OCP is worth nothing

Quote:

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Originally posted by dknight

This is a java developer with j2ee and app server experience who has developed prepared statements and used jdbc on various OSs and at least one major relational db.

Doesn't seem that exceptional to me. Does the ad ask for admin experience for some of the skills above?

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Depending on what you want I agree and disagree at the same time. Assuming the developer is shielded from most complex tasks you are correct. What worries me is that each DB engine and application server has it's own best practices.

I can write SQL that will work on all these engines but I don't know enough about their internals to do it well. If you take an SQL Server developer and make him write SQL against Oracle it will work, but not in the way he intended. Each engine has it's own transactional control model, read consistency model, optimization and locking mechanisms. With this in mind can you expect someone to really claim all these skills and mean it?

Example:

SQL Server has lock escallation, whereby if a process will lock more than a certain percentage of rows in the table a full table lock is issued. By default SQL Server locks rows when you select them to force read consistency. These two facts alone mean you have to write scalable applications quite differently on each engine.

Just a thought...

IT management has a higher estimation of n-tier Java
development than I believe is warranted. I don't think
candidates are grilled about their abilities in optimizing
SQL, regardless of platform.

Running prepared statements from an app server
causes less transparency into finding bad or
inefficient code.

In addition, components that are included as part of the
app server may "force" developers into certain table
designs. A poorly designed object model creates a
maintenance nightmare.

But I digress.

I agree. I'm waiting for CHRISRLONG to jump in now and extol the virtues of PL/SQL APIs :)

A head to head comparison between PL/SQL and Java will show that PL/SQL has a much weaker marketing budget.

A response to the original post:

In the very unlikely event that you learn absolutely nothing in the course of studying and passing all of the OCP exams, I believe the marketing value of an OCP is more than worth the money and time.

Jonathan,

You need not worry about whose signature is on your OCP certificate. I did not care who had signed my BS degree when I got it from the University. What I worried was my name was spelled correctly and the class I obtained.
Today you may feel OCP is worth nothing but when you start working, it will help you a lot on the job.

{{Today you may feel OCP is worth nothing but when you start working, it will help you a lot on
the job. }}}

It is just getting your foot in the door for that first position once you have the OCP certification. I would think that the Developer Certification would open more doors than a DBA cert with no experience. Am I right or wrong?

Junior DBA positions are hard to find. You be better of starting in the development arena. Or, maybe the Support area, meaning support Oracle applications, and getting some hands on with Oracle DBA work as well.

Cheers

well, what if one follows the DBA route and has no related work experience?....Can they latch on somewhere and gradually move up?...I mean ppl have to start somewhere

Quote:

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Originally posted by never2L8
well, what if one follows the DBA route and has no related work experience?....Can they latch on somewhere and gradually move up?...I mean ppl have to start somewhere

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I think the easest way is via development. Straight a DBA...., well, sounds odd.