Sun Certified MySQL 5.0 Database Administrator

This week I passed my Sun Certified MySQL 5.0 Database Administrator exam (part one of two). That’s a bit weird: a year ago I did the MySQL 5.0 Developer certification program. So in a few weeks I’ll be a MySQL certified developer and a Sun certified Database Administrator. It’s a bit weird but logical if you think about it: MySQL has been taken over by Sun. Sun has been taken over by Oracle, but the title of “Oracle Certified MySQL Database Administrator” would probably create a computation error in the logic computer that the earth is and mean the end of existence, or something like that.

The exam went pretty much okay, a bit harder than expected. Some questions were not covered in the study guide for certified DBA but were covered in the part for developer certification. Not a big problem because I’ve done that too, but I can imagine that it would be quite hard if I had not. Many questions were three or two questions in one. One question definitely contained an error.

MySQL certification used to be handled through Pearson VUE and scheduling an exam was a breeze back then. Now MySQL certification has been integrated into the Sun certifications. It took me quite some time and some e-mails to figure out how to register for the exam: you have to purchase vouchers at the Sun Training Catalogue (310-810 and 310-811 are the ones you are looking for). Then, you can register at Prometic and use the voucher to pay for the exams. Scheduling the exam works the same way as with Pearson VUE. I took my exam in Assen, The Netherlands at IDée ICT (who makes up those names…). There is still no testing centre in Groningen.

Certification also has become quite more expensive with Sun: it’s now EUR 235,- excluding VAT per exam. With MySQL, it used to be EUR 150,- including taxes.