“You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.” – Tom Brokaw
I agree. But you can get a ticket for the first row in the balcony, the boxes and there is always one for the last row as well.
You are experienced, you know a lot about Oracle, you have a good job; so why would you need an Oracle certification?
Indeed why? Let me have you Joel Goodman and Julia Johnson tell you about the “Benefits of Oracle Certification“, I would rather tell you what I can conclude based on my experience throughout the years.
I have worked with dozens of Oracle experts and if I pick a football team of 11, perhaps not all would be certified. In fact, while going through the names, some of the top ones I would name have never attended a single certification exam. So obviously, the certification is not decisive in terms of skills, experience and professionalism.
But there are 3 major things that make the Oracle certification important and worth considering:
1. You will find out how broad area Oracle is. How much more you can learn, if you are interested. And you will get familiar, to a very high extent, with what Oracle has to offer and how this complex mechanism works.
2. Confucius’s saying that “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” will be more comprehensible to you.
3. Your confidence will grow and your self-esteem will reflect your personal overall evaluation or appraisal of your own worth.
That’s it: one, two, three.
Here are some interesting articles in case you are doubtful about certifying Oracle:
The power of Oracle certification by Anantha Narayanan
Oracle certifications: More than a piece of paper? by Shayna Garlick
Should You Get Your Oracle Certification? by Ivan Widjaya, CBR
The Career Benefits of Oracle Certification by Ahmed Aboulnaga
And finally, going memory lane: the first 4 Oracle Certified Masters in Europe at Oracle World: 10 years ago in Copenhagen:
Socrates: “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”
Julian Dontcheff's Database Blog 