Hi Kunwar,
The OCM itself may not bring you a lot (except if you are a consultant and
then it can help to maintain higher rates as an external proof that you are
a specialist). Or save time when applying to a DBA position as it is like a
technical interview that is already passed (but it does not cover all parts
of the job of course). But, as you say, you will learn a lot in the
preparation. And you may enjoy the exam: it can give you more confidence
that your knowledge covers all important database areas.
You say "I am oracle performance dba in my current role" and then it can be
the occasion to look at other aspects if you don't cover them already.
But of course, you may prefer to learn about cloud technologies and
methods, in the idea that you will still have to use your performance
skills on environments managed by automation for the other stuff. Both
makes sense - depends on what you want to work in the future.
Regards,
Franck.
On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 3:52 AM Mladen Gogala <gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I am a bitter opponent of the certifications. I was Oracle OCA for Oracle
8i and 9i. I felt sick in my stomach when doing those certification exams.
Those certifications require essentially the same skill as was required to
learn poems in school: listen my children and you shall hear about the
midnight ride of Paul Revere....A beautiful poem, though.
What certification process does not teach is the understanding of the
different components. I have interviewed certified DBA people who haven't
understood the tuning process. In particular, I asked the following
question: users of a particular application start complaining that the
application response is slow. What do you do? The most frequent and
completely inaccurate answer was "i run AWR report". Some of the
interviewed folks didn't know what gc 2-way waits are and how to avoid
them. And if you go a bit out of the Oracle universe and ask for the
difference between a PC and a mini computer or why would you need an HBA
with iSCSI, there is a fair amount of blank stares or tries to rephrase the
question and offer it as an answer. Such blatantly rude tactics immediately
get under my skin. There are cases of OCP who know only Oracle SQL and only
on Windows. Until approximately 5 years ago, one of my regular questions
was the one about the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow. However,
recent candidates have not watched mandatory classics like MP & Holly
Grail, Life of Brian, Dr. Strangelove or Apocalypse Now. Strange as it may
sound, some of them haven't even seen The Animal House. My questions are
out of date and can only be answered by the people 45 or older. I've said
to a new DBA that she's now under double secret probation and she asked me
what is that? Until very recently, the understanding of the references like
that revealed certain psychology type and belonging to certain group of
people, usually known as "computer geeks" of which I am a proud member. No
certification guarantees of overall good understanding of IT technology.
One of my newer questions is: how will you find out who is doing the most
of IO on your DB server? The first answer is usually a query to V$SESSTAT,
which will not catch a botched Perl script or a security product which
continually checks file flags. ClamAV anyone? What a reply like this tells
me is that the user doesn't understand the overall IT technology and is
problematic, despite a certification. I prefer good references and
experiences on the resume to certification.
On 10/27/19 9:48 PM, Vishnu Potukanuma wrote:
A certification will definitely help and will elevate your carrier as
well... especially OCM.. and the employment prospects are high provided
that your resume makes it till the technical panel ..
The irony is in reality most recruiters/managers who filter the resumes
doesn't care or know about what is OCM.. in few cases they thought OCP is
higher....
I see that you are an Oracle performance DBA in your current role..
explore this area to the fullest means possible... Oracle DBAs specialising
in performance tuning are a rare breed and you wont find many in the market
and the actual filtering ratio will be 200/300:1 to find a good performance
tuning DBA who knows stuff apart from the fundamentals and we had to
struggle a lot each time a DBA would go out of the team and it took us
approximately 3 months to find the right resource. I would recommend you to
focus all your attention in Cloud / Performance tuning for now and prepare
for OCM in your part time.
it hardly takes 2 months to finish preparing and practicing for OCM
especially if you follow the schedule properly take a topic a day (probably
an hour or two) and try to finish it and practice it the alternate day...
Its a tough exam but it is real easy! but earning the certification is
different from living up to the expectations.
Thanks,
Vishnusivathej
Oracle 11g/12c OCM
On Sun, Oct 27, 2019 at 2:36 AM Mladen Gogala <gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On 10/26/19 9:51 AM, kunwar singh wroteMladen Gogala
Hi all,
What would be more beneficial in the long term in your opinion?
Oracle OCM certification (and things learned during its time preparation
) or learning cloud .
I don’t want to do both as don’t get much free time and want to gain
expert level knowledge so that I am gainfully employed for next 5 years or
so .
I am oracle performance dba in my current role .
So looking for insights on what community members here think .
I am interested in both , but thinking what value OCM will hold with all
the cloud focus these days . In my job I am getting chance to play with
python , so atleast I am learning a new skill currently too.
Rgds,
Kunwar
--
Cheers,
Kunwar
Hi Kunwar!
Why not both? You can become an Oracle Cloud Master, OCM for short. In
other words, you could become a genuine Oracle rain man.
Regards
--
Mladen Gogala
Database Consultant
Tel: (347) 321-1217
--
Database Consultant
Tel: (347) 321-1217
