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

From: Howard J. Rogers <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au>
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 07:52:05 +1100
Message-ID: <qu1R9.15225$jM5.42116@newsfeeds.bigpond.com>

"Fred Pierce" <newsstuff_at_avialantic.com> wrote in message news:2mj81vofp9t2vkbt441lhlq5tigl985s5d_at_4ax.com...
> On Wed, 1 Jan 2003 22:34:15 -0000, "Niall Litchfield"
> <niall.litchfield_at_dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
> >"Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> >news:_rAQ9.14176$jM5.38187_at_newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> >> Personally, if a person doesn't know how to do a block dump and
interpret
> >> the results properly, s/he shouldn't call himself/herself a DBA. And if
> >> there's one thing you won't learn on any OCP-based Oracle training
course,
> >> it's how to do a block dump.
> >
> >Methinks that goes a little far, I'm not entirely sure (from a day to day
> >DBA view point) how often one would need the information in the dump
below
> >(not original cause it was filched from Jonathan but it will boost that
OCR
> >rating!)
> >
> [...dump flushed...]
>
> Guess I need to learn about dumps.
>
> One theme I observe on these discussions is the "...if a DBA can't do
> x then they're not a DBA, are incompetent, wouldn't be hired etc." I
> would hope in reality that a person would be judged on what they can
> do, and what they do know, rather than failure to answer one or two
> pet questions.
>

[snip]

The business about doing block dumps has been somewhat misunderstood. I doubt that any DBA needs to be able to do a block dump in the normal course of work. But doing such things indicates curiosity as to the internal workings of the beast they are supposed to be administering. It has to be self-taught, since no Oracle course will show you how to do it. It's not easy, and requires patience and persistence. And interpretation of the results (ie, diagnosis) is key to making the right sort of decisions in many genuinely day-to-day decisions, such as performance tuning or recovery procedures.

I used it therefore as a shorthand for 'showing interest, persistence, self-motivation, ability to diagnose'. It's certainly not a pet question, nor the only way it would be possible to demonstrate such qualities. But as tests go, it's not a bad one.

It's way more reliable a test than flashing a bit of paper with three magic letters on it, however.

Regards
HJR Received on Thu Jan 02 2003 - 14:52:05 CST

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