Certification

[bchip]

Hi Guys

Hoping for a bit of guidance here on this.
Im looking to get certifications for SQL.

Which ones would you recommend? How much do they cost?

It all seems a bit confusing as on the Micro$oft website there are prices for
12 different courses @ R7,500 (excl VAT) and the on Groupon theres a special for $40
https://www.groupon.com/deals/virtual-training-company-12-abilene-san-jose

Then theres Oracle as well..
https://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=654&get_params=p_id:260
R2,334

Any advice on which solid certifications behind my name would be appreciated.
(if the ones above arent the best)

 

[DA-LION-619]

Well which DBMS are you working with?

 

[etienne_marais]

I'm unsure about those groupon courses, it says:

"A the end of the course, students will receive a certificate of completion once they have completed all the lessons of the course."

But it does not say whether you write the actual exam, in other words I'm not sure whether it's the 'Real accredited' certification or just a certification stating that you have done the course through Virtual Training Company (???)

EDIT: If essentially it's only the course, it may still be worth it, you will just have to write the exams at a testing centre like Pearson VUE for the real thing (additional costs).

EDIT2: $55 for writing the first of the five exams...

 

[bchip]

Im not really working with anything at the moment.
Its more when I spoke to (future) employers the one comment has been consistently
that I need to up my technical side, so I thought of getting some SQL accreditation
as most of these guys work with some form of SQL.

 

[DA-LION-619]

Im not really working with anything at the moment.
Its more when I spoke to (future) employers the one comment has been consistently
that I need to up my technical side, so I thought of getting some SQL accreditation
as most of these guys work with some form of SQL.

Well both are popular, I'd say if you're a dev in MS technologies go with MS SQL.

 

[Pho3nix]

SQL certification in the MS space is a 800 exam.
Get the software for free, download the training guide and book to write when ready.

 

[etienne_marais]

SQL certification in the MS space is a 800 exam.
Get the software for free, download the training guide and book to write when ready.

What's the difference to these ? : Exam 70-461 -> 70-465

 

[bchip]

SQL certification in the MS space is a 800 exam.
Get the software for free, download the training guide and book to write when ready.

Thanks, I'll give this a try.

 

[Pho3nix]

What's the difference to these ? : Exam 70-461 -> 70-465

Looking at the outlines.. One is more views, queries and stored procs vs 465 dealing with actual db design which is a skill on to itself

I know the others deal with data warehousing SSIS and SSAS and a couple other things but as always no point in doing the full stack unless you need it.

 

[Pho3nix]

As a side note, learning MS Sql and MySQL is always a good bet. Then depending on how much you like data look at Hadoop

 

[etienne_marais]

Looking at the outlines.. One is more views, queries and stored procs vs 465 dealing with actual db design which is a skill on to itself

I know the others deal with data warehousing SSIS and SSAS and a couple other things but as always no point in doing the full stack unless you need it.

Eish, I can't find the 800 series, just want to read up a bit

EDIT: I'm guessing the 800 series may have been an old numbering system (?)

 

[Pho3nix]

Eish, I can't find the 800 series, just want to read up a bit

EDIT: I'm guessing the 800 series may have been an old numbering system (?)

Elaborate what you mean by the 800 series?
This?

 

[etienne_marais]

Elaborate what you mean by the 800 series?

SQL certification in the MS space is a 800 exam.
Get the software for free, download the training guide and book to write when ready.

I may have misunderstood by 800 exam, still confused.

 

[Pho3nix]

I may have misunderstood by 800 exam, still confused.

I blame my laziness. An exam is R800 an attempt.
Depending on the time of year you can also get a free retake .

 

[etienne_marais]

I blame my laziness. An exam is R800 an attempt.
Depending on the time of year you can also get a free retake .

Ah, thanks. I saw the $55 and if I noted correctly it is considerably more expensive in the States (I think I saw $400 before I changed my region).

 

[bchip]

If anyone is still following this thought I'd just post an update / summary of everything
(please correct me if you do find any mistakes)

I found that there are 5 exams

Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Exam 70-461)
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Admin (Exam 70-462)
Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Exam 70-463)
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Development (Exam 70-464)
Designing Database Solutions for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Exam 70-465)

461+462+463 => Results in MCSA certification
461...463 + 464 + 465 => Results in MCSE certification

For a South African Go to (to register for the exam)
Change the region settings as it goes from ($165 USD down to $55 for SA / or R770 )
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-70-461.aspx


The groupon mentioned earlier is 8 hours of lecturing time for each of the 5 exams.
At the end you get a certificate of attendance (not the MCSA or MCSE as you still need to write the exam).
This is just extra bonus material through videos that help cover the material
At the time of writing it is going for R 600
https://www.groupon.co.za/deals/vtc-africa-2

All these links relate to MS SQL (as opposed to other versions like Oracle - links for Oracle further up)

Thanks forumites for all the help on this!