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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.server -> Re: Is Oracle DBA cerificate useless ?!!!!
I perceive certification as an enhancement to experience, not a substitute. To my mind, too much emphasis is put on getting a job, getting a better job, getting more pay etc. and little on the value of certification to doing one's present job better, i.e. being a better DBA. My experience with it has been that it has helped me "fill in the blanks" - covering material that even in my vast experience I have not yet encountered or forcing me to learn details that I had skipped over to get a job done. For example, nailing syntax rules instead of "programming by errors" and other information now in my memory which before I had to search for. Completion of other areas at least made me aware of various aspects of Oracle I had not yet encountered; knowledge of some of these aspects saved time when they became relevant later on.
Part of this is in the approach to studying for the tests. Just reading and comprehending enough to "guess" the multiple-choice stuff may get you certified, but for it to be meaningful, try actually implementing the material as you study. This to me is the biggest advantage of working with Oracle as opposed to other RDBMS's I've worked with - being able to run it at home and experiment to one's heart's content without a demo experation etc.
My employer is quite pleased that I'm pursuing certification. They believe it will improve my effectiveness, and it looks good on the corporate resume. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than formal courses etc.
In short, as with most things, it depends on the approach and expectations. While I agree with most that a stand-alone certification as an indication of a DBA's qualification mostly indicates skill in multiple-choice questions (some of them really are bizarre in their wording). Combined with experience, and maybe some well-chosen questions from an interviewer ("what's the OCP?", "what did you hope to gain from certification?"...), it could be helpful in evaluating a candidate. It can also be valuable used as a structured learning tool and as an objective worth achieving in one's present employement.
fdp
Sam Talebbeik wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> I have posted a couple of questions about getting Oracle DBA certification
> on this news group in the past few days.
>
> So far the feedback that I have gotten has been very negative. One person
> even commented that the DBA training and the exam questions have nothing
> to do with the "actual" DBA work and the Oracle shops really do not care who
> has and who does not have a certificate.
>
> I am completely confused and I need more comments from Oracle old timers
> particularly those with a certificate.
>
> Doesn't the certificate actually show that you have the "minimum"
> requirements for a DBA job ? I looked at the course material for the DBA
> and it looks very relevant (PL/SQL, Installation, Perf monitoring, Backup
> and recovery).
>
> Regards,
> Sam
Received on Wed Jun 13 2001 - 07:41:53 CDT
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