Oracle Certification: Satisfying the Hands-On Training Requirement

A number of the higher-level Oracle certifications mandate that candidates attend one or more training courses as part of the certification process. The intent of this requirement is to reduce the number of people who have never actually worked with the software from gaining a certification that indicates they have proficiency in it. Not all training will meet this requirement and not even all Oracle Education training will meet it. This article will only discuss the various training options from Oracle education. They have a list of approved third-party vendors. You should contact Oracle Education before scheduling training with a non-Oracle Education vendor to ensure that it will meet the requirement.

Not all, or even most of Oracle certifications have a hands-on stipulation. A number of candidates mistakenly assume that a certification they want requires training. In particular, the Oracle Advanced PL/SQL Developer Certified Professional has no hands-on requirement. I have often seen people asking about what training they should take so that they can attain this certification. At this time, only the certifications listed below have a training requirement. You can find out which Oracle Education classes meet this requirement at the Oracle Education website:

Oracle Database 9i, 10G, & 11G Administrator Certified Professional
Oracle Database 10G & 11G Administrator Certified Master
Oracle Certified Master, Java SE 6 Developer
Oracle Certified Master, Java EE 5 Enterprise Architect
Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator: Certified Professional
Oracle E-Business Suite 11i Financials and Supply Chain Certified Professional Consultant
Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Supply Chain and Financials Consultant
Oracle 11i Applications Database Administrator Certified Professional
Siebel 7.7 Certified Consultant
Siebel 7.7 Analytics Developer Professional
Siebel 7.7 Data Warehouse Developer
Siebel 7.7 Server Architect Professional
Siebel 8 Consultant Certified Expert

Oracle Certified Professional, Oracle Solaris 10 & 11 System Administrator
Oracle Certified Expert, Oracle Solaris 10 Security Administrator
When studying for an Oracle certification, the Oracle Education course materials are just about impossible to beat in terms of their relevance to the certification topics. The course materials and tested topics match right down the line. That said, it is also just about impossible to find a more expensive method to prepare for Oracle certification tests than Oracle Education courses. If you can afford it or if your employer will pay for it, the material is excellent.

Oracle Education offers four distinct types of training: classroom, live virtual class, training on demand, and self-study courses. Only courses on the approved list from the first three types count toward the training requirement. The self-study CD-ROM courses do not meet the hands-on requirement for certification. That aside, the four training types and their pluses and minuses are:

Classroom Training

The classroom training requires you to travel to an Oracle Education center, so you will likely incur travel and hotel expenses unless you are fortunate enough to live within commuting distance of a training center. In the classroom environment, you will have the greatest interaction with the instructor and with other classmates. You should not underestimate the value of being able to network with other people in the class. The classroom training offers the greatest potential for learning of all four methods. It is also the option that requires the greatest expense and effort.

Live Virtual Class

Live Virtual Classes are one step removed from classroom training. The class is given live, but you 'attend' it through a streaming video feed over the internet. You can therefore access the class from your workplace or home. It offers almost all of the options of the classroom, including labs, interaction with the teacher and so forth. However, you do not really interact with the other students to the same degree as in the classroom. The course fee is the same as that of the classroom training, but the elimination of travel and hotel requirements can make the total cost considerably lower than for classroom training.

Training on Demand

Training on Demand is similar to the LVC classes, except they are recorded rather than being streamed live. The recording contains video from actual classes, a hands-on practice environment, and the ability to ask questions of the instructor (albeit not in the same interactive fashion as LVC). The material is comparable to the live classes, but the fact that is it recorded means you can access it at any time, watch the videos at a faster or slower pace than they were given, and re-watch sections if you want. The cost of the class matches that of classroom training and LVC. The lack of travel and hotel costs put the total expense on par with that of the LVC option.

Self-Study Courses

Oracle's self study courses are either downloadable or available on CD-ROM. As mentioned earlier, these do not fulfill the hands-on requirement for certification. However, they are approximately half the cost of the other three options, and can be reused by multiple employees if you company has several Oracle professionals that require training.

Matthew is an experienced DBA and developer. He holds Oracle DBA Certifications for releases 7, 8i, 9i, 10G and 11G; Oracle Expert Certifications for SQL and Application Express; and is an Oracle Advanced PL/SQL Developer Certified Professional. He is the author of
A number of the higher-level Oracle certifications mandate that candidates attend one or more training courses as part of the certification process. The intent of this requirement is to reduce the number of people who have never actually worked with the software from gaining a certification that indicates they have proficiency in it. Not all training will meet this requirement and not even all Oracle Education training will meet it. This article will only discuss the various training options from Oracle education. They have a list of approved third-party vendors. You should contact Oracle Education before scheduling training with a non-Oracle Education vendor to ensure that it will meet the requirement.

Not all, or even most of Oracle certifications have a hands-on stipulation. A number of candidates mistakenly assume that a certification they want requires training. In particular, the Oracle Advanced PL/SQL Developer Certified Professional has no hands-on requirement. I have often seen people asking about what training they should take so that they can attain this certification. At this time, only the certifications listed below have a training requirement. You can find out which Oracle Education classes meet this requirement at the Oracle Education website:

Oracle Database 9i, 10G, & 11G Administrator Certified Professional
Oracle Database 10G & 11G Administrator Certified Master
Oracle Certified Master, Java SE 6 Developer
Oracle Certified Master, Java EE 5 Enterprise Architect
Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator: Certified Professional
Oracle E-Business Suite 11i Financials and Supply Chain Certified Professional Consultant
Oracle E-Business Suite R12 Supply Chain and Financials Consultant
Oracle 11i Applications Database Administrator Certified Professional
Siebel 7.7 Certified Consultant
Siebel 7.7 Analytics Developer Professional
Siebel 7.7 Data Warehouse Developer
Siebel 7.7 Server Architect Professional
Siebel 8 Consultant Certified Expert
Oracle Certified Professional, Oracle Solaris 10 & 11 System Administrator
Oracle Certified Expert, Oracle Solaris 10 Security Administrator
When studying for an Oracle certification, the Oracle Education course materials are just about impossible to beat in terms of their relevance to the certification topics. The course materials and tested topics match right down the line. That said, it is also just about impossible to find a more expensive method to prepare for Oracle certification tests than Oracle Education courses. If you can afford it or if your employer will pay for it, the material is excellent.

Oracle Education offers four distinct types of training: classroom, live virtual class, training on demand, and self-study courses. Only courses on the approved list from the first three types count toward the training requirement. The self-study CD-ROM courses do not meet the hands-on requirement for certification. That aside, the four training types and their pluses and minuses are:

Classroom Training

The classroom training requires you to travel to an Oracle Education center, so you will likely incur travel and hotel expenses unless you are fortunate enough to live within commuting distance of a training center. In the classroom environment, you will have the greatest interaction with the instructor and with other classmates. You should not underestimate the value of being able to network with other people in the class. The classroom training offers the greatest potential for learning of all four methods. It is also the option that requires the greatest expense and effort.

Live Virtual Class

Live Virtual Classes are one step removed from classroom training. The class is given live, but you 'attend' it through a streaming video feed over the internet. You can therefore access the class from your workplace or home. It offers almost all of the options of the classroom, including labs, interaction with the teacher and so forth. However, you do not really interact with the other students to the same degree as in the classroom. The course fee is the same as that of the classroom training, but the elimination of travel and hotel req