10/9/2000 -- Oracle Corporation, with its headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif., is among the vendor-specific certification heavyweights, along with Microsoft and Novell. All three offer IT professionals a way to show prospective and current employers that they have the skills necessary to use, configure and optimize a particular product or set of products.

Oracle Exam Information: All Certifications Each Oracle exam costs $125 (U.S.). Prometric testing centers proctor Oracle exams. To find a Prometric center near you, visit http://www.2test.com.

The OCP program is designed to provide an industry standard to be used for measuring a candidate's abilities when using Oracle products. There are actually several levels of Oracle Certification: database administrator (DBA), database operator (DBO), application developer and consultant. By choosing the right OCP certification and working through to completion, you will have concentrated your efforts effectively and achieved the certification in the most efficient manner.

Following is a guide to each of these certifications, and the steps to take to achieve them.

Oracle Database Administrator (DBA)

What Happened To DBA 7.3? Oracle retired its DBA 7.3 track on August 31, 2000. If you are certified in Oracle 7.3, you will need to upgrade your certification. In order to do this, you only need to pass one more exam, the Oracle 8: New Features for Administrators exam. For more information, check out the Candidate Guide in Adobe PDF format at http://education.oracle.com/ certification/pdf/cg738.pdf.

1. Oracle 8 DBA
2. Oracle 8i DBA.

Oracle recommends that you have at least six months experience and have been trained in your job role before you start your certification process. Next, each track requires that you successfully pass a number of exams to obtain the certification.

The core path tests for Oracle 8 DBA certification are:

1. Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL
2. Oracle 8: Database Administration
3. Oracle 8: Backup and Recovery
4. Oracle 8: Performance Tuning
5. Oracle 8: Network Administration

The 8i core path is very similar to the Oracle 8 core path, except that, as one would expect, all of the exams in the core path focus on 8i. Its five core exams are listed below:

1. Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL2)
2. Oracle 8i Architecture and Administration
3. Oracle 8i Backup and Recovery
4. Oracle 8i Performance Tuning
5. Oracle 8i Network Administration

Both certifications also offer mixed path options, where you can combine 8 and 8i exams. This path option does take a little longer, because six exams are required instead of five. For those previously certified in 7.3, or those who want to move from 8 to 8i, upgrade tests are also available. For complete details, please visit http://education.oracle.com/certification/index.html.

Oracle Database Operator (DBO)
DBO is Oracle's entry-level certification. It measures a candidate's competency in completing simple, operational tasks, as well as guarantees an introductory knowledge of Oracle database software. According to Oracle, this track is aimed at those assisting DBAs with their administrative chores.

You can obtain the DBO certification by passing one exam, the Database Operator exam. Specific skills this exam covers include:

• Installing Oracle database software.
• Creating and configuring databases.
• Entering data.
• Setting up and managing user accounts.
• Performing backups, maintenance and performance checks.

Although the exam for a DBO is not a credit towards any of the DBA tracks, it does make a great starting point for someone new to Oracle. Oracle is also scheduled to release an Internet Database Operator track soon. For more information on either track, please visit http://education.oracle.com/certification/index.html.

Oracle Application Developer
Although a company deploys an RDBMS on a server to maintain the necessary data for its operations, these RDBMS systems are not always intuitive or easy to use for the average data-entry position. For this reason, Oracle provides development tools for creating and enhancing applications and interfaces to make manipulating the underlying data more user-friendly and intuitive to the end-user. If you're one of these developers, then this is the Oracle certification for you.

Oracle Application Developer offers three tracks (there's also a Java Developer certification, which will be covered later in this article). The tracks are:

• Oracle Developer Rel. 12.
• Oracle Developer Rel. 2
• Oracle Forms Developer Rel. 6/6i

Oracle Developer Rel. 1
You can acquire this certification in one of two possible ways, the core path and the mixed release path. The core path requires that you pass five exams that measure your abilities to develop Oracle applications. They are:

1. Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL2.
2. Develop PL/SQL Program Units
3. Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 I
4. Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 II
5. Developer/2000 Reports 2.5

The mixed release path requires five exams as well, but you can mix exams from several versions of Developer. The exam outline for this path is as follows:

1. Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL2.
2. Develop PL/SQL Program Units
3. Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 I or Developer/2000 Build Forms I or Building Internet Applications I (currently in beta)
4. Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 II
5. Developer/2000 Reports 2.5 or Developer/2000 Build Reports

Oracle Developer Rel. 2
This track also requires you to pass five exams--in fact, the first two exams are exactly the same ones required for Rel. 1: Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL, and Develop PL/SQL Program Units. You must then also pass Developer/2000 Build Forms I, Developer/2000 Build Forms II and Developer/2000 Build Reports exams.

And Rel. 2 also offers the ability to pursue a mixed release path; see the list in Rel. 1 above--the test options are the same, the only difference is that your certification says Rel. 2 instead of Rel. 1.

If you are already certified in Rel. 1, and would like to become Rel 2. certified, Oracle offers an upgrade exam. Once you pass Oracle's Developer/2000 Release 2: New Features exam, you will be Rel. 2 certified.

Oracle Internet Application Developer Rel. 6/6i
This certification is designed for those who are presently using Oracle Forms Developer Rel. 6/6i. There are four possible ways to acquire this certification.

First is the Core path. With this path, you must pass four exams, two of which that measure your abilities to develop Internet-based applications using Oracle products. The core exams are:

1. Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL
2. Develop PL/SQL Program Unit
3. Build Internet Application I
4. Build Internet Applications II

Note that tests 1 and 2 of this track are the same as those in Rel. 1 and 2. If you were currently pursuing either and would prefer to switch to 6/6i, you could do so mid-way without difficulty.

Another option would be to pursue 6/6i's mixed path. To do this, you must pass all four of the exams listed for the core, above, with the exception that Building Internet Applications I can be substituted with Developer/2000 Build Forms I or Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 I.

For those who are already certified in Application Developer Rel.1 or 2, Oracle offers an upgrade path to Rel. 6/6i. If you are certified as a Developer/2000 Rel. 1, you can take the Oracle Forms Rel. 1 to Rel. 6/6i New Features exam. If you're already certified in Rel. 2, then there's no need to upgrade--Oracle will upgrade your certification automatically. For more information, please see http://education.oracle.com/certification/appdev2_track.html.

Oracle Java Developer
Oracle's Java Developer certification is based on the jCert Initiative. This initiative is a multi-vendor collaboration including Sun Microsystems, IBM and others, established to create common certification standard for Java developers.

This certification is broken into three levels, with a total of five exams. As you pass each level, you are awarded a certificate. The exams and levels are broken down as follows:

Level 1: Sun Certified Programmer for The Java Platform--This level involves on exam, given by Sun, that is common to all the certifications in the jCert initiative.

Level 2: Oracle Certified Solution Developer, Jdeveloper--As its name indicates, this level is specific to Oracle. To achieve it, you will need to take Oracle's Object Oriented Analysis and Design With UML exam, which completes requirement 2a in the jCert common certification path. You then take the Oracle JDeveloper: Develop Database Applications with Java (Oracle JDeveloper Rel. 2 or Oracle JDeveloper Rel. 3) exam to complete requirement 2b.

Level 3: Oracle Enterprise Certified Developer, Oracle Internet Platform--This level also requires two exams: Enterprise Connectivity with J2EE (jCert 3a) and Enterprise Development on the Oracle Internet Platform (jCert 3b).

Oracle recommends that you visit http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/certify/adsdwsv3.html to prepare for the Object Oriented Analysis and Design With UML exam.

Oracle Financial Applications Consultant
Yes, Oracle does have yet another certification! Oracle Financial Applications Rel. 11 certifies IT consultants and staff who work with Oracle Financials R11.

This certification requires you to pass three exams. The first two exams listed below are required; for requirement 3, choose one of the two exams listed.

1. Oracle Financial Applications: Financial Management R11
2. Oracle Applications Applied Technology R11
3. Oracle Financial Applications Procurement R11 or Oracle Financial Applications Order Fulfillment R11

Is Oracle Certification for You?
So having said all this, is Oracle certification for you? The answer to that question lies within your role and responsibilities in your organization, as well as your plans for the future. If your company is using Oracle products or you plan to work for an organization that does, these certification may be an excellent way of showing your present or future employer that you have the skill set necessary to competently maintain their Oracle platforms. The Oracle Developer certifications in particular are one of the best ways to demonstrate to prospective and current employers that you possess the knowledge and skills to design and implement custom solutions based on Oracle products.