OCP Certification - What for?

Some time ago I received my OCP certification. It doesn’t mean I am an expert now, it probably also doesn’t mean I have better chances on the job market, there are more important criterias to that.

What I gained through OCP certification and preparation for it:

Familiarity with documentation and other books
Every morning before going to office I went to a cafeteria for almost an hour of reading documentation/books. I kept this habit also after certification, although not constantly every day. I have the whole 10g documentation set on my Palm.

Confidence with Backup/Recovery
Since I startet OCP preparation I spend every thursday morning with systematic backup/recovery practicing. I will keep this habit.

I know what I don’t know
The preparation for OCP gave me a broad overview over features I never used so far. I know what I don’t know, there is many things I don’t know, which I still can learn. It would be boring to stick to what I already know and just do my job. I like to go to office in the morning, and I never come home in the evening without something I’ve learned during the day.

Trying, Experimenting
A System Administrator asked me during preparation for OCP, what’s going on on your Testserver? There was a lot of activity. Because what’s the point in learning Oracle knowledge without trying it out and play with the things I learn about? For trying out things, I have a testserver which is connected to TSM TDPO, and on my PC there is two VMs (Linux/Windows).

Conclusion:
OCP is a very good point of start for people with some on the job experience, who want to learn more about Oracle.

My employer supports my efforts to improve my DBA skills. Oracle University Classes and Exams are paid. And, most important, he takes care of bills from book stores