Re: Student wanting some advice

I just finished my 8i OCP. I've been working with Oracle since 1997, as both a developer and a DBA, and my experience with the exams was that all of the "book" learning I did only helped fill in the blanks of my practical experience. That is not to say that you can't do it by study alone, but you would be better served by setting up an Oracle database (Oracle 8i/9i developer edition is free to Download from oracle.com) and work with it in your free time while you study. You could give out accounts to your friends, set up backups then delete files to test your strategy, etc. This hands-on experience plus studying certification materials will give you the best chance to pass the exams. Personally, I think going from Zero to Certified in 1 year is a little optimistic. However, if you are serious about this, and it sounds like you are, don't focus on the certification, focus on learning and using Oracle and Oracle tools as much as possible, and get certified when you can flip through the certification guide, stop on a page, and tell a story about how you used that feature of Oracle :-)

I used the Oracle Press 8i DBA Certification Guide and the Exam Cram series for 7.3 and 8i.

Hope this helps...

-Tom

> What I'd like to know from you fellars, without putting me down with all
> that "YOU NEED REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE" stuff... Is it worth it for me to go
> through the trouble of getting certified(remember I'll be doing this in my
> free time, when NOT studying for my degree)? What books and study guides
> would you recommend? Lastly, is this at all possible to do? Will I be able
> to do the exams? If you don't think it's worth it, tell me why and if you
> don't think it's possible, tell me what I have to do to make it possible.
Received on Sun Aug 04 2002 - 13:05:51 CDT