be certified profi: Oracle certificates

Let's start with Oracle as I'm going to take one of their exam soon. Oracle offers wide range of exams. There exist 3 main levels of certification programs:

Higher the certification title, more exams one has to pass. To get Oracle Certified Associate (OCA) title it is enough to pass one or two exams, depending on the chosen certification path. For most of Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) and Oracle Certified Master (OCM) certifications some additional actions are required like completing hands-on courses (online or in-class) and finally submitting special forms.

Depending on what topic you are interested in, you can choose between various paths of certification. They distinguish 4 different knowledge areas:

Database
Middleware
Applications
Linux

Example:

Suppose that you have SQL at your fingertips and you want to go for one of Middleware paths:
Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate.
You have to pass 2 exams:

Step 1)

1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL
($125 USD, 120 minutes, 57 questions and 68% is the passing score)

alternatively

1Z0-007 Introduction to Oracle 9i SQL
($95 USD, 120 minutes, 52 questions and 71% is the passing score)
Step 2)

1Z0-147 Program with PL/SQL
($125 USD, 90 minutes, 66 questions and 77% is the passing score)

Steps 1 and 2 exams can be completed in the opposite sequence.

If you need training Oracle website will guide you. There are also few books designed especially for helping to prepare for certain exams. I think that customers' reviews at amazon.com are quite helpful to make a good choice. However some people say that the best reference is just Oracle docs. Anyway we assumed that you are an expert already :) Register online for the exams and choose the Test Site in the location you like. Don't worry, there are many of them everywhere in the world, for example 85 in India, 26 in Brazil, 17 in Poland and even 1 in Cambodia.

Note that there is also a possibility to take some exams online (non-proctored).

You registered, went to the testing center (or to online test platform) and passed 2 exams. Congratulations you just became the Oracle PL/SQL Developer OCA!
Wanna have an OCP title? No problem, take one more exam:

1Z0-141 Oracle Forms: Build Internet Applications
($125 USD, 120 minutes, 69 questions and 75% is the passing score)

and you are Oracle Forms Developer Certified Professional.

To summarize, 3 exams has to be passed to receive OCP. In this case it's finished, there is no OCM level in this certification path.

In other cases it is not that easy. For example for Oracle 9i Database Administrator OCP there are 4 exams and one training required (however for 10g it's only two exams).

To get OCM is a different story. As this is suppose to be the most advanced certification, the exam has some special rules. First of all it cost $2000 USD and lasts 2 days. They recommend to take it when having at least 3-4 years of professional enterprise-level Oracle experience. The exam consists in working and solving some problems on real machines. Non-searchable Oracle documentation set is available. Have a look - these people got it.

Except for three main certification tiers described above, Oracle offers Oracle Special Accreditation specifically aimed at OCPs who want to certify themselve in some advanced areas.

Additionally this year they launched Oracle Certified Expert Program which is suppose to be "new type of specialization certification program from Oracle, which grants credentials that recognize competency in specific technologies, architectures or domains not currently covered in the path-based Certified Associate and Certified Professional certifications".

That's all for now, promise to describe my experiences in details after taking one of exams.

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