I haven't heard of any cases of "faked" OCM credentials, but I have
heard of some "more experienced" DBAs digging out their old "Oracle
Master" booklet and creating confusion. I didn't participate, but back
in the 90s, Oracle Education had a program they called "Oracle Master".
It amounted to a reward program for those that spent a lot of time and
money with Oracle Education by giving them the title of "Oracle Master"
after completing a prescribed list of courses. I stopped hearing about
the program for a while, but when OCM was created, I heard of a few
digging out their old Oracle Master certificate.
Certifications shouldn't be a replacement for a thorough technology
interview, but may be used as a qualification to offer an interview in
some cases. I've gone through many of Oracle's certifications, but
mainly because I like to know it means when someone else tells me
they're certified.
All that said, I have to say that I agree with many of the comments on
this thread. The OCA and OCP exams can be passed by relatively
inexperienced individuals with good test-taking and cramming abilities.
The OCM practicum is a different story and requires some hands-on
experience, but none of those things qualifies a person for much except
possibly the right to an interview with you ;). I love a good
technically challenging interview...whether I'm conducting it or having
it conducted on me!
Dan
Robert Freeman wrote:
Again,
let me be clear. I'm *not* saying that OCM is a perfect indication,
it's not. I am saying that it holds some validity for me over that of
the OCP or the OCA. I'm saying that it's one of a number of things that
will get you at least a phone interview, not the only one and not
alone, by itself. One could have 20 years of experience with a glowing
resume and fail miserably at a technical interview (I've seen it more
than once). There is no perfect measuring stick. I'm sure many of us
have hired someone that in retrospect was not such a grand idea. It's
just silly to throw out one of many yardsticks that you can use to
measure someone by.
Also, just because one OCM fails an interview is, by itself, not a very
good statistical sample by which to judge the OCM and what it has to
say about candidates overall. Also, did you verify his OCM with Oracle?
I wonder if there are those out there who will fake such credentials
hoping that they won't be checked on. Has anyone ever seen a case where
someone faked credentials?
RF
Robert G. Freeman
Author:
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Feature
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com (Oracle Press)
The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You must be LDS to apply (please
don't write to me and tell me I'm breaking the law. A church can choose
to hire members of it's own faith. Look it up if you don't believe me).
-----
Original Message ----
From: Vishal Gupta <vishal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: robertgfreeman@xxxxxxxxx; oracledba.williams@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: Oracle-L Freelists <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 8, 2008 5:33:19 AM
Subject: RE: Certifications don't count!
I
had interviewed an candidate, who looked very very impressive on CV and
was
OCM. But it lacked technical depth. He had difficulty in answering some
of basic
backup question and RMAN questions.
So,
OCM only means that they some extra money to give to Oracle
Corporation. It no
indication of that they have the practical knowledge or would be
suitable for
the job.
Ultimately
we rejected this candidate….
I
assure you that if I had a candidate with an OCM cert on his resume,
I'd
notice. I could care less about OCA and an OCP is just another thing
I'd
consider, but much less so than an OCM.
Personally, my opinion is that a resume is not much anyway. It gives me
some
idea if the candidate can write, but in my experience the bad
candidates over
inflate work history and experience (and crash and burt in technical
interviews) and very often, strangely, the good candidates under
inflate their
experience (maybe they have so much that they feel it's bragging? I
don't
know). Then there are those who are still steeped in the "One Page"
resume... whoah people, please give me all of your experience!! I can
generally
smoke out a candidate technically in a phone interview in about 5
minutes or
less. IMHO, that is where the winners beat out the losers for the most
part.
Now, if I could just find a good DBA to come work for me (must be LDS -
please,
no emails about discrimination, it is perfectly legal because we are a
Church!).
We need people, NOW!
Cheers!
RF
Robert
G.
Freeman
Author:
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Feature
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
(Oracle Press)
The
LDS Church needs DBA's NOW!
----- Original
Message ----
From: Dennis Williams <oracledba.williams@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Oracle-L Freelists <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 6, 2008 1:45:16 PM
Subject: Certifications don't count!
It's official - hiring managers consider the
value of a
certification to be lower than a few years ago.
Doesn't specifically mention Oracle. It does
mention what a
great deal certification is for the people who sell training.
--
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