the problem here.

> Sorry, can't let this one pass. Oracle has been "in the services arena"
> for a hell of a lot longer than the OCP has been around. Also, our
> consultants are not "implicitly certified". We have to go through
> exactly the same process as you guys do. The only difference is that we
> get a cheaper rate on the exams.

Tell that to the Australian version... Dunno if it still is, but it sure was like that, for a long time. BTW the vast majority of them were never OCP'ed! (Thank God for that too!) Back in the old times of you know who. I won't go into the name of the person involved, but if you need to know I can provide the blood and guts over e-mail.

>
> My $0.02 worth, FWIW! :)
>

Hey! Nothing wrong with that in my book! :D

>>
>>The day Oracle defines EXACTLY what does OCP mean and what does
>>it EXACTLY qualify anyone as is the day the darn thing will
>>deserve any respect.  

This is still my biggest bone with the whole concept. What precisely do I get when I hire an OCP? A DBA? A designer? A developer? A what, exactly? What is an OCP certified at?

Being a "professional"? Sorry, you don't need a certification for that.

Being an "Oracle Professional"? At what? The skills for a DBA are completely different from those for a designer, from those of a developer, from those of a system analyst, etc.

Being a "credible professional"? Heck, the last thing IT needs is one of these: it's an industry so unregulated by independent bodies it would by definition be wide open for abuse by whomever had the deepest pockets.

No, I really can't see any value in the OCP as it is now. Of course IME, IMHO, YMMV, no animals hurt testing these products, etcetc.

BTW: Happy New Year.

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_optusnet.com.au.nospam