On the surface acquiring Oracle certification seems quite complicated but once you strip away all the different options it is relatively straightforward (conceptually anyway - acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to pass the exams is another matter). Let's see if we can clear up some of the confusion.
Oracle Certification Pathways
Essentially there are 4 different routes to gain Oracle certification, each based on a different role. Each route has a different set of requirements with the only overlap being between the Oracle certification programs for developers and dbas both of which require knowledge of sql. Therefore the certification path you take will depend on your current role and/or your aspirations.
The current (as of July 2009) pathways and the roles on which they're based are:
database - for DBAs
middleware - for system administrators or developers
applications - for Oracle E-Business Suite, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Hyperion and Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management
and Linux - for Linux systems administrators
The Oracle dba certification path has 3 levels for Oracle 9i and above (Oracle 8i certification had just one level - Oracle Certified Professional):
Oracle Certified Associate (OCA)
Oracle Certified Professional (OCP)
Oracle Certified Master (OCM)
and the qualifications must be gained in the order of OCA, OCP, OCM.
The middleware and Linux certifciation paths have just the associate and professional levels and the applications path has just the professional level.
Ancillary to the OCM level is an option called the Oracle Certified Expert (OCE) program which is a new type of specialization certification program.
The idea of this is to recognise competency in specific technologies or subjects not currently covered in the Oracle Certified Professional paths.
The technologies covered by this include SQL, Oracle 11g Performance Tuning, Oracle 10g RAC (Real Application Clusters) and Oracle 10g on Linux (see the
Oracle Expert Program
section on the Oracle website for the exact details).
For these subjects the Oracle Certified Expert level is the only certification option available which makes things simpler, however for the Oracle 10g certified expert paths, having Oracle 10g certification is an optional precursor.
The Route To Oracle DBA Certification (overview)
The purpose of the Oracle certification program is to ensure graduates of this program have a solid grounding in both the theory and the practice and the higher the level of certification the greater the emphasis on practical skills.
The first level of certification Oracle Certified Associate (OCA) requires the passing of 1 (for Oracle 10g) or 2 (for Oracle 9i and Oracle 11g) exams on SQL and basic database administration.
For the next level, Oracle Certified Professional OCP, as well as being an Oracle Certified Associate, you are required to pass 1 or more further exams plus take one of the approved instructor-led training courses either with Oracle (some of the courses can be taken on-line) or with an training company approved by Oracle (self study or learning from a mate doesn't count!).
Once you've qualified as an Oracle Certified Professional, the next stage in the Oracle dba certification path is to become an Oracle Certified Master.
To qualify for this you need to take at least 2 advanced instructor-led training courses from Oracle or with an training company approved by Oracle (again no self study or learning from a mate) and then pass a 2-day practical exam on subjects such as
database installation and configuration
network configuration
Enterprise Manager set up and configuration
using RMAN (recovery manager)
creating a standby database
recovering from failures, etc.
Each scenario in the practical builds on the previous one, which means if you are unable to recover from one failure scenario you may not be able to complete one of the subsequent scenarios. You're not allowed to take in your own notes, "phone a friend" or collaborate with other students - you're on your own! But they do provide you with a complete set of the Oracle documentation (non-searchable however) to enable you to check syntax.
The pass mark for this is around 70% and if you fail you have to do the whole lot over again. Obviously this makes it very tough to pass but if you do pass you are allowed to use the OCM logo on your business cards and you can put your profile on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) website.
That's the route if you're starting from scratch. However if you already have certification then to upgrade to a later version you only have to take one exam (on the new features of the release you're upgrading to). If you're certification is on Oracle 7 or 8 you first have to upgrade to Oracle 9i before you can upgrade to Oracle 10g or 11g. This also applies to the middleware and application certification paths. See
Oracle certification exam
for more details of the exams required.
Benefits of Oracle Certfication
One area we haven't addressed yet is the fundamental question of whether or not Oracle certification is worth the trouble and the expense (especially if you're paying for it yourself). The above video gives Oracle's view on certification.
According to Oracle the benefits of gaining certification are increased proficiency, confidence and capability in doing the job. Additionally in a survey of over 1,000 OCPs:
97% said they benefited
96% would recommend the programme to a colleague
88.6% felt better qualified to handle more complex job-related issues and projects
90.3% said their professional credibility increased
The one thing Oracle don't say though is which certification path(s) had been followed by the survey respondents so it is not possible to tell if one certification route is better than another (in terms of effort and reward).
It is also interesting to note that in the middleware path, it is not possible to get certification on Oracle Forms 10g which has been available for a few years whereas in the database path it is already possible to become certified on Oracle 11g. This implies that there are few benefits of Oracle certification for pure Oracle developers (i.e. excluding Oracle Applications/E-Business Suite/Oracle Application Server).
The Linux path is relatively new and builds on top of the certification available from the likes of Red Hat and Novell so this is probably a good path to take for Linux system administrators.
In conclusion then it would seem that the Oracle Certified DBA track is worth following whilst the Oracle Certified Developer track is probably not.
Without any other statistics and with the poor record of employers providing training courses and being willing to pay more for trained staff the other certification paths may struggle.
If you're employed (as opposed to freelance), one way to find out if certification is worthwhile is to ask your boss to pay for the training and exams - if he/she agrees, then the only consideration is how much of your own time it will take.
For freelancers it's a harder question - one way to gauge would be to speak to previous clients and ask them if they would pay more for someone with Oracle certification and if so how much!
Summary
The easiest and cheapest route to Oracle certification is to upgrade from certification on an earlier version. If you don't qualify for that route then be prepared for potentially a lot of studying and practising and to spend a fair amount of money (yours or your employers') on the process (depending on your knowledge and skills and your current level of experience), especially if you're aiming to become an Oracle Certified Master.
Even if your employer is paying the course and exam fees, there is still the time required for studying and preparing for the exams. Fortunately there are many resources available to help you including books, training courses (on-line, self-paced or instructor-led), self-test software and practice questions.
