Oracle Certification

The primary goal in becoming certified is to increase one’s credibility (with employer and peers) by increasing his or her knowledge and skills. When someone cheats, they undermine the learning process, which leads to a decrease in their credibility - the exact opposite of their goal! Cheating eventually catches up to them and the damage to their reputation can haunt them for years.

I’m sure that you all know someone who under-performed because they cut corners (like cheating). Cheaters don’t fool people for long.

Do you know someone who you suspect cheated to get certified? How did you know? How did you feel about that person? Would you recommend them to a future employer?

Paul Sorensen,
Director, Oracle Certification

QUICK LINKS

• On The Web: Oracle Fraudulent Activity Policy
• On The Web: Oracle Certification Candidate Agreement
• Email: Oracle Certification Program Fraud Email Alias
  

[UPDATE January 8, 2009: survey period ended, URL removed]

On December 17, 2008, Oracle University launches a new certification – the “Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert.”

The “Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert” certification endorses those database administrators, support engineers, and technical consultants who have demonstrated their knowledge and skills using Oracle Database 11g automatic tuning features, including SQL Tuning Advisor, SQL Access Advisor, Automatic Workload Repository and Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor.

Earning the “Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert” certification requires completion of exam 1Z1-054 "Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert" as well as completion of training class Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning (Course ID D50317GC10).

Those holding an Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional (OCP) certification are exempt from the training requirement.

PRE-REGISTRATION STARTING IN NOVEMBER
Pre-registration for the “Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert” exam begins Wednesday, November 19, 2008. The exam will initially be in beta and will therefore be available at the special beta price of $50 (USD). For more on beta exams, visit the beta exams section of our website.

A direct link to the exam objectives will posted here when registration begins next Wednesday.

QUICK LINKS

• Related Blog Post: Registration Starts For New Database 11g Performance Tuning Certification
• Certification Track: Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert
• Certification Exam: 1Z1-054 – Oracle Database 11g: Performance Tuning
• Training: Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning
• On The Web: About Oracle Certification Beta Exams
  

The knowledge required by the typical Oracle DBA has increased, requiring additional skills and in some cases job responsibilities. Oracle Certified Masters Joel Goodman and Harald van Breederode discuss this shift in DBA skills in this 10-page PDF booklet: "Performing an Oracle DBA 1.0 to DBA 2.0 Upgrade - Insights into the Expansion of the DBA Skill Set."

You can download this new booklet for free below:

QUICK LINKS

• PDF Booklet: "Performing an Oracle DBA 1.0 to DBA 2.0 Upgrade - Insights into the Expansion of the DBA Skill Set" (PDF 1.2M)
  

When an employer hires someone to perform a job role they look at several critical factors such as employment history, communication skills, experience, training, certification. Some of these are easily verifiable (communication skills), while others are more ambiguous (level of experience). When someone cheats or lies about any of these (such as certification or experience) and still gets the job or promotion, they harm their employer and peers by consistently under-performing in their job. Someone else has to be assigned to pick up the slack, and then they eventually fire and replace the under-performing person.

I’m sure that many of you have seen this happen first-hand. You may have even seen someone cause damage to critical systems or put a project over budget. It just doesn’t make sense to me that people would put themselves and their companies at risk like this.

Do you have experience with an under-performer who you suspect may have cheated? Who picked up the slack? What did you do?

Paul Sorensen,
Director, Oracle Certification

QUICK LINKS

• On The Web: Cheating Part 1: Who Benefits from Cheating?
• On The Web: Cheating Part 2: Cheating Hurts The Cheater
• On The Web: Oracle Fraudulent Activity Policy
• On The Web: Oracle Certification Candidate Agreement
• Email: Oracle Certification Program Fraud Email Alias
  

[UPDATE January 8, 2009: survey period ended, URL removed]

On December 1, 2008, the integration of BEA Certification with Oracle certification will be complete. On this date, Oracle will re-launch four BEA certifications and republish their corresponding exams under the Oracle Certification program.

The four BEA certifications receiving new Oracle Certified Expert (OCE) titles include:

• Oracle WebLogic Server 10g Developer Certified Expert
• Oracle WebLogic Portal 10g Developer Certified Expert
• Oracle WebLogic Server 10g System Administrator Certified Expert
• Oracle SOA Architect Certified Expert

Current BEA certification information is available on our website.

RETIREMENTS
As part of the transition to Oracle, five BEA certification exams were retired on September 30, 2008. These exams are no longer available:

• 0B0-101 BEA Certified Developer: Build Solutions for BEA WebLogic 8.1
• 0B0-102 BEA Certified Developer: Portal Solutions for BEA WebLogic 8.1
• 0B0-103 BEA Certified Developer: Integration Solutions for BEA WebLogic 8.1/8.5
• 0B0-104 BEA Certified Administrator: System Administration for BEA WebLogic 8.1
• 0B0-105 BEA Certified Architect: Enterprise Architecture for BEA WebLogic 8.1

Note that the retirement of these exams does not affect the status of existing BEA certifications. Those certifications remain valid without expiration and are fully recognized by Oracle.

NEW PROCESS TO UPDATE PROFILE
On November 8, the I7 Learning Profile for BEA certified candidates was retired and is no longer available. Candidates can now view their exam history and update demographic information on their Prometric profiles at www.prometric.com.

BEA CERTIFICATION EXAM REGISTRATION CHANGE
You are no longer required to purchase examination vouchers from Education Services for BEA certifications. Those who have already purchased an exam voucher (which has not yet expired) from BEA Education you can still use this code when registering for your exam at Prometric until November 30, 2008.

BEA EXAM VOUCHERS
Also effective December 1, 2008, any unexpired BEA exam voucher that has not been redeemed will no longer be valid. Oracle will replace these unexpired/unredeemed vouchers with new vouchers that are valid for Oracle certification exams. All vouchers that have not been redeemed and have not expired (by November 30, 2008) will be replaced by January 30, 2009.

More information on the BEA certification transition can be found on the Oracle Certification Blog and the Oracle Certification website. Specifics on BEA exam vouchers, BEA candidate profiles, and similar transitional topics can be found on our website.

QUICK LINKS

• On The Web: BEA/Oracle Transition
• Certification Tracks: Oracle Middleware Certification
• Blog: Oracle Certification Blog
  

Registrations have begun today for the new "Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert" (OCE) certification.

Exam 1Z1-054 – Oracle Database 11g: Performance Tuning is now available for registration at Prometric testing centers worldwide.  While the exam is in beta, it is available at the special beta price of only $50 USD. Beta exams are an excellent way to directly provide your input into the final version of the certification exam as well as be one of the very first certified in the track. Furthermore – passing the beta counts for full final exam credit. Note that beta testing is offered for a limited time only.

Learn more about this new certification from Oracle in our post: Oracle University Announces New Database 11g Performance Tuning Certification.

QUICK LINKS

• Certification Track: Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning Certified Expert
• Certification Exam: 1Z1-054 – Oracle Database 11g: Performance Tuning
• Training: Oracle Database 11g Performance Tuning
• Blog: Oracle University Announces New Database 11g Performance Tuning Certification
• On The Web: About Oracle Certification Beta Exams

Most IT Professionals who become certified follow the intended process (study, train, practice, test) and in doing so – increase the breadth of their knowledge and their skills. When someone cuts corners and cheats to get certified (i.e. using dump sites, seeking answers in online forums, etc.) they undermine the process and almost always under-perform. Sadly, in the mind of their employer – the employee’s poor performance sometimes gets erroneously blamed on what the employer perceives to be to a useless certification.

This unfortunate misperception not only negatively affects the employer and cheater, it can also deflate the value for those who have legitimately put in the effort to earn the credential (which they will attest was not an easy task). Over time, this can even begin to erode the value of a credential, lead to the devaluation of a specific certification, and even certification in general.

Do you know someone who cheated to get a certification that you legitimately earned? How did that make you feel as a true certification holder? Was there anything you might have inadvertently done that helped facilitate their cheating?

Paul Sorensen,
Director, Oracle Certification

QUICK LINKS

• On The Web: Cheating Part 1: Who Benefits from Cheating?
• On The Web: Cheating Part 2: Cheating Hurts The Cheater
• On The Web: Cheating Part 3: Cheating Hurts Present and Future Employers
• On The Web: Oracle Fraudulent Activity Policy
• On The Web: Oracle Certification Candidate Agreement
• Email: Oracle Certification Program Fraud Email Alias

[UPDATE January 8, 2009: survey period ended, URL removed]