Is Oracle Certification Worth It?

Is Oracle certification worth it?

I’m not an Oracle.

I thought you knew a lot about Oracle and Java.

I meant, I’m not capable of seeing the future.

Well, you have more understanding of the job market than I do, so give me your best guess. It is better than some people’s facts.

Oracle courses are expensive.

Oracle courses whether taken online via downloads or in person or via virtual classes. My question is whether or not the classes are worth it.

Or, rather, whether the costs are worth it.

The costs are worth it if there is a return on investment. If I spend ten thousand on the classes, I better make more than 30K or more over the next few years to be worth it.

Oracle certification could make or break a claim that you know Oracle well if you lack the experience on your resume to otherwise demonstrate it.

So the Oracle certification is worth it if I’ve self-studied or took a few college classes but do not have the Oracle DBA job on my resume to get a higher paying position.

Oracle DBA can make 70K or 80K or more, depending on skill sets and where they work.

I’ve heard that certification in Oracle can earn you 100K or more.

The demand for Oracle administrators is still strong, but database automation to reduce the demand on admins and growth of alternatives like MySQL has lowered that figure.

Let’s agree that some certifications are not worth it.

True. Some people sign up for $100,000 college degrees in ethnic studies and comparative folk dancing to get jobs flipping burgers they could have gotten by dropping out of high school.

Oracle certifications cost 10K or more for the whole suite. Question is – are they worth it?

The pay gap between those with certification and without certification in general Oracle databases has essentially disappeared.

Then it is not worth it.

If you already know Oracle, no, it is not, except that taking the classes and exams can prove you know the latest and greatest version. And then there are the other Oracle tools.

Like Java.

Actually, the more valuable certifications are in JD Edwards Enterprise financial tools and Peoplesoft. Few people have the opportunity to learn it at college like the Oracle and Java and Microsoft courses at junior colleges.

But companies will pay a lot to know that the people managing their payroll and inventory systems are trained to do it right.

The same premium is placed on those with certification in Oracle Fusion Financials, the accounts payable and receivable tool Oracle manages.

So whether it is Peoplesoft payroll or Oracle Fusion payment management to suppliers and with customers, you’ll make more for those Oracle certifications.

You’ll make 5K to 15K more with those certifications than just being an Oracle database administrator.

Only because those skills are less common and harder to acquire.

That’s called the law of supply and demand.

But if I just want to manage memory and run backups of a database, Oracle certifications are not much better.

Experience is worth more than the certification, but certification and studying for it means you know more than what you just learn on the job.

But I do know no one wants to hire a database manager who does not know how to do the job.