With 2 of the bigger Open Source projects I care about talking about certifications programs questions pop up again ...

Should we certify ourselves ?

So let me tell you about my experiences in getting Open Source related Certifications ..

Over a decade ago, (2001) when RedHat was still Redhat and not yet Fedora the company I was working for was about to partner with RedHat and needed to get a number of people certified for that.

So I took the challenge, I bored myselve to death during a 4 day RedHat fast track training and set out to do the exam the next day. Obviosly I scored pretty well given my yearlong experience in the subject. Back then I was told that I scored the one but European Record on the exam which was actually held by another collegue (hey Ico) , our CTO however was not amused when I told that I could have scored better but I

• Silver: Management consulting engineers who can improve large-scale database


• Gold: Engineers who can design, development, implementation and operation of the database

• Oracle Certified Associate, MySQL 5.0/5.1/5.5
• Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.0 Developer
• Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.0 Database Administrator
• Oracle Certified Expert, MySQL 5.1 Cluster Database Administrator

Today Giuseppe pointed me to Hot skills: MySQL 5.1, an article in ComputerWeekly.com.

The takeaway from the Gartner report quoted?

• Gartner published a report titled “The Growing Maturity of Open-Source Database Management Systems” in November 2008, and found that there was a 50% increase from 2007 to 2008 in the usage of open source DBMS’s in production.
• “Gartner says the major open source DBMSs are now available for installation as packages, without involving the source code, and include tools to help support administrators and managers.” I’d like to state that, MySQL has always been available in packaged format, and you don’t need to fudge with the source code if you do not want to. In fact, its

The Pythian Group added another feather to its cap today. Our Nicklas Westerlund passed his MySQL Cluster DBA Certification (http://www.mysql.com/certification/) exam, making him part of an elite group of 57 MySQL Cluster Certified DBAs worldwide, and now two here at Pythian, the other being Augusto Bott. We have a wealth of hands-on experience setting up and maintaining the MySQL Cluster. Nick’s and Augusto’s certified creds make them our go-to guys for MySQL Clustering.

Congratulations, Nick!

You have only a few more days to sign up for the MySQL Conference and Expo before the early-bird discount goes away. Check out the schedule of speakers and tutorials, and sign up soon! And just in case you didn't get one from any of the other people blogging about it, you can email me for a code that's good for a 20% discount.

I'm presenting two sessions: one on the query cache, and one on EXPLAIN. Both are manageable for an hour-or-so talk. I'm not trying to boil the ocean, but rather to help you understand these important topics in ways you'll remember after leaving the conference.

I was also on the voting committee for the proposals, so I've read them all. I really believe this event is worth every penny. (Of course, as a

Mark writes:

At the 2007 conference, they had certification tutorials for CMDBA I and II, along with MySQL Cluster . I attended the CMDBA tutorials, both tracks and it was excellent. It was also packed with attendees, and I can say what I learned there helped me greatly in passing both exams. You should know, only about a third of the attendees taking the CMDBA I exam, and about half taking the CMDBA II exam passed last year. The last years final numbers can be found

I suppose most readers get the contents of this blog through planetmysql — if you do, you can stop reading here.

If you do not subscribe to planetmysql, you may have missed out on Dave Stoke’s excellent writings on the subject of MySQL certification. Dave has been busy analyzing the results of previous certification exams, and he has authored several articles on the subject in the past few weeks.

Go read’em.

In June 2007, I became a Certified MySQL 5.0 DBA. A couple of days ago, decided to see what was in the account at http://www.mysql.com/certification/candidate/. It's possible to create special account for people who want verify my certification. I think it's useful, for example, during interview with the employer.

Interesting statistics http://www.mysql.com/certification/candidates.php?exam=4. In Ukraine, only 3 people, including me, who are certified as MySQL 5.0 DBA. Apparently IT market is not in need of MySQL DBA and this is confirmed by Ukrainian job sites. I met only one vacancy, which assumed duties as the work solely as a DBA.

First saw this off of Planet MySQL:

 New Vendor Neutral Database Certification (Dave's Stuff)

Following the link to the CIW site, there are six domains that are being tested:

I wonder how much traction this independent certification will get, given the flavors each of the various database platforms use of SQL

For those that worried about having to go to lulu.com to order copies of the Cluster certification study guide, I just noticed that the Amazons of the world now have the book listed:

US:   UK:  

Not only do they have them, they stock them too, so you can have immediate delivery.

If you’re not an Amazon customer, you will undoubtedly be able to find/order the book in other places as well.

I know it’s a little late, but as this is my first post of 2008 I wanted to start on a high!

After receiving my copy of the MySQL 5.1 Cluster DBA book at Christmas, I spent an hour or so each day with my head engrossed in MySQL Cluster (http://www.mysql.com/products/database/cluster/) technology, so much so that my goal of reading every Perl book I own (cover to cover) has been somewhat put on hold…

The book was much smaller than I expected, in both physical size and pages (266) which was not a bad thing as I could carry it around if needed, and each chapter could be read within 15-20 minutes, just

Woo-hoo!

The words were written, reviewed, re-written, put aside while figuring out how to get them published, then taken up once again and finally delivered to the publisher.

Today, we finally got word of the happy news:

Starting immediately, you can pick up your own copy of the MySQL 5.1 Cluster DBA Certification Study Guide and get started polishing your skills for the Cluster DBA certification exam.

From the cover blurb:

Covering the Certified MySQL 5.1 Cluster Database Administrator exam, this study guide is the one authority to look to when you?re preparing for the test. The book teaches you all the concepts, principles, and techniques that you?ll need to know for the exam, with many practice

Following up on the release of the Japanese versions of the certification exams, our Japan office has decided to run a campaign with a 20% discount off the exam price.

You gotta be quick, though… this is only for the first 100 takers!

One thing about this campaign that’s pretty cool is that you get a choice: You can either take a straight discount, reducing the exam price by 20% up-front. Or you can pick another option and get a gift card to Amazon for the same value.

More information (in Japanese, of course) available here (http://www-jp.mysql.com/news-and-events/news/article_1443.html).

Hot on the heels of the MySQL Japan User?s Conference, the Japanese-language versions of the Developer and DBA certification exams were published on Sep. 25.

This means that the following exams are now available in Japanese:

• 003-002 : Certified MySQL 5.0 Developer Part I
• 004-002 : Certified MySQL 5.0 Developer Part II
• 005-002 : Certified MySQL 5.0 DBA Part I
• 006-002 : Certified MySQL 5.0 DBA Part II

As always, the exams are available through Pearson VUE, and all 121 Japanese testing centers are standing by to help you with the exams.

For more information on the Japanese certification exams, see http://www-jp.mysql.com/certification/ (http://www-jp.mysql.com/certification/)

During the MySQL User’s Conference in Japan, we’re offering people the opportunity to test their knowledge with a practice exam. The exams are going to be available in Japanese as of Sept. 25.

Today, we upped the ante a bit when Pearson VUE were so kind as to bring along some very nice prizes to hand over to those that answered all questions right.

Attaining those prizes turned out to be a lot harder than we expected… it took several hours before we finally got a winner and I got to hand over a nice notebook to none other than Kei Sakai from the

It’s now officical: Japanese translations of the Developer (http://www.mysql.com/certification/candguide#t26) and Database Administrator (http://www.mysql.com/certification/candguide#t31) certification exams will be available all over Japan as of September 25. As usual, the exams will be delivered through Pearson VUE.

We’re obviously pretty excited about this, and so are visitors to the MySQL Japan User’s Conference that is going on right now. Pearson VUE are here with two testing stations that have a few sample exam questions. Visitors have a lot of fun testing their

If you’re good at English and skilled at using MySQL, you should know that we have recently posted an opening for a certification exam writer to bolster the maintenance and creation of new MySQL certification exams.

It’s a job with a lot of aspects: Targeting new MySQL products, translations, updating our exams to match the evolving features of the existing products, and much more. There is much work to do, but too few heads and hands to put to the task of doing all this.

What I’m looking for is a person who has the right combination of excellent written English-language skills, careful attention to details, and of course good working knowledge of MySQL. If you have experience working with training materials or testing, all the better!

Your skills in producing error-free, well-constructed writing is the most important aspect of the job. If you have