Career Orientation

need some advice please...

I am just completing my final year at university doing an EC, IS degree. I have decided to continue in the Database field and i have purchased "OCP: Oracle8i DBA Certification Kit". I have only basically touched on Oracle at univerisity with basic design and SQL coding and was wondering if certification was the best way to go.

What is the difference with Oracle 8i, 9i?

How long on average would it take to complete the exams for OCP DBA given self learning...and how hard is it with no guide?

How much money are some people with certification on in here....if that is not too personal?

How important is knowledge of Linux, Unix?

any answers you can provide me will be greatly appreciated and any other guidance you can give will be warmly welcomed.

Thanks.

me again....

i was reading in another post where some1 said that the OCP market has been flooded and the iT market has slowed..esp in UK.

Is database not the 2nd biggest growing field in IT?

Is this not a good field to be getting into...and as i read somewhere..u never see jobs posted as "junior DBA", where do you get hte experience when you are first starting out?

sorry about the dribble...

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Originally posted by DarthDBA
I have only basically touched on Oracle at univerisity with basic design and SQL coding and was wondering if certification was the best way to go.

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The best way to go where :-) I firmly believe that certification is the way to confirm and enlarge your knowledge, you should not look at it as the key to big salary and employment prosperity.

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What is the difference with Oracle 8i, 9i?

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Big difference. 9i has many new features, it is an improved and enlarged version of 8i.

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How long on average would it take to complete the exams for OCP DBA given self learning...and how hard is it with no guide?

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I did complete the exams within 6 months. Before I bought the certification books, I though I new everything about Oracle. Oh boy, how wrong I was! The more I learn nowadays about Oracle, the more I see how little I know about it...

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How much money are some people with certification on in here....if that is not too personal?

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Enough to be able to pay the bills and not to care how much a glass of Jack Daniels will cost on a Friday evening. But I bet we are not rolling in cash if that's what you are asking about :-)

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How important is knowledge of Linux, Unix?

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What's Linux :-)

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any answers you can provide me will be greatly appreciated and any other guidance you can give will be warmly welcomed.

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I am sure some other guys will tell you their point of view

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i was reading in another post where some1 said that the OCP market has been flooded and the iT market has slowed..esp in UK. Is database not the 2nd biggest growing field in IT?

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What's the first?

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Is this not a good field to be getting into...and as i read somewhere..u never see jobs posted as "junior DBA", where do you get hte experience when you are first starting out?

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You start as a developer, system operator, beats me :-)

Darth,
While the market is slow and too many IT people.
according to a survey the specific job demand by the end of year 2003 will be huge.
I mean i'm also doing a course in the IT degree, and being in the market i know that it's not at all up to date.(of course it's important).
In the software scenario the name of the game is to specialize and continue upgrading to the everchanging IT demands.
For instance due to the socio-political scenario in the given times with threats to prospering organizations (besides the corporate threats) will heavily emphasize on security, networking and ofcourse rdbms.

We have to continuosly keep looking around to see that we don't turn into some white elephant , just stay versatile.

Tarry

Thx for your time and input guys.

Apparently Web Design is the number 1 growing field in IT according to some large company whose name i cant recall. No doubt this point is very controversial according to who you ask.

6 months? Were you working full time during this 6 months because i was hoping to finish them in a shorter period of time. What sort of hours were you putting into your studies?

Jobserve gives some indication about the strength of the market and the demand for various skills if you watch it over a period of time.

http://www.jobserve.com

Java seems to be in demand. App Server knowledge seems hot as well.

Studying for OCP without working through some of the problems on a database is comparable to becoming an auto mechanic without ever touching a car. Only my opinion.

Good luck.

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6 months? Were you working full time during this 6 months because i was hoping to finish them in a shorter period of time. What sort of hours were you putting into your studies?

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Yes, I was working full time as a DBA. I spent about 2 hours a day, 6-8 on Saturday and Sunday.

Shorter period? Like 5 months or 5 weeks?

2-3 days i was hoping....

No jk i was thinking between 3-5 months. Depends on how much work i will be doing. I may have a bit of free time between graduation and getting a job in IT Support which i want to get while i study for these exams.

You can make it in 3-5 months granted you have the time (6-8 h/day), the motivation and the right studing materials.

I remember once there was a guy called 'ocpwannabe', who completed all 5 exams in 1 day and got a junior dba role almost immediately afterwards...

Strange... I haven't seen him in the forums for a while.

I got ocp in 6months whilst full time dba/unix administrator.

To be honest with you, I could probably have completed in a shorter time, however If you want to really undestand each subject fully, I think that you should spend at least 1 month studying for each exam.

oh, im still here. yes, it is true i passed all 5 in one day. i spend about 3-4 mos studying, tho

How do you schedule the exam ??

I finished the exam in 6 months. during that time, i have around 1 1/2 of Oracle DBA experience. It will be easier to learn and understand oracle is you have hands on experience.

you might end up completing the exam longer if you rush things. i.e flunking the exam w/c i hope you wont. take your time! Good luck on you journey to OCP!