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Home > Archive > Oracle certifications > June 2002 > OCP Certification Advice !
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OCP Certification Advice !
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| dingof 2002-06-13, 9:06 am |
| Let me begin by listing some of my qualifications:
I have a B.Sc. in the Computer field from one of the top Universities in Canada.
I have over five years of I.T. experience from Tech support, help desk, IT Analyst, to Administrator. (But no OCP experience.) In addition I have completed various certifications and my latest one was the Oracle Certified Professional which by the way took about six month to complete and thousands of dollars to get the benefits of a Classroom environment.
At first I thought this was a great idea since everyone was told there were so many jobs out there for someone completing the OCP. However once I completed the OCP the reality is much different.
I have over 20 Job Hunters in Canada who all feel that I am wasting their time since they have too many applicants to choose from who have over 4 years of experience. I then spoke to the Director of Oracle in the hope of gaining some experience on a volunteer basis in Mississauga (Big building) and after about two month I finally got a chance to learn the truth. I was told that they would not be able to give me any access to their systems on a volunteer basis because they can not take a risk that I could do something to their Oracle systems. In fact they told me that I would not be allowed to come on their premises since I would be a risk just being there because if injured myself they would be liable. I told them I would do it at no cost for a couple month and that all I wanted was some experience, but they told me that although I have completed their program it was not good enough. In fact they could not even provide me with the names of some of the companies that they are dealing with since that could be used against them by Microsoft a competitor.
The truth is that I don't recommend anyone take the Oracle Certifications since there are no jobs out there. They just want your money and no one is willing to give you experience even if you want to do it on a volunteer basis.
Don't be a fool like me and spend your money on another certification, at least do something that has the potential to offer you a job. It's a shame that someone who know so much like me can't get employed.
Please prove me wrong if you can, and tell me that you can get employed as an oracle DBA in Canada.
Yes five years of experience will help, but no one is willing to give it to you since there are too many people to choose from who already have hands on experience.
I hope I have helped some of you and saved you a big load of money. | |
| onoski 2002-06-14, 5:30 am |
| Thanks for sharing, as it just goes to show that only certification alone would not get your foot in the door.
You were even willing to volunteer but still they turned a blind eye. I hope those all who know it all with the experience can comment fairly on this issue without biasness. | |
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| Thanks for sharing your experience. Sad to know that.
While, there's anothe way out. Tell your future employer, you know Oracle database and you know how to admin them. Dun tell the truth. But, keep this in mind, you must be confident in handling the jobs as a DBA, any questions or problem, came, you must know how to handle and solve it. where to look for the source. You really must know your stuff. As, we know most of the Oracle sit on unix box, you have to well verse in both of them. Check out the jobs scope of the Oracle dba, what's are their daily routine. From there, tell the employer. You should'nt have any problem , getting the job.
If you dun have the experience to handle the job, install oralce on a unix machine,play til the whole thing, you are so familiar. You should'nt have any problem.
This is what i always do. And , it's works.
All the best to you. | |
| dingof 2002-06-17, 7:19 am |
| I have in class experience on both Unix and W2K, but this doesn't count since everyone says it's not real experience, on the job experience. In fact before I started the OCP certification they made us take both operating systems. (Solaris and W2k)
Then we installed and ran Oracle instances on Unix.
Although I am an expert there is no recognition.
ps. the exams alone are $$$ each * # of exams.
I'm sorry for if I ruined you day. | |
| singhrk 2002-06-19, 6:45 am |
| I can understand why no one is willing to accept newly certified DBAs even for volunteering. We had to "let-go" our new DBA few days back because he created a mess here, but he was hired because he was certified Oracle 8i DBA since Mar-2001. I think just getting certified and theoritical knowledge may not be enough, as someone suggested earlier try practicing DBA tasks by installing Personal oracle on windows/linux systems. This will give you enough confidence and hopefully a DBA job. | |
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| Some ppl try to cheat their way to the DBA job. While, i dun really object it, but before doing that, that person, must know how to admin an oracle database, same go along with the operating system, which oracle have to sit on.
No point,get a job with certs,and dun know how to do the job. This will only disgrace the person skills and character. How the peson, to tell the employer, he or she is fired becoz, he dun know the stuffs, but only on the theory section.
If really going for Oracle DBA jobs make sure that we must know the products, and what and how Oracle dba jobs routine function daily.
From there, you should'nt have any problem.
Have a great day guys. | |
| dingof 2002-06-24, 12:01 pm |
| Thanks to all who have contributed to this post, however I don't feel it is fair that educational institutions don't give their students a heads up that they will not be able to find a job when they complete the certification because they must get the experience first.
Ps. I use to have a network of computers set up in my home where I have set up a Unix Server, a Windows2K Server, clients and Oracle.
However lets face it this is not experience, because in the real world companies want to see experience from a job environment. No one is willing to trust a Oracle certification. The hands on experience doesn't count no matter how you put it.
It would be nice if people were more honest instead of wasting someones life. | |
| kennyjava 2002-06-28, 6:07 am |
| HI!
all u need is the oracle official books.
all my real oracle exam Qs are from those.
good luck. | |
| Serena74 2002-06-30, 6:37 pm |
| Kennyjava,
What are you talking about. He is OCP Certified and does not need exam questions. | |
| Timein 2002-06-30, 7:34 pm |
| It's tough getting a job our there these days. Expecially when companies like Worldcomm, Group Telecom, Nortel have layed off almost there entire workforce. I suggest you get some hands on experience. Create labs for yourself, troubleshoot problems etc. This is the way I got in the door. |
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