A Race to the OCP Finish Line (Part 1:Plan Breakdown)

Things are starting to get a bit tricky now that I have less than a month to get certified for Oracle10g.

To give those unacquainted a run down, I was targetting to get my Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) Certification before the year is out. I started planning for this objective since September 2005. To get the certification requires three things:
(1) pass the 1Z0-042 Oracle10g exam for the OCA certificate (Oracle Certified Associate)
(2) pass the 1Z0-043 Oracle10g exam for one of the requirements for the OCP (Oracle Certified Professional)
(3) Attendance to one of the Oracle approved classes given by the Oracle University for the OCP certification

The tests themselves were no problem, as I could take them anytime in any Oracle or Prometric testing centers here in Hong Kong, through self study. What was troublesome was item#3.

My plan was to review for the 1Z0-042 examination, as a quick view of the exam coverage involved many of the existing hands on experience and knowledge pointing to the fact that I already have a huge familiarity with the topics. The second step was to get a supporting class for the 1Z0-043 exam, which was basically Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2. This was because I realized that a lot of the coverage for the second exam (1Z0-043) were topics I am not readily acquainted with, involving new Oracle10g features that are usually not existing in my expertise in Oracle8i/9i.

What was troublesome was that the current price for a Hong Kong based Oracle University Administration Workshop 10g 2 class was a skyrocketing, unbelievable figure of HKD$17,000. The price for a Philippine based Oracle instruction of the same class was almost less than half of the Hong Kong price, which estimates roughly around HKD$5000. Since all initial finances would be coming straight out of my own pocket, it would be ideal to take the Philippine based instruction to maximize on the opportunity.

And unfortunately, the only scheduled class for Oracle (as a requirement for the certification) was for the Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2 scheduled for December 12-16, 2005. I promptly missed the last class (it was scheduled last October 2005) due to my procrastinating nature, and was stuck to moving my target class enrollment date to this December.

So my only hope was to make it or break it on the Oracle class this December 2005. A week before, during and after my trip this November, I had been burning the midnight oil trying to cram all related Oracle10g stuff in my head, since a prerequisite for the Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2 requires that either I had a previous hands on exposure to Oracle10g, or a Oracle10g Certified Associate (OCA) certification to be eligible to enroll for the class.

Only 2 weeks to cram... and I still have to worry about return flight tickets to the Philippines, as the holiday season is coming up, and a lot of OFWs will be going back for the holidays.

Time definitely seems to be against me right now...