Oracle DBA certification

[Martin]

So my internship is ending soon and I'm going back to school to finish 4th year. Since I do a bit of DB work right now, I thought it may be a good idea who get DBA certification, just to have a little something when I graduate...

After some googling, it turns out they Oracle has 3 levels now: Oracle certificed Associate, Professional and Master.
Master seems too expensive/involved for me, but you need 2 exams for OCA and 2 for OCP, at at $125 each, they don't seem expensive.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here had some experience with this, namely
- how hard was it / how long did it take you?
- are books and self study enough? Expensive?
- did you actually learn anything?
- Should I even bother? Was the certification itself useful or worth anything? Or just a piece or crap like A+, network + and all those?

I am not actually looking to become a DBA, just have something to show people that I know a bit about databases...

 

[acemcmac]

AFAIK, Oracle is on of the trump cards to have on your resume if you're getting into databasing. The only thing keeping me from being a lock for a particular database job in center city right now is my lack of Oracle experience...

 

[FP]

I received my Oracle cert (back when it required 5 exams). It wasn't hard at all. If you have installed an Oracle database and know how to administer one then you should have no problem with some studying the week before each test.

I did learn a few new things but the majority of the content you will not use in your day to day life unless you are solely an Oracle DBA. I am mostly a developer but knowing about the underlying structure of the database can help resolve performance issues and such. I am not sure if the certification has helped me or not find work or not. None of my employers have required it. I would imagine it wouldn't get you hired but it may give you more of an edge against another equally skilled applicant.