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RE: the ora certified masters cert, yet again

From: Khedr, Waleed <Waleed.Khedr_at_FMR.COM>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 14:39:32 -0800
Message-ID: <F001.00487B62.20020625143932@fatcity.com> 





I think it should be called OCR : Oracle Certified Robot



 Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the
author and do not necessarily represent those of the company



-----Original Message-----


Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 5:41 PM


To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L




A tip o' the hat to all authors and presenters.  However writing a book
makes no one an expert on anything.  There are Oracle books containing
fabulous stories of what happens when a tablespace is put in backup mode,
and while quite entertaining they do not further a correct understanding of
Oracle.  Authors take the time to put what they believe to be true on paper.
It's often what they have been told, not what they have learned on their
own.  Richard Niemiec's sp? tuning books have been trashed recently because
they tout buffer hit ratios; however there was a consensus in the Oracle
community that these were important.  It took Cary Millsap's paper and a new
tuning paradigm introduced by Gaja Vaidyanatha, Kirtikumar Deshpande, and
John Kostelac Jr. to direct us to something more useful.  Personally, I was
using wait events before Gaja's book, but I was also trying to keep the hit
ratio's high as a part of the "consensus".  If I had written a book before
seeing Cary's pap!


er!


!


, it


would have touted hit ratios.  I don't believe "Oracle 101 Performance
Tuning" is a perfect book;  it doesn't properly address data collection
needs. 



Why would authorship and presentations be worth more than an OCP?  The OCP
says that you have achieved a standard.  One can debate whether that
standard has any meaning.  There is no standard at all for
authors/presenters.  It does seem however that many OCP holders know far
less than their certificate would indicate, and some authors are more expert
than their books convey.  A good author of Oracle tomes and presentations
needs a clearer understanding of the subject matter than an OCP.  Good
authors hold themselves to higher standards than needed to be called an OCP.
I just want to point out that not all authors are good authors, and that
there are OCP holders who have not written books that are as if not more
knowlegeable than  most authors.  There are people who have done neither who
know as much if not more than both.



The OCM was introduced for two reasons.  Oracle is in business to make money
and wanted another revenue stream, and the standards one must meet to become
an OCP were being questioned.   Unfortunately at last years IOUG-A
conference the six people who were given their OCM's were touted as the six
most knowledgeable Oracle experts in th world.  The awardees did not include
Gaja, nor Kirti, nor Anjo Kolk, nor Steve Adams, nor Jonathan Lewis, nor Guy
Harrison, nor Larry Elkins...  Indeed  only one person on the awarded the
OCM would I have placed in any top six list, and that's Paul Dorsey who is
extremely knowlegeable concerning  Oracle's development tools.  There  were
some awardees I know nothing about.  Despite this over-the-top rollout, the
OCM under proper care could become a certification with real meaning, by
that I mean more important than being an author or a presenter




Ian MacGregor


Stanford Linear Acclerator Center


ian_at_SLAC.Stanford.edu






  



 




 



-----Original Message-----


Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 11:17 AM


To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L




Rachel has really baiting me on this one, as she is well aware of my
position on certifications, especially Oracle's.  I watched some of this
thread start and laughed.  



Vendor-sponsored certifications are no more valuable to the marketplace than
the software they claim is 100% bug free.  This is especially true when the
vendor "pushes" the certification out to the market for next to nothing and
then complains that the industry sees no value in it because SOOOOOO many
people have it.  Who's to blame for that.  Why do you think Microsoft
reduced the number of organizations that offer MCS* certifications?  There
are TOOOO MANY.  Our company offered MCS* certifications, including a
complete training program, as required and it brought NO VALUE.  



Look at companies like Novell, etc.  Originally, Novel's certifications,
CNA, CNE, & CNAE, were offered at a high cost and only the few and proud had
obtained it.  The original certification exams, CSP, CCP, etc. that were
offered by third-party institutes have also lost their value as anyone with
a book and time can pass them.  It's too bad because certifications DID mean
something in the 1980s and early 1990s.



Oracle is crying in its own spoiled milk on this one.  They caused the
problem and now they are trying to fix it by ramming a new program down our
throats.  Think about it folks.  You have to pay an additional $ 2000 for
what?  The only reason people will take this ridiculous path is to achieve a
higher level in the Oracle Partner Program.  No More. No less.  



If you really think that having an OCM or OCP or other certification is
going to make the difference in you getting a job, you have REAL problems.
As far as Rachel substituting books and presentations for certifications, I
agree with her.  As a personal friend of hers ( I hope still after this long
email), I also do not have my certification because my experience shows:
25+ presentations around the world, recognized industry expert, and 17+
years doing the job.  



OK.  I'm off the soap box.  Get off the certification box now before it
collapses and Oracle builds another one.  You know:  If Oracle would
concentrate on building better quality software with the time spent on this
stupid certification program, all of us would be better off!



Thank You



Stephen P. Karniotis


Product Architect


Compuware Corporation

Direct:	(248) 865-4350
Mobile:	(248) 408-2918
Email:	Stephen.Karniotis_at_Compuware.com
Web:	www.compuware.com

 -----Original Message-----
Sent:	Tuesday, June 25, 2002 12:19 PM
To:	Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Subject:	Re: the ora certified masters cert, yet again





Rachel,



So, you substitute books and presentations in place of
the OCP? This sounds like we are in agreement in
principle...



<;)



jack








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  INET: Waleed.Khedr_at_FMR.COM

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Received on Tue Jun 25 2002 - 17:39:32 CDT












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