Americo Souza

Hi,

Oracle basically has two developer certifications paths:
PL-SQL - It a certification language test, like SCJP
Forms - Its is a proprietary web based GUI used by Oracle only.

The "Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate" (OCA) certification requiresd the following exams:

1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL.
1Z0-147 Program with PL/SQL

I used the following books:
- Oracle 8i Certified Professional - SQL & PL/SQL Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-001)
Jason S. Couchman - ISBN 0-07-219153-8
- Very good book. Covers all the exam subjects

- Oracle Developer PL/SQL Program units exam guide (Exam 1Z0-101)
Steve O' Hearn - ISBN 0-07-219336-0
- Very good book as well. Unfortunately it covers only 80% of the exam. Some topics for 1Z0-147 are not covered. You have to search for additional sources.

I personally recommend, Feurstein books. They are the bible for any PL-SQL developer.

At [ UD: removed links to copyrighted material ]
there were some old editions of PL-SQL books but still valid for certification purposes. Uunfortunately the page was deleted. I guess if you search in then net probably you will find them again.
[ August 03, 2007: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

Hi,

Oracle basically has two developer certifications paths:
PL-SQL - It a certification language test, like SCJP
Forms - Its is a proprietary web based GUI used by Oracle only.

The "Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate" (OCA) certification requiresd the following exams:

1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL.
1Z0-147 Program with PL/SQL

I used the following books:
- Oracle 8i Certified Professional - SQL & PL/SQL Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-001)
Jason S. Couchman - ISBN 0-07-219153-8
- Very good book. Covers all the exam subjects

- Oracle Developer PL/SQL Program units exam guide (Exam 1Z0-101)
Steve O' Hearn - ISBN 0-07-219336-0
- Very good book as well. Unfortunately it covers only 80% of the exam. Some topics for 1Z0-147 are not covered. You have to search for additional sources.

I personally recommend, Feurstein books. They are the bible for any PL-SQL developer.

At [ UD: removed links to copyrighted material ]
you can find some old editions of PL-SQL books. They are still valid for certifications purposes.

Good luck in your exam!!
[ August 03, 2007: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

Hi,

Oracle basically has two developer certifications paths:
PL-SQL - It a certification language test, like SCJP
Forms - Its is a proprietary web based GUI used by Oracle only.

The "Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate" (OCA) certification requiresd the following exams:

1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL.
1Z0-147 Program with PL/SQL

I used the following books:
- Oracle 8i Certified Professional - SQL & PL/SQL Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-001)
Jason S. Couchman - ISBN 0-07-219153-8
- Very good book. Covers all the exam subjects

- Oracle Developer PL/SQL Program units exam guide (Exam 1Z0-101)
Steve O' Hearn - ISBN 0-07-219336-0
- Very good book as well. Unfortunately it covers only 80% of the exam. Some topics for 1Z0-147 are not covered. You have to search for additional sources.

I personally recommend, Feurstein books. They are the bible for any PL-SQL developer.

At [ UD: removed links to copyrighted material ]
you can find some old editions of PL-SQL books. They are still valid for certifications purposes.

Good luck in your exam!!
[ August 03, 2007: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

Hi Niranjan,

Unfortunately Oracle change its OCA developer tests a couple of years ago. The "Database Fundamentals" exam is no longer required. You have to take both exams which are focused in programing only: SQL and PL/SQL

Pls check their site at:

http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=48#1
[ April 07, 2006: Message edited by: Americo Souza ]

Hi,

Oracle basically has two developer certifications paths:
PL-SQL - It a certification language test, like SCJP
Forms - Its is a proprietary web based GUI used by Oracle only.

The "Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate" (OCA) certification requiresd the following exams:

1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL.
1Z0-147 Program with PL/SQL

I used the following books:
- Oracle 8i Certified Professional - SQL & PL/SQL Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-001)
Jason S. Couchman - ISBN 0-07-219153-8
- Very good book. Covers all the exam subjects

- Oracle Developer PL/SQL Program units exam guide (Exam 1Z0-101)
Steve O' Hearn - ISBN 0-07-219336-0
- Very good book as well. Unfortunately it covers only 80% of the exam. Some topics for 1Z0-147 are not covered. You have to search for additional sources.

I personally recommend, Feurstein books. They are the bible for any PL-SQL developer.

At [ UD: removed link to copyrighted material ] you can find some old editions of PL-SQL books. They are still valid for certifications purposes.

Good luck in your exam!!

[ March 31, 2006: Message edited by: Americo Souza ]
[ August 03, 2007: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

Hi

I failed to take 287 last year.

I used Kushner's book. Unfortunately for me it was a completely waste of time. The level required for the exam, scenarios, is not covered. It might be a good source, for guys that already have practical experience with WAS.

It is difficult to overcome your lack of experience when taking this exam. It seems that the even the red books are not enough. I was very frustrated with those IBM certifications and I felt completely lost.

Below, you can find some threads about this exam

https://coderanch.com/t/144953/po/certification/Failed-at-IBM
https://coderanch.com/t/144830/po/certification/Passed-evaluation-exam
https://coderanch.com/t/145058/po/certification/Guidance-Needed-Test
https://coderanch.com/t/145103/po/certification/Test

Goog luck with your test!!!

Mihaio,

So you should try "Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate" (OCA) certification. I took the following tests:

1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL.
1Z0-147 Program with PL/SQL

I used the following books:
- Oracle 8i Certified Professional - SQL & PL/SQL Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-001)
Jason S. Couchman - ISBN 0-07-219153-8
- Very good book. Covers all the exam subjects

- Oracle Developer PL/SQL Program units exam guide (Exam 1Z0-101)
Steve O' Hearn - ISBN 0-07-219336-0
- Very good book as well. Unfortunately it covers only 80% of the exam. Some topics for 1Z0-147 are not covered. You have to search for additional sources.

I personally recommend, Feurstein books. They are the bible for any PL-SQL developer.

At [ UD: removed link to copyrighted material ] you can find some old editions of PL-SQL books. They are still valid for certifications purposes.
[ August 03, 2007: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

Hi

Oracle basically has two developer certifications paths:
PL-SQL - It a certification language test, like SCJP
Forms - Its is a proprietary web based GUI used by Oracle only.

I think that Forms certification it is not necessary at all. Usually companies only look for this kind of skill if they use Oracle's ERP software (Oracle Applications - this is my case) or they don't want to use any middleware (like J2EE for example). Botton line: PL-SQl has a broader range.
[ February 11, 2006: Message edited by: Americo Souza ]

Please, check JavaRanch and you will find this information.

Peter Sin, posted the information below, a couple of weeks ago:

IBM will withdraw most of was v5 certifications after June 30, 2006.

http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/news/20041220d.shtml

WAS 6 certifications are already available

WAS 5 ICED certification (03 tests) was replaced by one unique test with WAS 6. So it seems that it will be a shortcut (and cheaper) to take that new test.

At least for me, US companies usually don't care about which certification version do you have. What is really valid is experience and working references.

All WAS 5.0 related certification tests will end next June 30th

Hi

I would say that only the IBM Redbooks. Please check them at IBM's 340 certification site and this forum as well.

At 340 exam Yahoo group, you will find some useful information like:
- Chapters which you should study in order to prepare. It is a very good hint because the study material is huge (more than 3K pages)
- Mock exams from IBM pre-assestment test

The Barcia's book is very good written. Unfortunately it is focused mainly on WAS scripting language.

I failed a couple of months ago (01 question :-( ). It is not difficult but experience talks. They ask a lot of dumb questions, like:
- log/configuration files - You must know their names, location and functionality.
- Settings - You should know what they mean and default values as well (yes, they asked this)
- TCP Ports - You should memorize all them. They asked me for some that I think that they are not relevant.
- script language - Unbelievable, but they ask for the same command, different set of parameters. At my exam, they asked for a command which was not available at IBMs Admnistration Redbook.

Good luck. It is not the smartest exam (I'd rather prefer 287 or 484) so be prepared those kind of tricky questions.

Americo
[ August 31, 2005: Message edited by: Americo Souza ]

Hi

I failed to take 287 a couple of months ago.

At least for me, Kushner's book was a completely waste of time. The level required for the exam, scenarios, is not covered. It might be a good source, for guys that already have practical experience with WAS.

Right know my approach is preparing for 340, that hopefully it will give me a better knowledge about WebSphere environment. Unfortunately, its content is huge and sometimes very difficult to understand.

I really don�t know how I will overcome my lack of experience in using WebSphere. It seems that the even the red books are not enough. I am very frustrated with those IBM certifications. I feel completely lost.

Eduardo

Please check the information below that I found at Prometric web site

For US, use the tool-free number below:

IBM/Tivoli Systems
800-959-3926 - It was the number which I called them


The Latin America page, says that the contact information should be:

Telephone (Monday - Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. GMT-05:00 Eastern Time)
+1-443-751-4300

Fax
+1-443-751-4971

Hi Guys

I also had the same problem. Prometric web site is not working for IBM.

I had to call them directly in order to schedule the exam. I had already complained about the problem. Unfortunately, their representatives are not able to assist test takers with this kind of issue.

I also double-checked with them about the IBM vouchers promotion.
- The vouchers must be redeemed before Jun 30th
- You have to take the test until that date otherwise they will charge you

Good luck for us, guys!!

Americo