DBA Certification
-
I was recently informed that my CV was misleading becasue i put my current job title as SQL server DBA yet i dont have the Microsoft DBA certifcation. The objection made was:
If your present employer lets you claim to be a DBA [without being certified] then that is up to them however it is not industry standard and very misleading to companies who follow normal practice.
I would be very interested to know if this is industry standard.
Any comments?
-
It may also depend on where do you live... but I don't think that their objection is correct. Never heard about this in Czech Republic... In my opinion, working as DBA and having a certification are two different things. As long as you don't mention the word "certified", you should be OK.
Although things may be different if you wrote something like "Microsoft SQL Server DBA". Then there is space for speculations, because this looks a bit like some official title, and it includes the magical word Microsoft - which is attached to software name, but it could also be held to relate to the DBA part... and that would suggest certification from Microsoft.
Something similar to "DBA (SQL Server)" should be acceptable (using common sense, which unfortunately lawyers don't do often)... what could you write otherwise? Would everyone invent their own name for the job?
-
I've been a DBA for 6 years I don't have certification. The reason being I don't believe in Certification. I've seen tons of people who have MCSE,MCSD,MCDBA (all three) and have no clue about SQL Server or Networking.When the interview if they ask me why I have not done certification, I tell them the same. They've seen prople and they kind of agree.
You can get ur certification by reading any test material and without working on SQL Server.
This is my opinion.
Thanks
Sreejith
-
So if you are currently a DBA and working exclusively on SQL Server platforms, what are you supposed to call yourself? If they feel that it is misleading, then they have been misled somewhere along the line to believe that a certification makes a title. I would say they're full of it. Does that mean that they only hire people with certifications. My question to that guy would be, 'What certifications do you hold pertaining to your current title?'.
-
There seems to be some confusion between a job title and a qualification. One is not the other and vice versa. The confusion lies, not on your CV but in the mind of the reader.
I suspect a polite explanation of the distinction might be less damaging than asking what certifications the reader holds, especially in an interview.
-
That's precisely what I thought (or rather felt somewhere back in my mind) but failed to put into words. How elementary, my dear Watson...
I think this explains everything and also is a very good advice. One rarely wants to make a prospective employer look like an idiot
-
it's a good opinion; I'm in the same situation and agree completely.
-
Here! Here! I whole-heartedly agree. While I have seen a few folks (very few) with certifications that are actually good, they seem to be far and few between, at least in Michigan. Same seems to hold true with some folks that have Masters in Computer Science... interviewed 4 of them and none of them knew what 20 or 1416 was in decimal. They couldn't even tell me how to get the current date/time from either SQL Server or Oracle even though they all claimed to be a "9 out of 10" on expertise in both.
--Jeff Moden
RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally) -
I agree with John. It's easy... just tell it like it is... "Battle hardened SQL Server DBA with xx years of experience." You never said you had a certification or not. If a company is actually going to be worth working for, they'll hire for experience and major contributions/successes made in the past, which should be listed on the front page of your resume, by the way... things like "Saved XYZ Company $200k over a 3 month period by..." and "Reduced runtime for xxxx process from 8 hours to 30 minutes by ..." and "Reduced the number of daily deadlocks from xxx to yyy by..." go a lot further in the eyes of good companies to work for than just having a list of certifications and degrees.
How do I know this? I'm one of the guys that does the hiring! I don't care about certifications, degrees, and paper... CAN YOU DO THE JOB WELL? I generally invite folks in first that have a list of substantial accomplishments on the first page... then, I look for experience... frankly, I never look at certs or degrees.
Case in point... One of my bosses does look at certs on resumes... he invited 4 different people for interviews for an SQL Developer job opening, all with Masters Degrees in Computer Science and they all claimed to be "9 out of 10" in both SQL Server and Oracle. The boss was impressed and asked me to interview them. None of them had any measurable accomplishments on the first page of their resume. They had garbage like "Participated in the construction of..." and "Was on a team of people that...". None of them listed individual achievements that saved the company money, improved performance, or gave any indication that they had ever done anything worthwhile except as a professional student. When I asked each of them stupid simple questions like the decimal equivelent of 20 or 1416, NONE of them knew the answer! And, remember they said they were "9 out of 10" in both SQL Server and Oracle? They couldn't even tell me how to get the current date and time out of either!!! When I asked them what trace flag to set to detect deadlocks, 3 of them glazed over and 1 had the nerve to ask me what a deadlock was! These aren't hard questions, folks... and you should have seen the base 60/24 math these morons went through trying to add 10 seconds to 2005-12-31 23:59:59. It was absolutely disgusting.
If a company feels they've been misled by you calling yourself a DBA because of the experience you have, consider carefully why they feel that way... it may not be a company that you'd ever want to work for.
And for all those sharpening up their pencils to rewrite their resumes... If you lie, we will know
... trust me on that!--Jeff Moden
RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally) -
Thanks for agreeing Jeff, I was starting to feel a little lonely out here. Folks, when seeking new employment keep in mind that you have something to offer to the prospective employer. Like Jeff said, your resume needs to focus on what you have to offer them. There is a big difference in offering your services and asking for employment. If you have experience in SQL Server, call yourself a SQL Server DBA and make your resume point out how your skills will affect the employer's bottom line in terms of $$ saved/made, performance increases, process improvement, etc. If you truly have something to offer, then you have the cookie! You have something that they want or need. Act like it and you'll go far!
Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply