For today’s retrospective post on the MySQL Advent Calendar 2024, we will examine the MySQL Certifications.
MySQL AB released certifications in 2002 as you can see in the following announcement:
For a long time, the two exams were proposed and maintained. I remember when I passed my first one, you first needed to validate the MySQL Core certification to take the MySQL Professional.
To prepare for the exams you had two possibilities, and or course, you could combine them (it was recommended):
- attend a course (at that time they were physical), I attended one in London and Tobias was the instructor
- buy (and read!) the MySQL Certification Guide
When you were ready you could make an appointment at a PearsonVue center and take the exam. This was, kind of stressful as you were in front of a computer with a questionnaire and nothing else, no material, no MySQL instance… and some questions were tricky.
In 2005, the certification exams were updated to include questions about MySQL 4.1:
When you succeeded in the exams you received a nice physical certificate with several cool stickers:
In 2006, the certifications were upgraded for MySQL 5.0 and yhe Certification Study Guide covering MySQL 5.0 was released. Those books were amazing and I learned a lot from them.
With MySQL 5.1, we also had new exams, an Associate one and one for MySQL Cluster (NDB):
Since 2022, the certification path has been delivered through the Oracle University learning and exam delivery platform. You can take training to prepare for the exams.
The current exams are based on MySQL 8.0:
Now you receive a virtual badge and certificate:
I hope you found this brief retrospective on certification to be informative, and I would like to encourage you to pursue MySQL certification, as the benefits for professionals remain significant.