Certified SQL Expert

Recently I was looking around for some database programming jobs. Saw a couple good ones at my own company. They wanted a lot of certifications. Now I have one Oracle certification. Got it back when my company was pushing for people to get certified. The jobs I was interested in wanted a bunch of other certifications. Time to get cracking.

I pitched the idea of me taking time off work to prepare to be a certified Oracle SQL Expert. He signed off on it. Got some funds from my company. Bought a couple books specific to the exam I was going to take. Initially I spent a few weeks studying a chapter a night. Then when I took a week off, I started taking practice tests.

You need to get 66% of the questions on the actual exam correct to pass. Sounds easy. It is not. The questions are hard and cover lots of information. During my practice tests I was initially getting just about 66% right. If the actual tests were harder, or I had a bad day, I would not pass. Then I would need to pay extra money out of my pocket to retake the tests.

Today was testing day. Quickly finished up my work in the morning. Had a good lunch where I studied up the highlights of my training. Then I headed to the testing center. I needed to empty my pockets of everything. I was surprised how many people were taking certification tests at the same time as me.

The tests runs for two hours. I finished with about 10 minutes to spare. Went back and answered one question I had only half answered. Then I got out of there. Initially I had trouble getting my test results. But I kept at it, created a new account, entered my credentials and got my scored. I passed. I am a certified Oracle SQL Expert. That does not mean I am an expert. Just that I have the certification.