Tips on How to Become Oracle Certified Professional - presented at OOW11

1. OCP Advisor’s Tips on How to Become An Oracle Certified Professional Presented on October 3, 2011

2. Safe Harbor Statement Opinions expressed by the presenter and Oracle Certified Professionals interviewed for this presentation are entirely their own and do not reflect the position of Oracle Corporation or their employers. Any recommendation or advice discussed here is not validated or endorsed by Oracle Corporation.

3. Win Oracle Certification Voucher Place your business card on the speaker podium, OR Answer the Session Survey and e-mail me your contact information at ocp.advisor@gmail.com 2 Lucky winners will win Oracle Certification Exam Vouchers One winner will be selected onsite today One winner will be selected based on e-mails sent to me BEST OF LUCK!!

4. Top 5 Searched Keyword

5. Survey Results on Certification Salary Survey 2009 conducted by Oracle Certification Program team - Certified professionals earn over 13% more than non-certified counterparts OAUG Research Line Compensation Survey 2010 – IT Managers with certifications earn more Certification Magazine 2009 Survey – 96% of respondents from Top 5 countries with highest salaries were certified

6. Visit OCP Website Visit the Oracle Certification Program (OCP) website – http://certification.oracle.com Bookmark the page for frequent reference It is important to visit most sections of this page including: Getting Started Certification Paths Exams FAQ

7. Oracle Certification Program Page

8. Choose Certification Path There are several certification paths available Database Middleware Applications Linux Choose the appropriate path after evaluating your current skills Be careful about seeking certification purely for a career change without appropriate skills or experience

9. Review Certification Path

10. Select Certification Version For Oracle E-Business Suite Certification, select ‘Application’ as the Certification Career Path Certification is available for Release 11i as well as Release 12 (Release 11i will be retired on 10/31/11) Select your certification version based on your current level of experience or exposure Be careful about seeking certification without working on a specific release

11. Select Application

12. Select Certification Level There are 3 certification levels available for Oracle EBS Release 12 Certified Expert Certified Professional Certified Specialist There are 3 certification levels available for Oracle EBS Certification for Release 11i Certified Consultant Certified Expert Certified Professional

13. Certification Levels for EBS R12

14. Certification Levels for EBS R11i

15. Select Certification Track Select the certification track of your choice One can get certified in financials, supply chain, system administration, workflow and database administration Some tracks have a single exam while others have multiple exams Choose certification track and level based on your expertise and work experience in that area

16. Select Certification Track

17. EBS CertificationAreas Applications Administrator Systems Administrator Workflow Payables Receivables Order Management Purchasing General Ledger Inventory Advanced Supply Chain Planning

18. Review Certification Exams Review the single or multiple exam content Check if there are any pre-requisite exams For tracks with multiple exams, exams can be taken in any order Some EBS Release 12 exams are mega or combo exams covering multiple modules It is recommended to take the EBS Business Essentials Exam first to get a good idea about the certification exams

19. Review Exam Content

20. Sign-Up for OU Course List of courses from Oracle University available to fulfill Hands-on-Course requirement Only Instructor-led training classes or Live Virtual Classes (LVC) qualify It is not necessary to take the training class for the exam you are taking Please note that not all Hands-on Courses have their corresponding certification exams

21. Hands-on Course Requirement

22. Prepare for Certification Exams Exam content is based on Oracle University classes – it is an advantage to attend one Oracle Tutor documents closely resemble Oracle University students guides Oracle University Knowledge Center at http://oukc.oracle.com has thousands of online courses Practice on a test system since most of the questions are practical case study oriented

23. OUKC

24. Over 2000 R12 Courses on OUKC

25. 25 Oracle Learning Library

26. Create CertView Account CertView is the new Oracle Certification Program management system. CertView is available at http://certview.oracle.com CertView gives you the ability to: View your Oracle certification transcript and exam history Download your authorized certification logos Get an update on the status of your certification success kit, and Send an official verification of your certification status to third parties on demand.

27. Register for Certification Exam Exams are either non-proctored (available online) or proctored (available at testing centers) Pearson VUE is the official testing center for Oracle certification Register at Pearson VUE site at http://www.pearsonvue.com/Oracle/

28. Register for Exam

29. Take Certification Exams Take the certification exam Most exams have test results available immediately Make sure you are aware of questions with multiple answers and all have to be selected There is no negative marking Time management is essential Focus on answer more questions correctly than answering all the questions

30. Oracle Certification Team Blog URL – http://blogs.oracle.com/certification Blog author is Paul Sorensen, Oracle Certification Program Senior Director Oracle Certification Team also has monthly newsletters Oracle Certification Team is also available on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OracleCert

31. OCP Team Blog

32. Oracle Certified Professionals Blog URL – http://ebizocp.blogspot.com Blog author is ‘OCP Advisor’, a.k.a. speaker of this session First Oracle certification related blog. Read in over 161 countries. Ranked #1 on Google Search for keywords: 11i OCP, R12 OCP OCP Advisor is also available on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ocp_advisor

33. First Blog on Oracle Certification – Celebrating 5 years this week!

34. Take Advantage of Web 2.0 Blogs from Oracle Product Teams Blogs from Oracle Experts Blogs from Certification Test Providers Oracle Certification Channel on You Tube How To Videos on You Tube Follow Experts on Twitter

35. Don’t Forget Oracle Handbooks Publications from Oracle Press Publications from Packt Pub, Apress etc. Handbooks from Specialists (examples): OCM Guide from Prudent Solutions Oracle Workflow Guide from Solution Beacon EBS R12 Toolkit Handbook from Trutek

36. Habits of Highly Successful OCPs Bas Klaasen, Netherlands: “ One habit that has helped me a lot throughout my career is curiosity. I always want to find out why something is not working and find ways to make it work. I am always open to evaluate new technology and try new implementation approaches even with existing products”.

37. Habits of Highly Successful OCPs Laurent Schneider, Switzerland: “ Test everything. There is no substitute for hands-on experience. Read about the new features and try them. I have reported many bugs for several beta releases following this method.”

38. Habits of Highly Successful OCPs Gwen Shapira, USA: “ I read a lot. By a lot I mean at least two hours a day! So I know about new features and how they should work before I implement them and I know a lot of theory about how Oracle database works. I also remember lots of random bits that I've read somewhere and turns out to be useful from time to time.”

39. Habits of Highly Successful OCPs Melanie Cameron, USA: “ I would have to say the drive to always step outside the boundaries of my job, poking my nose around to corner to see what was going on and how what they did effected my work, or how my worked effected them. While many people become experts in their given areas, they often fail to understand how their area effects other departments as well as the business as a whole ”.

40. Habits of Highly Successful OCPs Sabdar Syed, Saudi Arabia: “ Learn the concepts and then practice test and implement them. One big secret I want divulge is this: Never hesitate in sharing your knowledge. You never know what further insights you will gain from the feedback of other”.

41. Habits of Highly Successful OCPs Patrick Gresham, USA : “ Schedule the exam date. This would create a self-pressure model where you can build an exam preparation schedule based on the countdown leading to the exam! ”

43. Oracle Application Express (APEX)

44. 2 years of APEX experience

45. OTN and APEX Books

46. Took the Beta Exam

47. Helped get in touch with Oracle APEX development team

49. Oracle E-Business Suite R11i

50. 4 years of Oracle consulting

51. User Guides and Implementation Guides

52. Helped employer move to higher Oracle Partner Level

54. Oracle Certified Professional on Oracle EBS Release 11i & Masters

55. 5 years of Oracle experience

56. Participated in Oracle Partner Boot Camp on Oracle Certification

57. Gave more professional confidence

59. Oracle Database 11g, 10g and 9i

60. 5 years of DBA experience

61. Took Oracle courses at community college and required about 2 years

62. Used test taking simulators

63. Got role as Oracle Instructor

65. OCP DBA – 8i, 9i,10g and 11g

66. OCE 10g RAC and Oracle ACE

67. Started after 2 years of experience

68. Created sandbox instance for OCM

69. Don’t focus on passing the exam

70. Focus on gaining knowledge

72. Questions and Answers OCP Advisor is always available to assist you with your certification goals. Please send your questions on Twitter or by e-mail. On Twitter: ocp_advisor On e-mail: ocp.advisor@gmail.com