There's a
useful
article over at DBAZine.com that compares the DBA
certification schemes run by Oracle, Microsoft and IBM. The key
points in the article?
- The Oracle DBA OCP is the most generally marketable, but
is also the most expensive to obtain because of the one
“Oracle-approved course” requirement
- Each certification path differs in the amount of exams you
have to take to achieve a certification level, with IBM
awarding a certification level for each exam taken, Microsoft
making you take all four exams before issuing the one
certification level (MCDBA), and Oracle making you take up to
two exams for each certification level.
- As Microsoft MCDBA candidates can elect to take a whole
range of Microsoft server certifications for two of their
required exams, they can pass the MCDBA by passing only two
database-specific exams (the others being around .net,
programming, Windows and so on). In addition, the regular
changes to the Microsoft MCDBA, plus their policy of
desupporting old certifications, potentially reduces the value
of achieving this qualification (i.e. you'll have to recertify
whenever a new version of SQL Server comes out, with your old
certification expiring)
- Whilst one certification path might be easier or more
valuable than others, the prime reason for choosing one path
rather than another in the end comes down to what vendor's
database you have to administer
