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

Noons <nsouto_at_optusnet.com.au.nospam> writes:

> "Niall Litchfield" <niall.litchfield_at_dial.pipex.com> wrote in
> news:3e136b64$0$226$cc9e4d1f_at_news.dial.pipex.com and I quote:
>
> > You'd also get away
> > from the entirely daft notion that you were an Oracle 8i or MSSQL 7 DBA and
> > towards the fact that you were a DBA (or developer or what have you). They
> > don't certify Accountants in the use of Sage or Pocket calculators (and
> > certainly not in Excel). they train and test them in Accounting/Auditing
> > etc.
>
> Amen!
>

Yes - agree 100%. One of the very disturbing trends I've observed in universities offering computer science degrees has been the move away from generic and theoretical course content to specific vendor products and vendor recognized qualifications. There has been a push at the university I graduated from to drop some of the courses from the compulsory stream which I feel are important (networking, computer architecture, data structures etc) and to introduce courses like Java and Web Programming, .NET and C# etc. and to offer MS recognized qualifications because its what "industry wants".

My feeling is that if you have a good conceptual and theoretical understanding of your industry you will be able to adapt to new developments much easier than if you have only got a (possibly strong and in-depth) knowledge of a specific technology or vendor product.

I don't think OCP is totally worthless. I certainly would not employ someone simply because they were an OCP, nor would I regect someone because they had not obtained OCP status. However, I do think it can be useful because it provides a structured framework for learning about Oracle, which can be very beneficial with something as large as Oracle, it does indicate some familiarity (even superficial) with the product, can be useful in convincing employers to fund/support training and can be an indication the person is someone who is at least inetersted in continuing to develop their skills. However, the decision to make the exams unproctored is a bad decision in my view and will diminish even further the obviously debatable merit of being an OCP.

Tim

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Tim Cross
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